Group report - surviving pandemic

During the first lockdown in 2020 we set up a WhatsApp group and kept in touch through this and emails, sharing quizzes, jokes and newsletters. One of our members became tech proficient and set up Zoom meetings for us (thank you Diana!) We began Zooming fortnightly for social chat and general news sharing. Once the library allowed access we were able to resume reading our monthly books, meeting by Zoom once a month for book discussion, but keeping up the in-between Zooms for social reasons. During summer 2020 we managed some garden meetings in person. Further lockdowns meant no face to face discussion but we continued as before, with monthly newsletters updating the group on literary happenings eg prize winners, recent book reviews and other book related news.

Books we have read recently include: The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood, Whistle in the Dark by Emma Healey, Love is Blind by William Boyd and Fell Murder by E C R Lorac.

Sadly, two of our members have died in the last few months: Daphne Somerfield, who on being registered blind, intrepid as ever, continued reading by audiobook well into her nineties; and Sue Humphrey, well-known to you all, admired for her boundless energy and commitment. Both contributed a huge amount to our group and we miss them very much.

Jen Cayley


Go to the Reading 2 group page