I would like to nominate Clare Diaper as a community legend for all the work, paid and unpaid, to promote the best of Southampton through the world-famous October Bookshop and other projects like Station Walks (a book focusing on a collection of local walks accessible by trains), and the community engagement work through Southampton Collective, a community interest company focusing on creating connections for a healthy sustainable Southampton. I attended many of Clare’s inspiring community engagement events, where people explored what kind of city Southampton could become, or Transition Network events, where we learnt about new ideas and models that could support modern democracies. Clare also became the manager of the independent October Books, a world-famous bookshop, when a human chain moved the books from their site to the new shop a couple of hundred meters down the road. Clare raised the £400K to buy the new sight in a former Lloyds Bank office. Since then, the bookstore has been promoting local authors by organising talks and exciting debates on various topics. The place is a jewel in Southampton’s crown, in my opinion.​

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