Personal Reader Project
by Harold Wonham

"This summer Harold sent me this and I can only apologise in any delay in posting up this excellent how-to guide in setting up reading groups in care homes" David Fine, Lit-Net Co-ordinator

Personal Reader Project

Since January I have been working with Shropshire County Libraries to establish Reading Groups in Residential Homes, Day Centres and Sheltered Dwellings.  The centres selected were places where the visiting mobile was already well used, and was part of the community outreach of the Library Services.

It was totally new territory for me, a retired teacher, but was thoroughly absorbing.  The following notes may be of interest to those about to embark on a similar project:-

• No two places are the same – there is no universal formula for success. In one centre the residents were bright-eyed and busy-tailed at 9 am; in another, nobody got up before 10.30.

• Meeting for 45 – 60 minutes feels about right.

• Many members will have read much more in the past than they can manage now. Encouraging the use of tapes is essential – many library users did not realise these were available. One group had a lovely time choosing tapes for their men-folk, and then listening to the tapes with them:  “It wasn’t quite my cup of tea, but he enjoyed it.  Kept falling off to sleep, of course, but then he does that all the time.”

•  Attitudes vary hugely, from “No, I’ll stick to my Mills & Boon” to others who give a short lecture on novels written about the Jewish experience.  I found members listened very well to opinions, but were unwilling to change their reading habits. “I tried that James Herriot you suggested. It was all right until they started doing things to animals. I didn’t like it then.”

•  Most Group members were rather timorous about their opinions, and apologetic if they hadn’t read much since the last time since they had seen the “Book Man”, but everybody enjoyed the sessions once they were under way. I found it best to think about including 3 elements in each session
  
  1         Discussion on books read.
  2         A brief extract or poem read out to the meeting
  3         Some news about a book or how they could make better use of the library.

•  Poetry, especially “Warning” by Jenny Joseph was very popular.  (“How lovely! I’m glad she’s breaking out.”  “It’s all very well saying that, but I hope she’s got the strength to make all those changes. I wish I had.”  “The rest is all right, but ‘And learn to spit’ – no, that’s dirty, that is.”

•  Comparisons between books and television adaptations are popular.

• The attitude of the manager varies immensely. Sometimes I was a nuisance who was barely tolerated, while in other places I was welcomed with open arms and the manager joined in willingly herself.

• Finally, don’t expect the numbers interested to be huge, and be prepared for sessions to suddenly be cancelled because relatives are visiting, or the chiropodist is expected, or somebody fell and is now in hospital.

I can be contacted at harold@wonham.freeserve.co.uk.  The person with overall responsibility is Susan White, whose email address is Susan.White@shropshire-cc.gov.uk.

Have fun!  And watch out for octogenarians acting like flighty fifty-year-olds!

 Harold Wonham

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