Nestled among the cobbled streets of Haworth is a bookshop themed along the lines of strong women and it couldn’t be run by anyone more fitting. A woman who decided to write her own story in a bid to fulfil a creative dream. Spoiler alert - it’s a tale with a happy ending!
Diane Park embarked on a second career in her fifties in a bid to embrace a burning creativity that had been suppressed during decades of working in the corporate sphere.
Wave of Nostalgia is an award-winning independent bookshop in the heart of Bronte Country and 64 year-old Diane has created a literary hub visited by locals and tourists alike. With the former parsonage home of the Bronte sisters now a museum, the popular visitor attraction is little more than a stone's throw away from the shop which now attracts world famous authors for book talks and is in the running for a national accolade.
It’s a far cry from running vintage stalls each weekend as a ‘toe in the water’ experiment to see if she could leave the corporate world behind to pursue what she had always wanted to do.
Diane, a mum of four and grandmother of eight, says: 'While I had hoped to go to university to do something creative, things changed when my mum died when I was 15 years old. After finishing school, my Dad got me a job in a bank and I just got on with life and went on to work in many different positions. I was in my early 50s and I realised I was far too young to be unhappy for the rest of my life. I was reading the actress and comedian Miranda Hart’s book at the time and that was the inspiration for me to change my life. I thought if I don’t do it now, I never will.'
A week off work was all Diane needed to make a plan. Armed with a notebook she penned down her thoughts and chatted to those close to her about possibilities for the future. Several friends suggested she sell her home-made clothes which she had stitched both for herself and friends.
The name for Diane’s business came, inadvertently, from a friend as they bounced around ideas. She says: 'We were chatting and I was trying out different names but nothing seemed right when my friend said ‘all the stuff you make is great, it gives me a real wave of nostalgia’. I screamed ‘that’s it!’ and that is how the name came about.'
So in 2013 Wave of Nostalgia was born. Each weekend she would run stalls at 1940s themed events selling up-cycled objects, bunting, clothes and gifts. She then booked space in a pop-up shop in Barnoldswick in Lancashire to road test running a shop. This proved to be a real learning curve. She says: 'I learned what stock I needed, how much I needed to sell, how to display stock and how to talk to customers. I didn’t realise it at the time but I was actually formulating a business plan.'
Her new career was up and running and then eight years ago a permanent home was found in the picturesque village of Haworth. The shop came up for lease with the option to buy later and Diane seized the opportunity. Selling gifts, clothes and petticoats as well as a selection of books, Diane put roots down in the idyllic village and all started well. Then Covid and lockdowns happened and sewing had to stop as Diane was unable to meet people to measure them up for garments.
Determined not to let her dream slip away she looked at alternatives. She says: 'I was reading up and researching and I heard chief executives of businesses say that in times of crisis such as war and the pandemic, that people turn to books as reading gives people comfort and an escape from reality. That is when I decided we would become a bookshop. I think my husband Ian thought I had gone mad.'
Diane sourced more books and started selling them online and found there was a real appetite for what she was doing. The rest is history and she employs four part-time staff and is open to the public seven days a week.
June celebrates Independent Bookshop Week and Wave of Nostalgia has been making a name for itself at the national British Book Awards. Having been named amongst the finalists for the Northern region of the Independent Bookshop of the Year Awards, they recently found out they were the regional winners. This means they will head to London for the awards ceremony where the national winner will be revealed.
It isn’t hard to see why they have caught the eye of the judges. Bright blue dressers, floor to ceiling shelves and wooden tables house almost a thousand tomes all ready for book lovers to browse among. There are no clear sections or books ordered alphabetically. Rather, Diane has curated the books to best showcase the whole range of strong women celebrated within the pages. It mainly focuses on fiction and non-fiction by women and subjects such as suffragettes, feminism, LGBT and conservation. It also sells handmade clothes and gifts.
The West Yorkshire bookshop also holds regular author events and talks. Last year they hosted 30 events and this year promises to be even busier with publishers and agents now keen to include them on author tours. In a room above the shop, and in a vaulted ceiling cellar below, writers and poets have visited to talk about their latest works. This is something that makes Diane pinch herself. 'I love being a bookseller,' she says. 'I get to meet the most astonishing people - the authors are just super special and it is wonderful to introduce them to customers.'
Such authors have included crime writer Elly Griffiths, American fantasy author TJ Klune, children’s writer and illustrator Kate Pankhurst and Leeds based poet James Nash. Yorkshire writers are regular visitors including Liz Flanagan from Hebden Bridge, Karen Powell from Sheffield and Haworth’s own Bronte expert Michael Stewart.
The shop’s best-selling book to date is ‘The Strange Woman’ by Yorkshire’s Steph Shields with more than 500 copies having been sold over the past two years.
Excellent customer service, expert knowledge and a desire to spread the word about both great women and great reads is at the heart of what Wave of Nostalgia strives to offer. Diane is at the helm to deliver all the strands.
Having left school in her teens, Diane has finally found her calling. 'My passion is my qualification,' she says. And she has certainly passed with flying colours!
waveofnostalgia.co.uk
