Nicola has been our Book Club Ambassador since April 2022. Her role has since expanded to include sending our teen journals, scrapbooks and books to Reading Force families around the world. Nicola also sends certificates with a new book and scrapbook to any families who use our FREEPOST service to return their scrapbook and a new teen journal/book to those who send in their book review sheet. Here she talks about her role and a great recent read!
Can you tell us a little bit about your Ambassador role?
Our book clubs are for everyone – bookworms, first time book club members and everyone in between, all are very welcome. Our book clubs help our members to meet new people in their military community, build a strong sense of connection and reduce feelings of isolation. We welcome veterans, reservists and their families, as well as ex-service families (due to divorce, separation or bereavement). Overseas communities can also set up a book club using the BFPO service. They are for juniors, seniors, and adults.
My role is to share ideas on how to run a book club and help volunteer coordinators to choose suitable books from our available titles. We have a great selection of books available, and we will send out 3 books to each member from this list*. These books are free of charge for each book club member to keep. I can help with questions to ask at the book club meetings, how to keep your book club going after the three free books from Reading Force and much more.
* Our children’s book clubs must be held in a location such as a school, library, community centre, and not a private residence. Volunteer coordinators of children’s book clubs must hold a recent Enhanced DBS/Disclosure Scotland/AccessNI check.
Can you give us an example of what a typical day is like for you?
I love that my days vary quite a bit, but they always involve a LOT of books and envelopes. I visit my local Post Office regularly to drop off the parcels for our book club members around the world. In just over two years, I have posted more than 1,700 books to our book club members.
My days also vary between the seasons as many of our book clubs are set up during the autumn or winter. I think people are often happier to stay indoors with a great book to read when it is cold and dark outside, but our titles are amazing all year round! They are a great summer holiday read and some of our book club books are well travelled as they go on holidays around the world with our book club members.
I work with volunteer coordinators to set up book clubs in a wide variety of military and veteran communities. I enjoy spending time on a Teams video call (or a phone call) with the coordinators, finding out more about their community and how our book clubs can help their members to make connections. Most of our coordinators are spouses/partners or have a community-based role through the HIVE, welfare service or similar. We also have coordinators from charities and organisations who support those with a military/veteran connection as well as schools who are looking for a fantastic way to support their Armed Forces pupils. As our book clubs can be run online as well as in person, we find that we are able to reach members who are keen to join a book club and make new friends but, for varying reasons, are unable to attend in person. All of our book club books are free, there is no cost to any of the coordinators or members.
When I am not setting up book clubs and posting books, I write articles for the Families Federation magazines, newsletters and posts for our social media as well as ordering (lots of) envelopes and checking my book club book stock levels!
You work with veterans too, can you tell us how and what this involves?
Many of our veteran book clubs are set up through charities or organisations that support veterans and their families. Our book clubs are a great way for veterans of all ages and service backgrounds to get together with likeminded people for a chat. We are very keen to reach out to and involve veterans. Lots of ex-military people assume military charities no longer support them – but we welcome veterans and their families with open arms! We are able to offer alterative formats (Kindle and Audible) where appropriate, which enables more veterans to be able to participate in the book club.
What are your favourite aspects of your job?
This is a tough question, I love lots of things about my job and I can’t choose just one! One of the aspects that I really enjoy is contacting the coordinator to let them know that I have posted the first set of books to the members of a new book club and that their book club is now officially up and running. I also love keeping in touch with the coordinators after the three free books from Reading Force. It is good to hear how the book club has progressed, and which books they have chosen to read next. Some coordinators have kindly sent pictures from their book club meetings or written a blog for our social media and website.
You have achieved a lot in your time working with RF – do you have particular ambitions/ideas you would like to see in action?
People are in such a variety of situations – not everyone has children or grandchildren, and others have children in boarding school, or have older children so they are no longer doing the school run and miss out on those ‘school gate’ or parent/toddler group opportunities to make connections. Our book clubs can be a fantastic way for people to feel part of a community (and enjoy a great read!) regardless of family set up.
I would like to support more book clubs for our serving personnel/spouses/partners who are overseas. Being far away from home, away from friends and family, tricky time differences, difficulties with securing employment whilst overseas and other factors can mean that some spouses/partners are isolated. More info about our amazing book club titles is available on our website – www.readingforce.org.uk/book-club-suggested-titles.
Thank you for answering these questions!
One last question, can you tell us a little about a book you’ve read recently (children’s or adult) and would you recommend it to the Reading Force community?
My favourite book of the year so far (and I think it will remain a firm favourite for quite some time) is What it Takes, My Playbook on Life and Leadership by Sarina Wiegman. I have been following the Lionesses for a while now and it was no surprise that I received Sarina’s book as a gift. What it Takes is a truly inspiring memoir, taking us on an epic journey from her earliest days of playing football, to coaching international teams and her dedication to inspiring future generations of young girls as she strives to promote inclusivity in football.
“What you see, you can become, but what you can’t see you can’t become.”
I don’t often reread a book, but this is definitely one that I am looking forward to reading many more times.
Whether you have an interest in football or not, I definitely recommend this book to our Reading Force community, especially to the family members of little Lionesses!
Keep reading!
Nicola