AN OPEN Day held at Crediton Community Bookshop on Saturday, October 4, to celebrate National Bookshop Day and Business Community Weekend, helped to raise awareness and encourage communities to be more sustainable.

The bookshop arranged a drop-in for people who are interested in community business and social enterprise.

Crediton Community Bookshop manager, Dee Lalljee said: "The event was inspired by local people who are starting a community venture or are already involved in one.

"As businesses grow and change different things need to be tackled and more help and support may be needed."

The Open Day was an ideal opportunity for community businesses to get involved in discussions and get information on how to overcome challenges.

Lorna Turner, from a local business, was at the event as a business advisor providing free advice to those interested in setting up a community business or a social enterprise.

She said: "We helped Crediton Community Bookshop in the early days and it’s great to see them in the heart of the town, and continuing to thrive.

"It’s great to see how the bookshop is supporting so many local school and groups in the area as well as providing such a fantastic selection of books for customers."

The bookshop are passionate about making a difference to our community by inspiring reading and literacy.

The award-winning Outreach to Schools programme which is supported by the bookshop involves taking local authors into schools and running individual sessions for classes where children are introduced to new writers and books.

As a social enterprise Crediton Community Bookshop trades for the benefit of the community, investing in local projects and working collaboratively with individuals and partner organisations including schools, libraries and literary festivals.

The bookshop also provide accessible meeting spaces for events and workshops.