Celebrity boost for book stall charity
A hospital charity bookstall has received two books written by Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine to boost its fundraising efforts.
The stall at Lincoln County Hospital is run by volunteer Jo Burgess and is about to celebrate its second birthday.
It will be open tomorrow (Thursday, May 28) from 9am to 2pm.
Jo has raised more than £2,000 for patients and staff since she started the stall in June 2024 and she contacted Jeremy to further boost her efforts.
The stall is Jo’s way of giving back to the hospital, which treats over 950,000 patients a year. She comes from a family of healthcare professionals and has been a patient herself on numerous occasions.
Jo has rheumatoid arthritis, a debilitating disease-causing chronic pain and stiffness in her joints, and for the last 29 years has undergone multiple major procedures including hip and knee replacements.
In October 2025, doctors detected a tumour on the right side of Jo’s bowel and she underwent surgery to remove part of her large intestine so surgeons could remove the tumour, which thankfully was not cancerous.
Jo’s connection to the NHS runs deep. Her dad served with the ambulance service for 40 years; her mum worked on the switchboard at Lincoln County Hospital and both her grandmas cared for patients at St John’s Hospital in Lincoln.
Jo wanted to follow in their footsteps and trained as a student nurse at Sheffield Royal Infirmary for two years before she became ill. Although she never got to qualify, Jo is proud to have been brought up with the NHS and to be a volunteer.
She said: “I just love doing my bit to try and help staff and patients. I wanted to do something different for the bookstall for its second birthday, so I reached out to authors inviting them to send me a book. I never imagined the response I would get!”
Jeremy Vine responded to Jo’s message on social media with a couple of signed editions.
“I was really excited to hear from him. I would love it if we could get him to come and read to patients. That would be just perfect!”
So far Jo has received about 230 books including contributions from other well-known authors such as Ann Cleeves, Rick Stein and Peter May. Actor and author Ardal O’Hanlon has also pledged a donation.
Jo has even bagged some special editions with certificates of authenticity. Books continue to arrive and Jo is excited to see how many will be on the stall on the day.
“I’ve really enjoyed working on this and connecting with so many lovely people. I Just hope I can continue to raise as much money as possible for United Lincolnshire Hospitals Charity.”
Charity Manager Ben Petts added: “We are so proud of Jo. As a treasured volunteer, she is a wonderful ambassador for the charity, giving her time freely to support the fantastic work that we see happen daily across our hospitals. Please do visit this unique bookstall, buy one of her signed books and show appreciation to Jo as she works tirelessly to raise vital funds to make our patients lives that bit better.”
The book stall will be held in the corridor outside of the Health Records Department.
