Introducing…………………. Keith & Frances
Frances & Keith have led a blameless married life for over 30 years and have had a whole patchwork of careers in that time. We have two grown-up children, Katherine who is a University Lecturer, and David who works in IT and developed the website for us.
Frances graduated in the late 60s with a degree in Sociology, having studied at the then Rutherford College in Newcastle upon Tyne (now the University of Northumbria). After a brief and unhappy period teaching in a secondary modern school, she joined Fenwicks as a graduate trainee, and fell in love with retailing. She has worked for several big retailers, including the John Lewis Partnership for which she retains a profound admiration.
Keith attended the Manchester Grammar School and obtained his history degree from St John’s College, Oxford. He worked for the Metal Box Company before joining Newcastle University as a Research Associate. This is when he and Frances met, Keith romantically asking Frances, then Manager of Etams, about delivery schedules and lorry movements in Northumberland Street! Keith then became Operations Manager for Halfords running his own warehouses and fleets of lorries.
Moving quickly on, a greengrocers in Dartmouth, where we maintain contacts, including with the artist Simon Drew whose cards we now stock, was followed by a couple of shops in Yorkshire where we were badly hit by the recession in the early 90s and vowed never, ever to have our own business again!
In the late 90s and early 2000s, while Frances was with JLP and Keith working as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Northumbria, serious health problems caused us to reassess our lives. When we hit on the idea of opening a bookshop, Keith started his research into the Book Industry, travelling far and wide, and building contacts. We were prepared to go almost anywhere in the country as long as it was somewhere we would feel comfortable living and were looking for medium-sized market towns that did not already have a bookshop. We stumbled across an empty shop in Warwick, while on our way from Gloucester to Tamworth, and thus set up Warwick Books in March 2004 being immediately overwhelmed by the welcome we received from our customers, many of whom are now close personal friends.
Serendipity has always played a part in our lives, and in early 2008 we took a rare break to holiday in Rome. While admiring the view from the top of the Coliseum, we turned to find ourselves standing next to Sandra Grimes of Browsers Bookshops. Among other things, we mentioned that we were thinking of setting up a second shop.
Apparently she decided that evening to discuss with her business partner the possibility of letting us take over the shop in Kenilworth. Thus in October 2008, the bookshop in Kenilworth became Kenilworth Books, sister shop to Warwick Books.
So now we have an empire of two bookshops – dare we take another holiday?
Introducing…………………. Carolyn Dews
I was born and bred in Sheffield and am married with 3 children. My interests include salsa dancing, belly dancing and of course books, and my neighbours and I have recently acquired half an allotment.
My love of books began when I first started school. I remember learning to read all about ‘Peter and Jane’ and from then on I was hooked. My mum used to give me 15p spending money a week and I would save two weeks money and buy an Enid Blyton book. I became an avid reader. As a child my favourite book was ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’. I studied English Literature and began to collect and read the classics. At 17 we moved to Aberdeen where I learned to love hill-walking, skiing and an appreciation of thermal underwear! I lived by myself in university property in old Aberdeen and enjoyed scaring myself by reading Stephen King and James Herbert.
My first real job was in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. One day whilst at work I received a phone call from a gentleman with a very plummy accent explaining he was calling on behalf of the ‘crane’. My mistake; he was calling on behalf of the Queen! I went on to work for the Queen’s surgeon. After a couple of years I became Practice Manager at The Student Health Service, Aberdeen University. Still being in my early 20s I occasionally looked as outlandish as the students; sometimes arriving at work after a weekend out with bright blue hair etc.
When I moved down to Warwickshire to work for the BBC in personnel, a friend and I started up a book group which is still going 8 years later. Since then I have worked in two schools The Church of England Ferncumbe Primary School and Budbrooke.
I first met Frances and Keith when they had just opened up ‘Warwick Books’ and I worked for them part-time. When a more permanent position came up recently I jumped at the chance of working here. I just love working in a bookshop. My only problem is I want to buy most of the books!
Introducing…………………. Lulu
I feel that I have worked and known Kenilworth Books through four different eras, firstly in the late 60’s as a child spending my pocket money on as many Enid Blyton books as I could get my hands on. Later working here for Peters, as it was known for many years, then as Browsers, and now as Kenilworth Books. Working with Keith and Frances I feel the shop is in a new and exciting era, moving forward with the times and hosting lots of great author events, bringing to Kenilworth, people like Gervise Phinn, Justin Richards and Peter James to name but a few.The job is varied and fun and Louise and I have worked together for five years and luckily she gets my mad sense of humour. The shop has always had a great atmosphere, which is fabulous to work in.
I love to read anything and everything on Religion, especially the history of religion and how it shapes our world today. For light reading, Phil Rickman; biographies of people who are least over 50 years of age and have lived a bit; teenage fiction; and I have a thing for cookbooks.
I came to work at Kenilworth Books after 11 years in the hospitality trade, then working for Chanel and Elizabeth Arden, and for a few years I owned a Beauty and Holistic Salon with my friend.
In my spare time I love entertaining, and spending time with my (very large) family. I am also training to be a celebrant, which will enable me to oversee baby namings, weddings and funerals.
My friends see me as the joker and I enjoy making them laugh even at my own expense. They do tell me off for doing too much housework, especially hoovering everyday, but I find it therapeutic (WEIRD I KNOW).
I was born in Kenilworth and have lived here all my life as did my great grandfather. I don’t suppose I will ever move, but I’m told by my more adventurous colleague Louise” never say never.” I live with my husband and we have three daughters. Oh and also Olly our ginger cat.
