Congleton NWR Book Group

Our feelings on being shortlisted:
 
 "We only found out about the competition a few days before it closed, so it was a rush to enter, but well worth it!  It made us stop and realise just how good our group is.  It's great to know the judges think it's good too."
 
Details of the group:
 
Congleton NWR Book Group was started in 1974 - and one member, Sue Parkinson, has been coming for all 31 years.   Currently there are 21 readers, all members of the Congleton branch of the National Women's Register, ranging in age from about 40 to 80.  Some of them are retired, and current and former occupations include journalism, acting, environmental planning, social work, midwifery, broadcasting, counselling, teaching and lecturing.   One member is French. 

Name: Congleton NWR Book Group

Where from: Congleton, Cheshire.

Size of group (men/women): 21 (women)

How long you’ve been meeting: 31 years

Where you meet: In each other’s houses

What your reading group means to you:
Book Group night is something to look forward to every month. It provides good company and intelligent conversation. I’ve always been a voracious reader, but it’s an opportunity to share my love of books, to stop and talk about a book rather than just picking up the next one. It’s also an excellent way of finding new authors – for example, we recently read one of Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins detective novels. I would never have picked it up in a shop or library, but I enjoyed it so much, I’ve since read several more in the series.

What makes your reading group special:
We’re very proud of the fact that our group has been going for 31 years – that means we’ve read more than 300 books. Well, Sue has –she’s been coming since the beginning, and Hilary , Alison and Dorothy have been with us for nearly as long.

We all love reading – that’s why we’re there, of course – and we enjoy talking too. One of us leads the discussion in each book, usually researching the background on the internet. The talk is wide ranging – and it’s rare that we all agree!

We don’t argue about what we’re going to read; although we submit a list of things we’d like, the final decision is taken by the library. It’s serendipity, and we all enjoy the adventure into new literary worlds. Choices include modern fiction, poetry, travel books, international writers, biography – there are no limits.

At one meeting some members chose tales to read aloud to the rest – we rediscovered the childhood joy of relaxing and listening to a story.

We have close links with another NWR reading group in Stoke on  Trent, about 15 miles away. We have a joint meeting at least once a year. This year we read Pretty Girl in a Crimson Rose by Sandy Balfour which is about, among other things, crosswords. We finished our discussion by solving crosswords, or perhaps I should say trying to solve crosswords!

We enjoy other activities associated withy reading too. We’ve heard talks from authors – Jim Crace, Barbara Trapido, Gillian Clark and, with other NWR groups, Priscilla Masters. We followed up the Mrs. Gaskell lecture with a guided walk around Knutsford, her home town.

As well as all this intellectual stuff, we’re actually a nice bunch of people! We enjoy a chat over coffee and biscuits when the serious business is over, and have a proper party at Christmas (though usually with a literary quiz or game of some kind). Many long lasting friendships have been formed through the group, and newcomers are always made welcome.

Our moment of glory came in 1997, when we were invited to take part in a BBC Radio 2 programme presented by Miles Kington called Reading Music. Members still have tapes of themselves discussing three books which had music as their theme. Ruth says the level of discussion was at a very much higher level than usual; we had read those books as if we were about to take an exam on them.

The group is exciting. We’re eager to hear what other people have to say. It’s always a magic moment when Ruth produces next month’s book from the library’s green box. Sharing our reading keeps alive the joy of words and stories, the thrill of learning something new. The group provides a challenge, good company, fun and entertainment. We think – no, we know – we’re the best!