We are a group who meet weekly at New Parks library in Leicester and read aloud together in order to feel happier. It works!
We read poems, short stories and extracts of novels and see where the conversation goes. Sometimes we do some writing.
To see how we are getting on we use The Hill of Happiness which is a picture of a hill. At the bottom it is dark and gloomy and sometimes we have needed an extra subterranean extension but the further up we go the better we feel.
We go round at the beginning and point out where we are on the hill. Sometimes this takes half the meeting as people have so much to say! Afterwards we go round again and generally people feel a bit higher up the hill.
Some of our members have been self confessed hermits who now look forward to Thursday and a trip to the library, some have been sad in the past, or lonely and the group has brought together a bunch of people who have become friends.
We have been meeting since May 2011 and we always welcome new members, people can just come along on Thursdays at 1 and join in.
We have taken part in the reading festival in Leicester and our next trip is to dress up and celebrate Dickens 200th birthday.
