St Giles Hospice has added a new chapter to its story with the opening of a brand new bookshop in Lichfield.

Based at 22 Market Street, the shop will help fund vital care services for local people living with cancer.

The sale of fiction, travel and reference guides, biographies, cookery, children’s stories and antiquarian volumes will also help and other treatment of other serious illnesses.The shop builds on the popularity of the charity’s branch in Tamworth Street, Lichfield, which sells clothes and homeware.

It is the 16th store in the successful St Giles group.

Lynwen Truesdale, director of St Giles Hospice Shops, said: “We’re delighted to have opened our latest bookshop in Lichfield, which has a wealth of fascinating titles, including bestsellers and a wide range of ‘good as new’ books at great prices.

“With hobbies, crime novels and classic fiction, we cater for a wide variety of interests and we’re encouraging local people to pop in and browse our shelves.

“We would also like to thank Lichfield District Council chairman Councillor John Wilks and his consort Pam Moore for performing the ceremony.”

The new shop also sells a range of new goods including stationery and gifts, and greetings cards will be on sale throughout the year.

St Giles’ Bookshop in Lichfield is open Mondays to Saturdays, 9am-5pm and can be contacted by calling 01543 254664.

Last year St Giles Hospice Shops raised more than £500,000, with every penny going towards funding the care offered by the hospice at its facilities in Whittington, between Lichfield and Tamworth, and Sutton Coldfield, or in patients’ own homes across the region.

Stores are located across the hospice’s catchment area, which ranges from Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Atherstone in the east, to Cannock and Walsall in the west, and from Burton and Uttoxeter in the north, to Sutton Coldfield and Coleshill in the south.

St Giles spends over £5.5million every year providing its specialist services and with less than a third of this funded by the Government. The charity relies heavily on the support of local people to enable its valuable work to continue.