Group Category: Literature

This group started in February 2026.

We meet monthly and take it in turn to choose and then introduce the book. At the following meeting the book is discussed and members voice their thoughts and opinions. If unable to attend a meeting, members are encouraged to contribute by emailing in their comments.

This group started in March, 2006
We are a friendly group of less than 10 members. Our aim is to increase our knowledge of poets and to enjoy reading and listening to poetry. We meet in a comfortable environment where we take turns to read our own choice of poems on a previously agreed theme. A few of us write and read our own compositions.
At each meeting a new theme is selected for use the following month.

Spring in White Horse Lane (Denmead)
Before the vernal equinox,
Before the rose and hollyhocks
The songbirds start their lovely choir.
Consulting the celestial clock
The sun turns up its fire.
Along the banks the celandine
Announces that the weather’s fine.
A primrose shows its yellow head,
A leaf, which I thought was dead,
Shows on the wild clematis vine.
A baby rabbit soon appears,
A cuckoo’s call assails my ears.
The blackbird and the speckled thrush
Are building nests in every bush.
And smaller birds, like the male wren
Who builds not one but almost ten,
His fussy mate must then select
Where every chick will stretch its neck.
Hedgerows now as white as snow
Where the blackthorn bushes grow.
A field mouse rubs its sleepy eyes,
A pheasant gives its startled cries.
How little warmth it takes to bring
Those treasured moments we call spring.
Ray Pratt

The Magical Place
The most magical place, a place to see,
At least as a child is seemed so to me.
A beautiful pond shaded by willows,
Where in the spring the anemone grows.

Frogs and small fish, easily caught,
And no one else knew it, or so I thought.
This place was mine and I still think of it so.
Whenever I dream that’s where I go.

I would spend hours just watching the fish
If there’s one place to return to this is my wish.
The crystal clear stream that ran from it’s spring
With minnows and sticklebacks and wild birds to sing.

In summer a paddling pool, in winter to skate.
At hay making and harvest staying up late.
The placid old farm horse came for a drink.
The best place on earth, I always think.

We moved away and the old place was sold,
The builders moved in and it struck my heart cold
Those fields and the farm, the pond and the stream
Now a thousand houses or more it would seem.

Lost are all signs of my magical place
Except in my memories which can’t be replaced
Sixty years on, with a tear in my eye
This is the memory I will have ‘till I die.
Ray Pratt

The farm and fields referred to were Old Hartplain Farm which was located nearly a quarter of a mile north of Hambledon Road, Waterlooville, now the site of what is known as Berg Estate. Ray did not live on the then derelict farm, no one did, but his father had bought and rented some land there adjacent to their home. The fields were under used and remained as described until 1958 when they moved out.

This group started in June, 2025.
We are a small friendly group that shares knowledge and inspiration with other members about writing creatively.

This diverse group of book lovers experience a range of genres throughout the year. The book box is a revelation every month, like the last unwrapping of pass-the-parcel; we never know what is going to emerge. 

The discussion is never boring as the members in the group all have their own thoughts and opinions on the theme, characters and the quality of writing. Discussions are always amenable and thought-provoking, as every members’ opinion is valued, with members influencing each other to embrace new authors. 

Generally, all the books are well received but occasionally this is not the case!

We grade each book from 1 to 10 at the end of each session. The numeral values can range from 3 to 8-9, or even 10 on occasions for the same book!!! No one’s opinion is ever wrong as we are all different.

Portsmouth Library Service provides our books free of charge. These are some of the books we have experienced :

This is a random selection of some of the books the group has read and enjoyed over a number of years.

When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman - this novel was given an overall 7 by those present

Beyond the Dreams by Imbolo Mbue - this book was given an overall 7 by the attendees

No Lovelier Death by Graham Hurley - this read was given an overall 5

The Hundred-Year-Old Man who climbed out of the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson - this book was graded 8 by those present

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

Four Letters of Love by Niall Williams

The Bookseller of Khabal by Asne Seierstad

The Kingdom by the Sea by Paul Thoroux

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

The Dark Side of Love by Rafik Schami

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

In Pale Battalions by Robert Goddard

Fried Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flagg

A Man Called Ove/ by Fredrik Backman

Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

The Odyssey by Homer

Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd

Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult

Suite Francias by Irene Nemivroski

A Town Like Alice by Neville Shute

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

The Spy Game by Georgina Harding

This group started in September 2021.

Each month a book is chosen for group members to read. The following month we meet to discuss the book over tea/coffee. Another book is then chosen for the following month.

Quiz winners!

This group started in September, 2012.

The book of the month is chosen by the reviewer and is circulated to the group at least four weeks beforehand. We meet in the reviewer’s home - refreshments are provided.

The books are a pretty eclectic mix and are mostly fiction; however, biographies, autobiographies and non-fiction in general are not precluded.

Meetings are not scheduled for August and December when we usually have a ‘bit of a social’.

Book group 1 dates back to the beginning of Waterlooville u3a in 2006.

To date we have enjoyed reading and discussing well over 150 books, drawn from a wide range of genres.

We meet monthly and take it in turns to choose and then introduce the book. Then everyone is keen to voice their thoughts and opinions. If unable to attend a meeting then members are encouraged to contribute by emailing in their comments.

We all agree that being a part of the group has broadened our range of reading and increased our enjoyment of literature.