Shop Events
Harry Potter Weekend Celebration
2nd August 2007

Potter fans descended on Hoddesdon in their hundreds on Friday night in order to be first to get their hands on their copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at the witching hour. They started arriving from 10.30pm to find Café Nero with a special late night opening to dispense coffees plus an entertaining Harry Potter prize quiz run by us which kept everyone focused during the run-up to the launch.  Many people had entered into the spirit of the occasion and came in full fancy dress.

Forsyth Backs Campaign
24th June 2006

At a special event on 24th June international best-selling local author Frederick Forsyth (Day of the Jackal, Odessa File, etc) came to lend his support to the Love Your local Bookshop campaign by signing the Giant Bookmark. As part of a heartfelt speech to an audience of more than thirty invited guests which included Charles Walker MP and Councillor Mark Farrington, Mayor of Broxbourne, Frederick Forsyth passionately championed the value of independent booksellers and wished books @ HODDESDON every success for their campaign. The event was reported in half page feature articles with photographs in both The Herald and The Mercury newspapers on 29th & 30th June respectively.

Local names pledge to love their local bookshop
16th May 2006

Outgoing Mayor of Broxbourne, Councillor Moyra O’Neill put her signature on the books @ Hoddesdon giant Bookmark as her final official engagement at a special ceremony along with Peter Lardi of the Hoddesdon Society, Carol Hill District Librarian for Broxbourne and John Elson representing Broxbourne Arts Forum.

A photograph of this event was featured in The Bookseller on 19th May to accompany an article reporting that the UK’s two main book wholesalers Gardners and Bertrams were planning to supporting the campaign by providing new customer loyalty schemes featuring the Love Your Local Bookshop branding along with posters and other promotional materials for independent booksellers across the UK. The Mercury also printed an article covering the signing ceremony headed: Bookshop Battle Hits the Mark on 26th May.

Martina Cole
3rd December 2005

Having cancelled her visit in November due to illness, we were delighted to have one of the UK’s bestselling crime authors Martina Cole at the shop on to promote her new novel THE TAKE.

Art of etchings
25th October - 21st November 2005

We staged a free exhibition at Broxbourne Civic Hall featuring nineteenth century etchings and engravings from the Thomas Ross Collection. The company specialise in reproducing each print individually and then hand-painting them in their original colours to reflect the quality and skill of the famous artists of the period.

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Harry Potter
15th July 2005

Our midnight opening on 15th July for the Harry Potter launch attracted over 70 enthusiastic customers, some in costume, who queued to get their copy of the latest installment of J.K Rowling’s phenomenally successful boy wizard saga at one minute past midnight.

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Launch Event
5th March 2005

At 11am we kicked off with a signing session by local author Leslie Kimm who’s two volume history of the local airfield Wings Over Nazeing had attracted a great deal of local interest and become a bestseller in our shop. Celebrating the development of the airfield over 40 years, the book is beautifully illustrated with original photographs and provides a real insight into the early days of flying in this area.