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Reading Round at Havens Hospices

This course has been an absolute pleasure. It has inspired me to start writing again. Thank you.
Havens Hospices outpatient.

The RLF’s Reading Round community groups offer a unique opportunity for people who love reading to come together and talk about great writing. Each group is led by one of our writers, who begin the session by reading a short story or poem, which is then shared with the group so that people can discuss their ideas and responses together.

Last year, novelist Syd Moore began facilitating a Reading Round group for outpatients of Havens Hospices, which provides care and support to adults living with incurable conditions and their families in Southend, Castle Point and Rochford. Participants who took part in the Havens Hospice Reading Round group said they loved the process of being read to, and being able to share their love of literature in a safe space where they didn’t have to think about their illness.

I love it more than anything I would have chosen to do. Amazing, amazing, amazing.
Havens Hospices outpatient.

Hospice UK, a campaigning group that exits to promote and protect hospice care for all those who need it across the UK, spoke with some of the participants of Syd’s Reading Round groups for Havens, looking at the benefits and outcomes of the group for its outpatients. You can read the article on the Hospice UK website this Dying Matters Awareness Week.

Syd also recently shared this reflection about the experience of leading a Reading Round group at Havens Hospice:

“On my last and final session with the group, I read them The Orange by Wendy Cope. A simple poem, yet so moving. In the discussion that followed one of the participants remarked upon how his diagnosis has re-set the way he thinks about people, how there are over 2000 volunteers in Southend and how, generally, people are good. With all the bad news around at the moment, he said, we often don’t pay attention to small, local acts of humanity – a supportive smile, a considerate neighbour, a friendly word from a stranger. There were murmurs of agreement and another member told us about her neighbour, also in end-of-life care, who was recently struggling at the supermarket with loading shopping onto the conveyor belt. The young man behind her in the queue started to help. When she got out her purse to pay, he put his hand up and said, ‘Please put that away, I’m getting this. My treat.’  The story prompted another of the group to observe, ‘We are so obsessed with ‘becoming’ that we forget about ‘being’. Now, I am where I am, I have found peace in ‘being’.’

His comment really struck me. So much so that the following day, when I was writing my RLF report, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. We are required to comment on ‘a particular session and explore it in more detail… one that went particularly well or badly or gave rise to particular discussion points.’ Instead of compiling a factual case study that morning, something else came out of me, but I included it nevertheless. Because, really, moments like this illustrate the impact of the RLF’s work:

‘I am sitting at my desk today, reflecting on yesterday’s session. I am noticing the sunshine, really noticing it. For perhaps the first time this year. How the leaves on the apple tree outside the window have burst all over the branches. And I am noticing that I haven’t noticed them before. Though they must have been growing for weeks.  And I am noticing how, when the sun catches them, they are the most vibrant shade of green, and the shape of them – like little limes. They are the colour of willow leaves at the height of summer ripeness. And I am thinking about how I have always wanted to become a successful writer and have a big house with a garden and a willow tree at the end of it. And I am thinking about how, lately, I have felt sad and bitter about my lack of financial security and how I live in a small, terraced house and have not achieved what I thought I would at this age. But today I am looking at my apple tree and noticing its unique loveliness. And for the first time in a very long while I am ‘being’. And I am happy.’”

Reading Round is part of our Writing For Life programme of workshops and groups. We also have a number of Reading Round groups for members of the public – find your nearest group here.

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