Stroud Valleys Women’s Book Group celebrate 25th anniversary

CURRENT and former members of a reading group held a party recently to celebrate 25 continuous years of book reading and discussion.

Stroud Valleys Women’s Book Group was launched on September 20, 1990.

At the recent celebration, organiser, Lynda McGill, compiled a list of every book the group had read in those 25 years.

“The first book we read and discussed was “Love in the time of cholera” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

All the books are selected at an annual planning meeting, using a simple voting system: the books with the most votes form the basis of our programme for the following year.

“Discussions can become quite heated as we all have our own responses to the book of the month.”

Over the years, the group has read 300 titles, including fiction, travel, biography, science fiction, poetry, classics, autobiography, self-help – there is no restriction on the kind of book they will consider.

Lynda McGill continues: “Members have come and gone – and come again – over the years. I think we’ve probably had about 150 members in all. We currently have 15 members, who come from Stroud and the surrounding area. The group is very informal, meeting in our own homes and offering simple refreshments of tea and biscuits.”

“I think the reason the group has continued for so long is the mixture of informality and planning ahead: members know which books are to be read at any given time and can make sure they have them available in good time.”