Wokingham Literary SocietyHistory |
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Wokingham Literary Society has had an unbroken, vigorous existence ever since its formation in 1955, and has complete extant records of its proceedings from that year to the present, beginning with fascinating hand-written school exercise books, to smart typed files for the 1990s. The founder, John Chapman, who came here from Altrincham, was a civil servant who travelled daily to London to his work in HM Stationery Office, but who gave unsparingly of his leisure time to the life of Wokingham, both culturally and civicly; he was also a founder member of Wokingham Theatre, and served the town as a Labour councillor, being elected mayor in the mid-1960s. Soon after his arrival here in 1954 he successfully interested the then Wokingham Branch County Librarian, F Baguley, in the idea of a local literary society. From the autumn of 1955 the society met fortnightly from September to April at Montague House, where the library was then housed. There were 18 members in the first session, who paid 6d each at each meeting (changed the next year to an annual subscription of 5/-); costs were few, as the society had free use of the Library for its meetings. For many years there were just three officers, Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer - no committee. There was no written constitution and no rules, or qualification of age or area of residence. If you were interested in books and talking about them, that was enough. The core of the society's activities was (and still is) the papers on literary topics given fortnightly by members to the other members, through the winter months. The society's literary interests have always been catholic, ranging through particular topics, like the Short Story or the Bloomsbury Set, to individuals like Shakespeare, Graham Green, Ibsen, Pat Barker, or just individual works, like Stevenson's Travels with a Donkey or Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit. It is an impressive fact that in every winter programme throughout the years at least half the topics are new - ones that have never been spoken of before. So while some writers have received attention several times - Dickens 7, Shakespeare 6, Virginia Woolf 6, George Orwell and DH Lawrence 5 each - in the 45 years of the society's existence a total of 169 different writers, from 15 different countries, have been presented and discussed. Fairly quickly, in the late 50s and early 60s, further activities were added to the year's programme: occasional play-readings, an annual dinner, theatre visits; and then, from 1977 on, literary outings in the summer to places like Jane Austen's house at Chawton or Gilbert White's at Selborne; all these continue to the present day. Over the 45 years of its existence the society has experienced two periods of comparative stability, and two of rapid growth. In 17 years its members averaged 17, and the attendance at meetings 11; but then in the next seven years membership doubled, reaching 34 in 1979, and stayed roughly at that level till 1989. Since then it has risen steadily again and now stands at over 60. The reasons for the two plateaus, followed by two substantial rises, are not readily discernible, although, of course, the population of the town has been increasing in fits and starts throughout the period too. The chief characteristics of the society have been its friendliness - new members have always been encouraged to add their comments on the talks given; its readiness to innovate; and its flexibility - for example in its place and time of meeting (currently at the Baptist Church Lecture Room every first and third Thursday from September to April). Ray Stagles Wokingham Literary Society Home Page Updated 14 January, 2002 |