Legendary TV presenter Bill Collins had a passion for books, that's why at his funeral his family asked for a donation to be made to Dymocks Children's Charities in lieu of flowers.
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Culburra Public School and Wayeela Cooinda Preschool in Nowra East were the two schools to enjoy the benefit of Bill's legacy when the large donation of books was made on Wednesday.
Bill Collins' daughter-in-law Johanna Wilson was honoured and thrilled that so many people donated.
"It's because of the people who donated that we have produced this amazing library," she said.
Bill Collins, known as Australia's 'Mr Movies', loved reading. He had an extensive book collection of his own, having built his own library which housed between 35,000 and 40,000 books.
"He started borrowing books from his mother who was a librarian, shipping home the books that she bought for the school and he'd read them all," she said.
"Then every Saturday they'd go to the bookstore and he started with one or two books and he ended up with an extensive collection.
"He was very passionate about reading and literacy for children."
About 158 books were donated to Culburra Public School. Teacher librarian Lucy Robertson said the books would make a big difference and help fill a few holes in the library.
"We don't always have the budget to get the full list that we'd like but with this donation we were really able to get some of those things on our wishlist," she said.
"A lot of the library budget needs to go to technology so to have this money quarantined for just books is a great thing."
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The school has a strong reading culture and students from a variety of backgrounds.
"Some of our kids start with a very strong knowledge of books and a lot have never seen a book before they start," Ms Robertson said.
"We need have a library collection that extends to the good readers, but also supports our struggling readers and keeps them engaged."