Tuesday Group
The Tuesday café book club have been able to resume our meetings at the Damson Tree and have read a variety of books chosen by our members. We all enjoyed The Truth According to Us by Annie Burrows , Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon .and Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. All the members suggest books which they think will be worth reading, and we work through the list.

Monday Group
When we realised that we were not going to be able to meet up in person for ages, we started monthly Zoom meetings, and these have been very successful. My husband already had a Zoom account in place, so we were able to use that, and have continued to do so.

We had a good year, reading books on diverse subjects and genres. We started the New Year in Scotland with "The Hunting Party” from where we travelled to Russia for “A Gentleman in Moscow”. From Moscow we went to the scorching heat of Australia with "The Dry.” After a month in London, we were off to The White House with “Becoming Michelle" Obama. She moaned quite a lot about politics. Strange really, being the wife of the President, we thought. (The book could have been a lot better—written than it was). Nice lady, though, and it was interesting to read of her childhood and early years. We were soon on our travels again and found ourselves back in time in “Munich” in 1938 and 1939 - a very interesting read. The remaining months were British-based again, and we ended the year in war-torn London during the Blitz reading “Dear Mrs. Bird”, which was quite a poignant story.
Olga Hampson

Wednesday Group
Our new small group of 4-6 were only able to meet twice before lockdown last year. We have however managed to zoom meet, with a few technical difficulties, or in my garden or front drive, as allowed, to exchange books. We started challenging our reading habits in September by doing a group read Kate Morton - The Clockmakers Daughter. Followed by Simon Mawer -The Glass Room; Allie Cresswell -Tall Chimneys; Kate Mosse - Burning Chambers; Hannah Kent -Burial Rites A couple of members fell by the wayside for various reasons, but two new ladies joined. So it’s looking fairly positive for the future, when we can meet again.
Sharon Turner