Today is the anniversary of the raid by HM Customs and Excise in 1984 when they seized imported stock worth thousands of pounds and brought criminal charges against the staff and directors. A Defence Campaign was set up to raise funds and awareness as we fought the charges.

Independent bookshops all over the country had collection boxes or petitions and gave us huge support. The charges were dropped after a two year battle. Pictured are letterheads of some of the bookshops. Of the eleven featured, only two remain - Housmans and News from Nowhere.

The wonderful Lavender Menace, which was our equivalent in Edinburgh, also had many books seized by Customs. They've recently resurrected doing pop-ups and had an excellent play written about them Love Song to Lavender Menace which toured widely.