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For a
detailed street map of how to find Tonbridge School
use this link


How to find Tonbridge School for the fair and lit fest:
From M25:
Follow the A21 South towards Hastings, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge; take the
Weald/Sevenoaks/Hildenborough turn off onto the B245 and continue
through Hildenborough and on to Tonbridge. You will see the entrance to
Tonbridge School on the right before you arrive at the main traffic
lights at the junction with Shipbourne Road and the High Street. Drive
in here and park around the back of the School where you'll find plenty
of parking; then walk through the archway and turn right for Old Big
School, there will be signs out to guide you in once you are on the
school grounds. Exhibiting sellers can park at the front by driving through
the High Street entrance; drive in the main gate between the two boars
heads.
From South:
Drive/walk
all the way through Tonbridge High Street, (left out of the railway
station if you are coming by train) over the town bridge, past the
Castle on your left, straight over the traffic lights with the Ivy House
pub on your right, Tonbridge School is less than 100 yards on your left;
through the Boars Heads main gate or, if driving, continue to next traffic lights and
turn left towards Hildenborough and Sevenoaks; soon after turning you'll
see the main gate to the school on your left; drive in and follow road
around the back of the school, where you'll find plenty of parking, then
walk through the archway and turn right for Old Big School, there will
be signs out to guide you in once you are on the school grounds.
Fair Latest:
there will
be a chance to play Bookchase, a new literary board at the next
fair....Katherine Reynolds, author of children's book, Born To Dance,
will be coming to the April fair all the way from Somerset....David
Barry, Frankie Abbott from hit cult comedy Please Sir will put in
another appearance, signing his latest novel....expect more poems from
local fans of verse...Clayton
Caine launched his debut novel, Please God I Want to Win the
Lottery, at the October 28th fair....Sally Varlow was on hand all
day to sign her latest book The Lady Penelope, a Tale of Love and Politics in
the Court of Elizabeth I...local children's writer, Brian
Gamage, took over at children's story time to read from his latest
book.....Met children's author Anthony Horowitz at Hay Festival and
asked his publisher if he would do a slightly smaller event, he didn't
show up to fair; now there's a surprise! fingers crossed for next
time....several colourful local poets turned up for the poetry slot at
2-30pm including hip hop poet Luke aka Doctor Wottrich and Helen Long
aka Prude Fledgling who gave us a superb sneak preview of their own
shows...it was also fantastic to see one or two of the book sellers
getting the urge to stand up and read out some verse, although
admittedly it's not everyone's cup of tea...Poetry
groups: calling all local groups for the open mic' session starting at
2-30pm.....John Burton
demonstrated his skills at book binding
and restoration...
...Tom Baker ,
the real Doctor Who and a local resident, has an open invitation to the
fair (he'll still have to pay his 50p entrance fee though!)
About that
50 pence entrance fee: some have said that we shouldn't charge people to
get into a fair just so they can go in to spend money. These days 50
pence will just about buy you a can of fizzy drink, a packet of peanuts
or crisps, a mars bar or the like, a quarter of a cup of coffee from
Starbucks. Boot fairs charge 50p entry; some antique fairs charge two of
three pounds; record collector fairs about £4 and craft fairs about £5
or more. Dorking Book Fair charges £1 and some of the PBFA book fairs
charge up to £2.50. That 50 pence, times the 3 to 400 or so people who
turn up to enjoy the fair allows the organisers to publicise the event
in the in the Kent and Sussex Courier, the Sevenoaks Chronicle, the East
Grinstead Courier, the Kent Messenger, the Tonbridge Insider and Book
and Magazine Collector magazine. This gives the fair a wider coverage
across the whole of West Kent and into East Sussex as well as reaching
book collectors nationally. So all the visitor has to do is fork out the
price of a bag of crisps in order to help stage a successful event for
which book sellers often travel from London, Brighton and all over the
South East and indeed, in one case, Kings Lynn in Norfolk . I hope that
justifies the entrance charge.
More
About the fair
The West Kent Book Fair and Literary Festival is held
in the superb surroundings of Old Big School hall twice a year, usually
in April and October.
There's ample free parking.
You cannot miss the school's impressive facade
as you arrive at the North end of Tonbridge from the Sevenoaks/Hildenborough
direction.
See directions
and map above.
Please contact the organiser, Mark Richardson, on 01732 363000 for
details
Tables and
space for a book stack are £27 for
exhibitors
The fair was formally the Tonbridge Book Fair, which
was originally held at the Hilden Manor Hotel until it burnt down in February
2005 (Nothing to do with us!)
We really have landed on our feet though
because you could not hope for a better venue than this one.
The picture
above shows the outside; and the inside, with its oak panelled walls
(see picture on left,) create
just the right atmosphere
the lighting is perfect
there's disabled access
flat loading for
sellers
more than 20 booksellers
children's story time
poetry at the fair
and the literary
festival flavour makes the public want to linger for longer at the
event
You'll usually find about 25 booksellers selling a huge range of
rare and out-of-print books as well as many bargain new and secondhand
books.
The fair has grown from nothing to this in two years and is
getting more and more popular with the book buyer from a wider and wider
area
believe it or not someone actually came over from
Canada especially to coincide with the April fair. Now that's keen!
It's common for visitors to the fair to travel
from all over the South and beyond.
The Literary Festival is
growing in popularity
Initially it was just a few poems at the book fair; now it has
grown into poetry readings, children's story time, book
binding demonstrations, poetry competitions, book signings by local authors,
children's literary quizzes, creative writing advice, publishing advice,
historical talks and much more....
Other Fairs Mr. Books exhibiting at
in 2008:
DORKING: (Dorking Halls, Reigate Road):
April 27th; June 29th;
September 28th; November 30th.
Tonbridge Garden and Home Show: May
4th and 5th (Tonbridge Park)
FARNHAM: dates to be agreed.
Some pics from past fairs

 

Hundreds turned up to April
2008 fair despite the freak snow!
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