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Prospero's Project

Supporting a love of books & reading

Raising money for charity through a selection of hand crafted Christmas stockings and gifts sold by Much Ado Books.

Our Stockings

Please note: Our online stocking shop is closed for now - new stockings will be offered in due course!

About Us

What is Prospero's Project?

We began Prospero's Project as an offshoot of our award-winning bookshop, Much Ado Books, in 2007.

The Project supports a variety of fund-raising efforts with money going to charities and organisations that promote a love of books and reading.

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How does Prospero’s Project raise money?

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Christmas stockings

Most of our money comes from the Christmas stockings we make and sell at Much Ado. We fashion the stockings from old blankets that are too worn to be warm and decorate them with felt, ribbon and other materials.

Designs range from simple Christmas trees and Santas to gorgeous antique buttons and lace. Some stockings are based on designs of book covers, but many are original. They are available at Much Ado and from our website.

Events and special projects

We hold fundraising events throughout the year and have developed a range of other crafty initiatives such as selling our own sought-after handmade badges.

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Gifts and donations

We’re grateful to have received gifts and donations of all shapes and sizes from a wide range of individuals, some who prefer to remain anonymous and some from well-known personalities – for example, the family of Denis Healey gave us boxes of his classical CDs to sell!

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Prospero's Project going forward

The Trussell Trust

Prospero’s Project is raising money to provide new books for people who need to use foodbanks, in partnership with the Trussell Trust, the organisation committed to stopping hunger in the UK.

We have already made donations to two foodbanks in the Trussell Trust group, and the books have been received and enjoyed with great pleasure. Children in particular love having their own books, which can offer a welcome distraction from some of the difficulties of daily life.

Our focus is on books for people to enjoy, with thrillers proving extremely popular. But we have been providing all kinds of books, including histories, literature, cookery and activity books for adults.

Brighton publisher, Myriad Books, has donated more than 400 volumes for distribution and we hope to involve more publishers as the initiative widens. The books we give are all new, but we use specialist suppliers of remaindered titles to ensure the money raised goes as far as possible.

Whilst proving successful, the program is still in its infancy and we are learning about which kinds of books are most welcome – and the different kinds of clients using foodbanks across Sussex.

But we are hugely encouraged to hear from volunteers that the books are received with great joy!

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How you can help

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Can You Help our Wooly Problem?

People often ask how they might be able to help Propsero's Project, and we very much appreciate it!

Besides buying stockings - and spreading the word about our them! – maybe you could help solve our wooly problem - finding enough old blankets!

We always need old, battered wool blankets that are too ragged to serve any more. We can 'felt' them (simply washing them in very hot water, to bind the wool a bit more closely) and then fashion them into the stockings we sell. We like both solid colours and patterns; the main thing is that they are 100% wool.


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Do you enjoy crafting?

If you have a crafty side, you could participate in one of our stocking workshops, which also raise money. One of them is currently scheduled, but if it is popular we'll set up more. Participants get to decorate their own stockings, using felt and other materials we provide - view our schedule of upcoming events, which includes workshops.

We're already looking ahead to 2018. If you work to develop a love of reading (we define the remit pretty broadly) that might like to be considered for our fund-raising, get in touch.

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