Today's guest is Millie Ginnett, who founded the South London Book Swap after being put on furlough during the first UK lockdown in March 2020. With a lot more free time on her hands and limiting her social interactions, Millie took up reading more. However, where previously she would have donated books to charity shops after finishing them, her usual donation spots were also closed because of the lockdown. With the books piling up on her shelves and no where to go, she posted the books on her local forums for free, offering to drop them off as part of her daily exercise. Within 24 hours, all 20 books were gone.

Realising there was a demand, she set up the South London Book Swap group on Facebook and within two days had collected over 200 books from across South London. After cleaning and organising the titles into genres, she posted the titles available on a first-come-first-serve basis. And the book swap was born.

Since its launch, the book swap has grown to over 800 members as well as branched into 10 local sub-groups, a sister group in Fiji and a dedicated book club!

Millie joins The Lipstick Gang to chat about how she started the swap and how it's evolved to a self-run platform that not only brings second hand books to people but also human connection and a sense of community during these challenging times. She shares amusing stories of people she's met thanks to the swap, including local authors who have donated signed copies of their books to rotate within the swap and grateful members who have offered Millie baked goods and wine vouchers as small tokens of gratitude. And we talk about the amazing coverage the book swap has received including being featured on Humans of London, The Guardian newspaper as well as mentioned and commended by London mayor Sadiq Khan. 

We also dive deep into our mutual love of Tooting, a south London neighbourhood that both Millie and I are based, discussing local Tooting businesses that we love to visit.

Millie is proof that anybody can make a difference and start something that sparks change and inspiration in others. A community initiative that was born out of a hobby, during a worldwide pandemic, that has evolved into a platform that brings people together!

You can find out more about The South London Book Swap on Facebook.

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