Get into Reading

Want to meet new people in your area? Want something new to read? Want to try something a bit different in a welcoming and relaxing environment?

You want to try Get Into Reading.

Get Into Reading is a free service offered through Wirral Libraries in partnership with The Reader Organisation and NHS Wirral, bringing books and people together, in weekly shared reading sessions.

What is Get Into Reading?

Get Into Reading groups meet every week in many libraries and in a wide range of other community venues across the borough. Each week a short story or an installment of a novel is read aloud by a trained facilitator who pauses at key moments for informal discussion amongst the group.

People get to know one another, as they talk about life’s big issues (and some of the smaller ones too!), through the stories and poems they’re reading. But there’s never any pressure to join in: you can just sit back, relax and get lost in the story, if you want to.

Who’s it for?

Everyone! Non-readers, keen readers and everyone in between. The groups are relaxing, stimulating and very welcoming to anyone who wants to come along.

It’s a good way to get out of the house each week and meet new people, as well as discovering new books and the pleasure of reading.

Don’t just take our word for it though! This is what some of our current group members say about their reading group:

• ‘I don’t know what it is but after this group on a Tuesday afternoon I always leave feeling better. It's like a life tonic.’ (GIR group member – Wallasey Library)
•  'I’ve lost so much since being unwell but now I’ve found somewhere I belong, somewhere I’m appreciated, somewhere I’m respected and listened to. These things are important to everyone but hard to find when you break down and fall out of the life you knew.’ (GIR group member – Wallasey Library)
•  ‘I LOVE the reading group - it’s done so much for me, it really has. It’s been my salvation.’ (GIR group member – The Lauries Centre)
• 'For many years I have had a lot of pain in my body, but when I am in the group the reading and sharing of stories helps me to focus my mind away from the physical pain and forget about it for a couple of hours...it kind of lifts you out of the pain.’ (GIR group member – The Lauries Centre)
• ‘I am a lonely pensioner and this reading group is usually the only time in the week when I get out of the house and talk to people. It has expanded my social skills and my social life as I now go to the theatre and events with other Get into Reading members.’ (GIR group member – Bebington Library)

There are now Get Into Reading groups all over the country, and as far afield as Australia and Denmark, but Get Into Reading began in Wirral, with a single group in a Birkenhead Library back in 2002 and there are now more than 100 sessions taking place each week across the borough.

When are the groups on?

You can come along to any of the groups listed below, or to find out more information contact your local library or ring Get Into Reading’s Kate McDonnell on 07973 247707

Mondays

Book at Breakfast, Woodchurch Library, 9.30am-11am*

Read and Relax, Ridgeway Library, Noctorum, Wirral, 2.30pm-3.30pm

Tuesdays

Book at Breakfast, Birkenhead Central Library, 9.15-am-11am*

Feel Better With A Book, Birkenhead Central Library, 11am-12.30pm

Get Into Reading, Saughall Massie Parish Centre, Wirral, 10.30am-12.00pm

Book at Breakfast, Leasowe Library, Wirral,10.30-12pm*

Book at Breakfast, Bromborough Library, 10am-11.30am*

Feel Better With A Book, Wallasey Central Library, 1.30pm-3.30pm

Get Into Reading, St Catherine’s Church, Tranmere. 6.30pm-8pm

Get into Reading, Ridgeway Library, Noctorum, Wirral, 9.30-11am

Wednesdays

Unwind With A Book, The Lauries Centre, Birkenhead, 10.30am-12pm

Time For Me, The Lauries Centre, Birkenhead, 1pm-2.30pm

Thursdays

Book Time Out, Eastham Library, 11.45am-12.45pm

Afternoon Tea, Eastham Library, 2:15pm-3:15pm

Feel Better With A Book, The Lauries Centre, Birkenhead, 10.30-12pm

The Book Break, The Lauries Centre, Birkenhead, 1pm-3pm

(A reading group especially for carers)

Book at Breakfast, St James’ Library, Birkenhead, 10am -11.30am.*

Book At Breakfast, Rock Ferry Library, 9.30am-11am*

Book At Breakfast, Seacombe Library,9.30-11am*

After School Group for Children, Seacombe Library,3.30pm-4.30pm

Fridays

Feel Better With A Book, The Lauries Centre, Birkenhead, 11am-12.30pm

Feel Better with A Book, Seacombe Library, 2.30pm-4pm

Book At Beechwood, Beechwood Library, 11am-12pm

(* with free breakfast for those who attend)