Chesterfield Library Listening Group



The Listening group we run for Visually Impaired People in Chesterfield Library started as part of the countywide Millennium Literature Festival in the 2000. Our first meeting took place on a November day with three people present. The people who did attend had taken quite a bit of persuading, but we needn’t have worried as it soon became obvious that we all shared a love of books. It may have been a dull day outside but our small group certainly made it shine as we chatted about Alice Taylor’s Country Days over a mince pie and coffee.

Now four years later we have 25 members, a mix of men and women aged from mid twenties to late 90’s. We provide Community Transport for the members who are unable to get in on Public Transport and it has become one of their favourite outings.

Several authors have given talks to our group and have all been very interesting but the one that everyone seems to remember the most is the evening with Gervase Phinn. As he talked about his life and writing laughter was bouncing off the lecture theatre walls and everyone had a really great time. The group asked many questions and Gervase signed books afterwards. One of the most poignant memories we have is of Frances  asking him 'Do you mind if I feel your face to get an idea what you look like?' Gervase kindly agreed and afterwards he replied: 'Do you mind if I give you a kiss?'  He promptly did and it was a very happy lady climbing on to the bus that night! Although it’s over two years ago the group still talk about the event and are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to listen to his latest book. Barbara who is a retired teacher, regularly chuckles over the tale in which the school’s Christmas play had to be cancelled due to 'the Virgin Mary having nits'!

Sometimes the group gives a thumbs up to the books, other times opinions are varied and on odd occasions the books get a resounding NO!! Much to our surprise this was the case with Louis De Berniere’s Captain Correlli’s Mandolin, after its huge success both as a novel and film we thought our group would enjoy the chance to listen to it. How wrong we were, they positively hated it. And one thing our group is not, is shy about saying when they don’t like something. Frank, who is very widely read and will try anything, said: 'Why waste time reading such an awful book when there are so many beautiful books around.' Flo said, 'It was quite funny at first when there was the incident with the pea and I thought it would continue to be humorous, but how wrong I was!' So I am sorry Mr De Berniere your book did not go down well with our group at all, but who knows maybe we will like your next one.

We also like to read poetry and we were fortunate last year to have Diana Syder, a local poet, join us for a workshop as part of the National Poetry Day. Initially this frightened some of our members. But the mix of ages, experiences and opinions soon combined well in the creative mixing pot and we produced two fantastic poems Everyone joined in and had lots of fun.  Some of the group had never written poetry before and this experience really set them off to explore further!

A couple of our members are Braille readers and although they enjoy listening to books their preferred reading method is of course Braille. So when Pat Beech asked if we would like to hold one of our meetings at the National Library for the Blind in Stockport, we jumped at the chance. It was with some trepidation that we set about organising this event but very soon the Ulverscroft Foundation very kindly gave us a grant towards the transport costs and the NLB paid for lunch. So the financial side of things were all looked after and that just left the planning of suitable outfits and answering queries such as: 'Is it form to tip the driver on these occasions?'

On a beautiful morning in September 2003 fifteen visually impaired people, five staff and two guide dogs (Nash and Trish) boarded the Community Transport bus to begin our adventure. As the bus pulled out from the basement at Chesterfield Library in to the sunshine we breathed a sigh of relief; after all the ups and downs of organising the day we were on our way!!

Everyone enjoyed the trip through the beautiful countryside and we gave a running commentary on the view from the window. On arrival Pat and her staff helped everyone off the bus and up to their conference room, where we had a very welcome cup of tea!

Barbara has been a member of the NLB for seventy years, and all the staff came up to meet her and talk to her about the books she liked. She enjoyed every minute and the staff went away with lots of titles for her to have in the future.

After lunch we talked about all our favourite books, followed by a tour of the library. It was a joy to see a couple of our members browsing the shelves of Braille titles for the first time. We felt very cruel when it was time to drag them away for the homeward journey and for a while we lost Carole in the midst of the rolling stacks of Braille titles.  As we arrived back at Chesterfield the group were unanimous: it had been 'a grand day out!'

We find it hard to believe just how successful the group has become. Over the last few years’ friendships have been formed and problems shared as we meet over tea and coffee to indulge our passion for 'A Good Read'!