Tesco Book Swap Raises £500 for Walmer RNLI
A community book swap, set up by former Walmer Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) volunteer crew member, now Dover volunteer crew, has successfully raised £500 for the charity.
On Sunday 26 April, shortly after the regular Sunday morning exercise, Walmer RNLI lifeboat station received a welcome visitor. Former Walmer crew member and now active volunteer crew member with Dover RNLI, Pete Watson, stopped by the lifeboat station to present a generous donation raised through his workplace.
In addition to his RNLI volunteering, Pete works as a lead manager at Tesco in Dover, where he took it upon himself to support the charity in a creative and community-led way. He organised an honesty-based book donation and exchange scheme, inviting customers to bring in books, swap them, enjoy a new read and often return them again for someone else to find. What began as a simple idea quickly grew into a steady stream of happy readers and shoppers.
Through this scheme, Pete successfully raised £500 for the RNLI, showing his ongoing commitment to saving lives at sea but also showing the importance of small community actions that can make a meaningful impact. Pete’s efforts were warmly received by the Walmer crew, who were grateful for his contribution.
Denis Brophy MBE, Lifeboat Operations Manager at Walmer, said: ‘A big thanks to Pete and all the customers at Tesco for helping raise funds to allow us to continue saving lives at sea.’
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