ARDGOWAN Hospice’s ‘wee bookshop’ on Kempock Street finished its first chapter as it celebrated its one-year anniversary.

Staff, volunteers, and members of the local community are set to enjoy free cake and fizz at the shop to mark the occasion tonight.

Although it initially launched as a straightforward bookshop last year, the Gourock store has since added an array of new items and offerings.

It now sells vinyl LPs and has a kids’ corner for youngsters, as well as running a ‘blind date with a book’ service that lets shoppers buy a book based on nothing but a blurb.

(Image: George Munro)

Katrina Garcias, who is the hospice’s retail cluster manager, told the Telegraph that she was delighted to see how far the shop had come in just a year.

She said: “To have been here for a year is unbelievable, we were so excited when we started.

“At first, we weren’t sure how it would be received but it’s been amazing.

“It’s a fantastic place and we are helped out by our wonderful volunteers.

“We need volunteers, it’s very important, just to keep the shop open as well.

“It doesn’t just help the hospice, the volunteers love it.

“It brings everybody together and it’s almost a community shop.”

The bookshop, like the charity’s other five retail stores, was a vital cog in supporting its brilliant work.

Katrina added: “Retail is huge for the hospice, we need the funds for patient care and this brings in a good amount of funds.

“We’ve got our eight-bed unit and to keep that going takes a lot of money.

“It’s about £11,000 a day and we have to raise the funds to provide that vital care.

“We have at the moment got six shops and we’re going to be launching an online shop to sell all our wares.”

Shop volunteer Julie Hall was also pleased to see the store hit the one-year mark and reflected on how far it had come since its launch.

She said: “We’ve built up a nice wee base here, there are still people who don’t know we’re here and I’d love to see people coming round to Gourock to see what we’ve got.

“In terms of the volunteers, it’s a community there’s a lot of friendship and fellowship. People come for the chat and the company and getting to know each other.

“We like to theme the shop, two of our ladies do up the window and they’ve really enjoyed throwing themselves into that, so many people come in and say to us that’s why they came in.

“We would like to have author visits going forward so hopefully in this next year we’ll grow even more.”

The retired teacher said she had thoroughly enjoyed her time volunteering at the shop and urged others to consider giving it a go.

She added: “When we work in the shop so many people come in here and tell you how the hospice has helped them or supported their families through the hardest times.

“Volunteering has really exceeded my expectations, it’s not something when I retired that I thought I’d get into.

“It’s something that really cheers me up actually.”