Christian Aid Sale - Edinburgh

21/05/2026

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/26124495.edinburgh-book-sale-raises-65k-christian-aid/

Christian Aid Scotland Edinburgh New Town Church The Edinburgh Minute newsletter Edinburgh Live

Thousands of visitors helped raise more than £65,000 at Edinburgh’s annual New Town Church Book Sale, supporting the work of Christian Aid.

17/05/2026

We are absolutely overwhelmed to share that this year’s book sale raised an incredible £67,000 for Christian Aid. 🎉📚❤️

What began over 50 years ago has once again delivered an extraordinary result, thousands upon thousands of books, puzzles, toys, CDs, DVDs, paintings..... finding new homes, queues around the block, packed bags, happy readers, aching feet, endless boxes… and an army of volunteers who made it all happen.

To everyone who donated books, bought books, sorted books, lifted boxes, made tea, baked cakes, manned stalls, put up signs, packed vans, swept floors, carried tables, recycled cardboard, and kept smiling through sheer exhaustion, thank you. Truly.

To our wonderful friends and neighbours at The George Hotel and Aberdeen Finance, thank you for sending your teams to help us throughout the sale week. From carrying tables and boxes out each morning and back in again every evening, to shifting countless heavy boxes of books around the church building. Your kindness, energy and sheer muscle power made our outdoor stalls possible, allowing us to display and sell even more books, and ultimately raise even more money for Christian Aid. We are so grateful for your support.

This sale is powered entirely by community spirit, kindness, and generosity.

Every single purchase will now help support Christian Aid’s work around the world, and that is something very special indeed.

From all of us: thank you for being part of it. Same time next year? 👀📚

Christian Aid Scotland Edinburgh New Town Church

14/05/2026

It’s our last day tomorrow 😢
But turn your sadness into gladness and fill a bag for £5!
We are open 12-4pm!!!
New Town ChurchChristian Aid Scotland

13/05/2026

The final days are upon us! 📚✨
The sale continues tomorrow from 12–6pm, with one last hurrah on Friday.
Please note that on Friday we’ll be closing a little earlier than advertised - at 4pm instead of 6pm. After an absolutely enormous week, our brilliant volunteers are facing the equally enormous task of packing everything away again, so we’re giving ourselves a small head start on the clean-up operation (and hopefully avoiding anyone still stacking boxes at midnight 😅).
Thank you for all the support, donations, book enthusiasm, and tote-bag overloading this week. There’s still plenty of treasure left to discover!

Edinburgh New Town Church Christian Aid Scotland

12/05/2026

We are so grateful to our friends and neighbours at The George Hotel and Aberdeen Finance who are helping us lift and shift boxes of books at the start and end of each day! 💪💪💪

11/05/2026

Saturday’s opening was busy and buzzy … and judging by the armfuls leaving the church, a lot of people’s bookshelves are about to become dangerously full 📚👀

We’re back open Monday–Friday, 12 noon–6pm, with thousands more books waiting to be discovered.

Pop down for “just a quick browse” and leave carrying a wildly ambitious stack of books you absolutely didn’t plan to buy.

(And yes, do not worry, we do have bags you can take your books home in 😅)

Christian Aid Scotland Edinburgh New Town Church The Edinburgh Minute newsletter

08/05/2026

After a busy 2 weeks of sorting, sifting, lifting and shifting the sale is about to commence.
One of our AMAZING volunteers wrote this poem on the eve of our sale - and we think he's nailed it.
Huge thanks Neil MacLeod for all your hard work and for this clever poem.

Edinburgh New Town Church Christian Aid Scotland

'Twas the night before the booksale
and all through the house
nothing was stirring
not even a mouse.

But over on George St, by the kirk’s granite face,
a hush held the portico, stately with grace;
The New Town Church bathed in moonlight
its pillars like sentries on guard through the night.

Inside, all was ready: the tables aligned,
the maps and the memoirs in sections assigned;
the Scottish shelves gleaming with Reformation pride,
and the art books arranged in a sweeping hillside.

The volunteers whispered their last tired jokes,
stacking the boxes for eager‑eyed folks;
and the kirk, in its stillness, seemed almost to pray
for the crowds who would gather at dawn’s early grey.

For come eight in the morning , aye, earlier still,
the faithful book‑hunters appear up the hill;
they queue in the drizzle with flasks in their hands,
discussing first editions and far‑travelled lands.

There’s the man who each year seeks “MacDiarmid, first print,”
and the woman who knows every auction‑house hint;
there’s the student who bargains with scholarly flair,
and the dealer who swears he’s “just browsing” (aye, there).

By half past, the pavement’s a festival line,
curving by St Andrews Square in a serpentine;
and the kirk doors, still closed, hold a promise inside,
of treasures, of bargains, of books long‑denied.

Then the bell gives a tremor, the latch gives a click,
and the whole waiting crowd surges forward, heart‑quick;
for in Edinburgh’s New Town, one truth never fails
there’s no joy quite like Christian Aid Booksales.

08/05/2026

07/05/2026

TikTok fun on the last day of sorting!

25/10/2025

Our cafe is open from 10-2 today!
Come and grab a cuppa and cake - or some delicious soup!