18 retailers attend first CRT Regional Training

On Thursday 14 May CRT and Together magazine held their fi rst Regional Retailer Training Day in Manchester at Elmwood Church, Salford. The aim of the day was to bring together retailers for training, fellowship and prayer.

St. Deny’s Bookshop, Manchester was the most local with other shops represented coming from Preston, Skipton, Whitehaven, Kendal, Birkenhead, Bolton and Huddersfi eld. Guest speakers were Eddie Olliffe, Interim General Manager, CLC International (UK) and Consulting Editor of Together magazine, who spoke on ‘The Balance between Ministry and Business’ and ‘Getting the Best from your Volunteers’. Dr. Mark Johnson who was the former trainer for Wesley Owen bookshops and is now Helps & Futures
Manager for The Printing Charity, spoke on ‘Serving the Needs of our Customers Today and Tomorrow’. The day ended with a closing thought on ‘Inspired to Succeed’ by Julian Gittings, IVP’s Area Development Manager.

Feedback we received following the day has been very positive; here are just a few of the comments:

“I strongly feel it was very worthwhile and so did my team and we came away with a to do list, they were buzzing in the car on the way home discussing the day”. Nigel Cope, Christian Book Centre, Preston

"The training day in Salford was excellent, thank you for organising it”. Marian Metcalf, Cornerstone Christian Bookshop, Whitehaven

“Just wanted to let you know what a great day we had at the regional training day. Great topics, great talks and discussions & great to meet other shop staff. We have a lot to think about and much to implement over the next few weeks and months”. Gill Chaldecot, Market Place Books, Kendal

It is our intention to hold more of these Regional Training Days; possibly one in the London area and one in Scotland before the end of the year.

If you are interested in attending or could help to facilitate we would be pleased to hear from you, please email Steve Briars, the organiser of the event, [email protected]