As many of you will know, for nearly 40 years now our UK headquarters has been in an old warehouse in Camberwell, London, from which we send over a million books to our partners every year.

We are very fortunate in that we own this building, and this has given us fantastic security in difficult times, whether the financial crisis of 2008 or the recent Covid pandemic. And we do very much think of it as ‘home’.

However, the warehouse space is too small, both for storing the growing volume of wonderful books we receive from publishers and for selecting and packing the books for our partners. And the location, off a busy south London thoroughfare, combined with a tiny yard with limited access, is proving more and more challenging as we look to scale up our work and do more.

So, with our trustees and loyal friends, we have taken the decision to sell our building and invest in a purpose-built distribution centre which will become our headquarters for the next 40 years or more.

From this new base we hope to be able to support more partners around the world and grow and deepen our impact, bringing the joy of reading to even more people who would otherwise have no access to books.

This is a big step for the charity, and it is likely to take some time to implement. We do not envisage the move itself changing what we do, and we will work to ensure minimal disruption in everything we do on a day-to-day basis.

We will of course keep you updated as our plans develop, and we would love to involve as many of you as possible in this very important and exciting next step for our charity.

Alison Tweed, London, 17 April 24