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Window shopping yesterday and I noticed a striking black and white photo of the grey haired gent who I think owned Chener Books in the display, simply captioned 1951 - 2018. If this means what I think it does then I'm very sorry for his loved ones and just wanted to say how much I liked visiting Chener Books, and will continue to do so.


Admin please delete if inappropriate of if I've got the wrong end of the stick.

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https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/202381-chener-books/
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That?s a nice memory of John, DulwichBornandBred. I have two which I hold dear. The day when I walked in and didn?t see him in the middle of the piles of books he was sorting out until I suddenly saw his head emerge. The other one was when he decided to install a new till on the last shopping day before Christmas and of course it proved trickier than expected. ;-)


It?s good to hear that Chener will continue. We will support it, we absolutely will.

DulwichBorn&Bred Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Thanks Sue. I didn?t see that thread so I?ve only

> found out today via this thread.



Wasn't meaning to criticise, hope you didn't think I was, I just didn't want to repeat the information on here.


We too have very fond memories of John, and will continue to support Chener books.

John was a local legend and was rightly the cover 'star' of the first issue of the "Dulwich Diverter" newspaper two and a half years ago. At the paper's launch party (I write the crossword for it), he and I had a big chat, mainly about late 60s West Coast music as he was wearing a Moby Grape t-shirt in the photo on the front of the paper. Lovely man and he'll be much missed.

He certainly liked to do things differently and that is part of the charm.

I like Rye Books too but I?m fond of Chener Books because it?s quirky and the kids section at the back has given my son lots of fun rooting through all the books.



Monkey Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> That?s a nice memory of John, DulwichBornandBred.

> I have two which I hold dear. The day when I

> walked in and didn?t see him in the middle of the

> piles of books he was sorting out until I suddenly

> saw his head emerge. The other one was when he

> decided to install a new till on the last shopping

> day before Christmas and of course it proved

> trickier than expected. ;-)

>

> It?s good to hear that Chener will continue. We

> will support it, we absolutely will.

Please don?t worry, I didn?t take it as a criticism at all, I was just surprised I missed that thread.



Sue Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> DulwichBorn&Bred Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Thanks Sue. I didn?t see that thread so I?ve

> only

> > found out today via this thread.

>

>

> Wasn't meaning to criticise, hope you didn't think

> I was, I just didn't want to repeat the

> information on here.

>

> We too have very fond memories of John, and will

> continue to support Chener books.

I worked quite closely with John on some stuff, so I was in the loop, but was asked not to go public as the family needed the space.


I've been trying to think of a suitable way to remember him and have come up with the idea of planting a special tree on the pavement across the street from the book shop, where the previous plane tree was removed after being hit by a car.


Am speaking to tree officers about this, so let me know what you guys think and I'll try to keep you all updated so that you can say hi to The John Tree every time you walk by.

Thanks for all of your input and support regarding the tree idea.


FYI, I've flagged it with the council's tree officer with a view towards having something planted in the spring. I'm not sure what species yet... although Lordship Lane has a distinctive plane avenue (which I planted with one of the very first CGS budgets), we may be able to plant something more distinctive. Let me know if you have any specific ideas as I'm working on some possibilities to discuss with the officer.


I don't think we'll be able to mount a plaque on the tree itself, due to council protocol and vandalism probabilities, but let's try to do something special...


Will stay in touch!

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