places: IDEA STORE BOW rescue of a stressed lady who has rushed in: “I need to print off my ticket, I’m going on holiday first thing in the morning, please, please, help me!” Students arrive for their ESOL class. As well as basic literacy, there’s help with job skills and higher-level qualifications. 3:00pm: In the Book Break group you can just sit back and relax whilst listening to stories and poems, or join in with the reading aloud and the follow-on discussion. A visitor stops by the current exhibition, ‘16 Days of Violence Against Women’. “We had local artist Dan Jones exhibiting here recently,” adds Liza, “and we often show work that’s been produced by Idea Store learners.”
3:30pm: Youngsters start coming in after school. There’s a choice of groups on different days: Boys’ Book Club, Girls’ Book Club, Computer Club, Teenage Book Club and Homework Club. Back at the Help Desk, a visitor wants to enrol for a course, and another is keen to find out about the Saturday Art Club. Members of staff rotate their duties throughout the day – dealing with returns, helping in the children’s
area, checking in new stock, and floor walking. 6:00pm: Keen foodies start to collect their goodies from Food Assembly – seasonal fruit and vegetables, bread, cheese and meat ordered online from a range of farmers and other suppliers. 6:30pm: Sewing machines whirr away in a ‘Make a Basic Dress’ class. “At other times,” explains Liza, “the Learning Labs are used for chair-based yoga, spoken English classes, and by groups such as the Bow Bengali Forum and Bow Haven.” 7:00pm: An informal Book Group discusses this month’s book. Students are concentrating hard, head down over their laptops in the quiet Study Area. 9:00pm: The end of another busy day. Idea Store Bow is at the heart of the community – not only a place for borrowing books, but also for lifelong learning, for meeting old friends and new people. As Liza puts it, “It’s just about serving the customer from the minute you open and to the minute you close.” Idea Store Bow 1 Gladstone Place Roman Road E3 5ES Idea Stores are created and managed by Tower Hamlets Council. www.ideastore.co.uk/idea-store-bow EAST3 2016 | 19