An afternoon extravaganza of cartoons and caricatures will celebrate opening of enlarged book department at the North London Hospice Barnet shop

A chance to see live cartooning, sit for a caricature or enter a raffle for a set of signed copies of the latest books are some of the highlights planned for the grand opening of an expanded bookshop at the North London Hospice shop in Barnet High Street.

After recent donations and house clearances the shop has built up a large stock of second-hand books ready for sale – paperbacks £1 and hardbacks £2.

Over thirty copies of newly published books – all signed by authors – will be prizes in a raffle to be held during the official opening at 12.30pm on Friday 22 May.

Cartoonist Glenn Marshall – of Private Eye, Punch and The Spectator fame – has already been hard at work in preparation for the opening.

His depiction of Hamlet, Batman and other literary figures will be on display as he takes his position at the front of the shop and demonstrates the work of a cartoonist.

A fellow High Barnet resident and well-known caricaturist, Simon Elinas, will be pen in hand ready to draw caricatures.

Simon, who trained as a graphic designer, has provided illustrations for a wide range of newspapers and magazines.

During lockdown he started drawing a caricature of a celebrity connected with all 272 tube stations on the London Underground.

Working behind the scenes planning the launch has been another High Barnet resident, Professor Neil Martin, who has been a lead volunteer at the shop responsible for sorting and pricing donated books – see above with some of the hospice staff, Dora Pavlou, assistant shop manager, Emily Cronin, retail development manager, Professor Neil Martin and Maxine Aldridge, assistant shop manager.

Neil said he agreed to help sorting books donated to the North London Hospice six months ago after a massive donation of 60 boxes of books from a house clearance.

“We have been fortunate with recent house clearances, and we had so many books donated we decided to turn a section of the shop into a proper book shop.

“After all Barnet is the largest of the North London Hospice’s 21 shops and we have done well recently – we resold one valuable donated book for £250 and a bookseller paid £400 for a whole series of books.

A highlight of the opening will be the raffle – tickets are £1 each – and the signed copies of over 30 new books, worth around £500, have been sorted by assistant shop manager Steve Fletcher (see above).

First prize will be a set of signed books; second prize any 20 books from the bookshop; and a third prize of any ten books.

Neil, a professor of psychology, has donated signed copies of some of his 13 books on psychology, horror and crime.

Confirmed books for the raffle include:

Joel Morris, TV comedy writer (Cunk/Mitchell & Webb/Viz)/podcaster/author (Ladybird spoofs, Philomena Cunk)

James Henry, Green Wing & TV & radio comedy scriptwriter (Pagans)

Dr Nicky Brunswick, psychologist (Dyslexia- A Beginner’s Guide)

Matthew Sweet, broadcaster, TV drama writer and author (non-fiction books)

David Quantick, Thick Of It/VEEP/TV Burp writer (2 x DQ’s novels)

Dan Kaszeta -poison specialist (Toxic)

Paul Stevenson, Editor, Haunted magazine (will send signed copies of mag)

John Rain, author & podcaster (Thunderbook, Superbook)

Adam MacQueen, Private Eye staff & novelist (will send lots of thriller novels)

Prof Gina Rippon -psychologist (The Gendered Brain, The Lost Girls Of Autism)

John Grindrod, historian (Concretopia, Iconicon, Tales of The Suburbs, Outskirts)

Prof Adrian Furnham, psychologist, former Sunday Times columnist (six of his 100+books)

Alessandra Pino, author (The Gothic Cookbook)

Will Maclean, co-creator of Broken Veil podcast (The Apparition Phase)

Nick Jones, local journalist (Miners’ Strike, 1984)

Louis Barfe, journalist & author (Morcambe & Wise & Les Dawson biographies)

Kim Newman, film journalist & writer (some of hKim’s many books, including his new one)

Lindsey Scott, author, creative writing director (Suffolk Haunts)

Neil (Psychology, Psychology-Beginner’s Guide, Psychology of Comedy, Horror Theory Reader)