Marie and Colin Telford from The Hayling Island Bookshop attended a gala reception on the Terrace Pavilion of the House of Commons on Wednesday 26th October as finalists in the 2011 Parliamentary Best Small Shop Awards.

The Reception was held on the Terrace of the House and hosted by MP’s who had nominated small shops from their constituencies. The Hayling Island Bookshop reached the final ten and was presented with a certificate by the Government Whip Mark Francois MP.

The All Party Parliamentary Small Shops Group is a parliamentary group promoting the interests of small shops, within government, the media and among consumers, and ran, for the second year, the Parliamentary Best Small Shop Competition, with the intention of positively promoting the value of small shops by celebrating what they contribute to their local communities.

Nominations came from MP’s all over the country and the Hayling Island Bookshop was nominated by Rt Hon David Willetts, MP for Havant and Minister of State for Universities and Science. The nomination covered the huge programme of events supported by the Bookshop each year as well as the work of the Bookshop within the local community including their four year sponsorship of The Hayling Island Scarecrow Festival and their extensive work in local schools particularly in Portsmouth in partnership with Portsmouth School Library Service.

Marie Telford owner of the Bookshop said “Although we didn’t win the overall award, we were delighted to make the final ten and be invited to the House of Commons. We take the work we do in schools with authors and with our various Festivals very seriously and believe that it helps to build the readers of the future.