Two Lurgan women have taken their love of literature and turned it into a book club – which after just one meeting has already exceeded their greatest expectations!
Friends Sarah Magee and Sarah-Lee Robb have both long been avid readers and despite being friends for several years they had each never realised their shared passion.
As two busy mums-of-three, when their hands aren’t full with chores and motherly duties, they are often cupped around a hardback or paperback work of fiction, where pages upon pages provide a momentary opportunity that so many of us are familiar with to unwind and escape.
But their heads were – more often than not – left full of thoughts, feelings… and questions.
Keen to converse with other like-minded people, Sarah had started a TikTok page last May under the handle ‘sarah.readss’ which today boasts a healthy following of almost 10,000 bookworms with her top performing video receiving over 1.1million views!
Her digital book club-of-sorts was booming and it proved there was a hunger for a good powwow on prose. But after chatting with Sarah-Lee the two soon realised their local area was lacking a physical book club, where people could meet up to socialise or discuss their thoughts on the latest page-turner.
The two immediately got to work with the help of a friend in Newtownabbey who Sarah met through TikTok, Amy Johnston, to plan their first meet up.
Speaking to Armagh I, Sarah explained: “We just wanted somewhere for everyone to go. We are like really big readers and there was nowhere in Lurgan that would have anything like this so we decided to just go for it.
“I had made the TikTok because I had no one to talk to about books. I didn’t event know she [Sarah-Lee] read – even though we are friends!”
They chose the name ‘That’s What She Read’ for their new community and Sarah-Lee managed to secure a physical space for their meet-ups on a first floor room in Lurgan coffee shop Icons.
But before they even had a chance to hold that first meeting, Sarah boasts that they had already outgrown the space!
She explained: “The owner, Aine, actually offered us a space upstairs in Icons but then whenever we made our Facebook page we grew really big, really quickly.
“So then Aine said she would close for us and we could have the whole building and we were delighted – we needed it because it was full. We had just over 30 people attend the first meeting.”
The meet-up held on March 29, was videoed by Sarah who posted the clip on the That’s What She Read Facebook page – and instantaneously she began receiving even more interest.
“I put the video up and everyone started messaging the page looking to get in. So now we have over 50 members!” she laughed.
To ensure everyone began on the same page, the 30 members picked their first read ‘The Reappearance of Rachel Price’ by Holly Jackson by WhatsApp poll – which Sarah says is a great way of working out which book to read next. Sarah also included a quiz in the group which gave readers the opportunity to test their knowledge of the text once completed.
The trio – including Amy – are keen to make the meetings as dynamic and social as possible. They even included bookmark and bracelet crafting opportunities, provided refreshments and held a book swap at their first event.
To help with any overhead costs, they held a raffle and a ‘Blind Date with a Book’ sale where members could purchase a mystery book gift-wrapped with a coffee, bookmark and chocolate bar inside.
Their club is open to anyone – male or female – who would like to attend, of all ages 18 and over (due to the adult content of some novels).
The next meeting is scheduled for Saturday April 26 from 3pm – 5pm at Icons on Church Place, Lurgan.
Attendees can drop in or send a message to the That’s What She Read Facebook page here.
