Writers deluge reopening of flood-hit Cumbria bookshop
Hunter Davies, Ann Cleeves and Jacob Polley among a tide of authors supporting the family-run New Bookshop in Cockermouth
Alison Flood,  guardian.co.uk, Monday 5 July 2010

 Chaos rains ... flooded Cockermouth high street. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

Crime writers, poets and celebrity authors came together yesterday to support the reopening of the bookshop in Cockermouth that was devastated by floods last year.

One of the casualties of the floods that hit Cumbria in November, the New Bookshop in Cockermouth has been trading from temporary premises for the last seven months. Yesterday, after extensive rebuilding, locals and visitors came out in force to support the reopening of the shop, which has been run by the same family for 40 years.

"Hunter Davies came down because he lives locally, crime writer Ann Cleeves and poet Jacob Polley were there, and we had local thriller writer Matt Hilton too," said the shop's owner Catherine Hetherington. "People are so pleased to see us back – we've had so many people say they are so pleased to see another step being taken towards Cockermouth getting back to itself."

A handwritten poem by the poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, written at the time of the flooding, was auctioned, with all proceeds going to the bookshop, while the prize-winning Cumbrian poet Polley wrote a poem for the occasion, "A Book of Water", which he read yesterday to shop visitors.

"Yesterday morning was torrential rain but as the day went on it got nicer and nicer, and from 12 we were packed full for five hours," said Hetherington.

The opening was also backed by a host of authors from publisher Pan Macmillan, including Ben Fogle, James Cracknell, Scott Turow and Andrew Marr, all of whom donated signed copies of their titles to help the bookshop get back on its feet.

"To see the hard work and devotion of the New Bookshop being destroyed overnight was heartbreaking and we at Pan Macmillan are determined to help in any way possible," said Geoff Duffield, sales director at the publisher. "Independent bookshops are the lifeblood of our business and as publishers we utterly depend upon the passion and commitment of booksellers."