Introducing…………………. Contessa Rebecca (Third)
I’m one of the few remaining Romanovs, and also one of the few members of staff at Kenilworth who doesn’t live in Kenilworth. I live in Soviet Russia, also called Balsall Common, where I attend the Heart of England Sixth Form and fight crime on weekdays.
I started working here only last year as an undercover agent for the Mafiya after the uprising in Paris forced me to undergo heavy plastic surgery and take on a false identity; I am currently known as Starbucks Malone, and will not respond to Contessa unless it is spoken with a heavy Lithuanian accent.
I enjoy reading books about capitalism being crushed by Mother Russia, as well as horror and sci-fi, and high fantasy: for example, the likes of Peter F. Hamilton, Sergei Lukyanenko, and Neil Gaiman. I also have a not-so-secret love of comic books, both western comics, particularly DC’s Vertigo line, and Japanese manga, although my tastes are somewhat specific within that genre – no Naruto and Bleach for me. Keep those headbands away, please.
As well as reading, I spend a lot of time drawing, occasionally pictures of Russia beating America to a pulp with a pipe. People say I’m quite good. You can make up your own mind: http://trap-kun.deviantart.com is where I occasionally upload my work.
The time I don’t spend reading, drawing, listening to podcasts, fighting crime, or building nuclear warheads, I am generally on the Internet, either opening thousands of tabs on Wikipedia, writing collaborative stories with people I’ve never met, or taking part in ARG’s (Alternate Reality Games) and being an Internet Detective.
I hope to go to Warwick University next year to study Chemistry, and hope to continue working here then, since books are such good places to conceal weapons, and the children’s area has not only a crocodile, but a SHAAAAARK.
Introducing……………..Alex
I have lived in Kenilworth my whole life and started working in Kenilworth Books last May. I have been interested in reading since I was five when the first Harry Potter book came out.
I now attend Castle Sixth Form and study Philosophy, Business Studies and Music Technology at A level. My teacher has given me a list of books that I am currently working through. Titles including Bonjour Tristesse, Ulysses and the Name Of The Rose. Aside from these deep hard going books I also like Birdsong, The Secret History and the Anthony Horowitz books about Alex Rider.
Working in Kenilworth Books is great fun. Rebecca, my co-worker, is cool if a little strange and we get along well, always laughing. As a part time job this is really good, as I like the people I work with and get to build my knowledge of literature, which helps when chatting up girls! It certainly makes a difference from School Lane Fish and Chip Shop where I worked before.
In my spare time I enjoy playing guitar and meeting friends, no surprises there. In the future my plans are to go to university in 2011 to do a Business Management degree and then the dream is to live and work in New Zealand.
Introducing…………………. Maddy
Known by some (although not from this point on!) as, “that Saturday girl,” I have been working at Warwick Books for over a year now. During that, seemingly endless, period of time I have learnt a great deal from working at the shop and thoroughly enjoy it.
In the vast majority of my free moments I enjoy hobbies such as playing on my Xbox-360, drawing and, of course, reading (Acts of Parliament included). I also like to spend a fair proportion of my life on the internet, mainly working towards opening my own website.
I collect/read/spend disproportionate amounts of money on a lot of original art, and I hope to keep increasing the amount of paintings that I possess in the years to come.
Some of my favourite authors are Garth Nix, Anthony Horowitz and Jonathan Stroud. My best lovedseries of books has to be the Abhorsen Trilogy; which is closely followed by the Keys to the Kingdom series. (Both of them by Garth Nix.)
I am currently studying for my A Levels and am taking courses in English Language, English Literature, Economics and Law.
Introducing…………………. Zoë
I started working at Warwick Books in October 2007 after moving to Warwick from Coventry. I was brought up in a family of big readers, my grandmother worked in the books department of John Menzies in Newcastle, Staffordshire and she always gave me beautiful books as presents as a young child.
I love my job here in Warwick; it’s especially fun on the days when Carolyn and I work together! I particularly enjoy searching for out of print and rare books for our customers. Last year I started up our online bookselling service, where we have our own stock titles that have gone out of print for sale.
As an art graduate, I like to continue my practice in my free time, although it takes me a while to complete each piece these days, and I have kept a keen interest in landscape photography. If you really like you could have a look at some of my work on http://zoeboulton.daportfolio.com/ I’m also passionate about genealogy and social history, and am helping to transcribe the censuses for an online organization.
My favourite books are historical novels, political diaries and sketches, and children’s picture books; I’m a big fan of Charlie and Lola. I love re-organizing the children’s books section just so I can look at the great illustrations!
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Introducing…………………. Lianna
Having been asked at school to complete a compulsory week of work experience, I jumped at the chance to spend my week at Warwick Books.
Born and raised in Warwick, amongst a family of book-lovers, I have been a keen reader for as long as I can remember; one of my earliest childhood memories is of experiencing such joy at having read, all by myself for the first time, the story of Fred the cat and his catflap. Since then, I have barely stopped reading - perhaps demonstrated by the photographs of my childhood which, more often than not, feature me sitting rather unsociably with my head in a book!
Other hobbies I enjoy include writing short stories, (short because I seem to lack the stamina as well as the time to write an entire novel), playing the flute and singing with the County Youth Chorale.
I currently go to Trinity Catholic School, where I study English Literature, German, Psychology and Music at A-Level. In the future I intend to apply to study English Literature or Creative Writing at university. After spending a really enjoyable week at Warwick Books, I can only hope that in the future I am able to find a job in such a welcoming environment, where the people are as friendly and the products as exciting!
