Author: Bookseller

The Marmalade Trust has a simple mission: ‘To create a society where we recognise that loneliness exists and support each other to find new social connections’. In 2017, the Marmalade Trust created ‘Loneliness Awareness Week’, with the goal to reduce stigma and encourage people to talk about loneliness openly and honestly. TMT has launched a ‘Winter Companions’ project to bring people together in the colder, darker months, as well as a long running ‘Christmas Lunch’ tradition in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Northern Somerset. This brings Marmalade users together at a time they may otherwise feel isolated.

TMT accepts volunteers as part of their connection building programmes, quoting the benefit of intergenerational friendships, and how loneliness is no longer just something the older generation experience. Webinars are also available for corporations to learn how they can better improve the working environment for their colleagues. In 2017, the Campaign to End Loneliness found that loneliness at work costs UK employers £2.5 billion every year, so TMT’s webinars have been utilised by companies including KFC, Selfridges and the Teenage Cancer Trust. As a charity, they go above and beyond to report on their mission – supporting those who feel lonely.

This year’s theme for Loneliness Awareness Week is #ConnectionMatters , a message we at House of Books & Friends are behind 100%. As a CIC with a mission to tackle social isolation and loneliness, we believe that human connection and social interaction are paramount to ending feelings of loneliness. Our booksellers are always around for a natter, we have our Chatty Cafe table for anyone who would like someone to talk to, and we aim to continue building our social calendar to create as many events as possible to help build a sense of community here in Manchester. Keep an eye out on our socials for other ways you can get involved this week and in the future, and follow TMT to see the amazing work they do.

Loneliness Awareness Week is an annual campaign created by the Marmalade Trust which aims to raise awareness of loneliness in the UK. This year’s theme is Connection Matters. Human connections, no matter how big or small, are important to everyone.

At House of Books & Friends, we understand why connections matter. The person you always see on your commute, the delivery guy you often interact with, the barista that makes your morning coffee. Although not necessarily deep connections, these weak ties can keep us from feeling socially isolated. At the bookshop, we aim to cultivate these connections everyday, as well as creating meaningful conversation with our customers. It is important to us to raise awareness, improve understanding and reduce the stigma surrounding loneliness – and LAW 2023 is a great way to do that.

In our first six months, we have hosted a social evening, have a monthly book club, hold author events, are part of the Chatty Cafe scheme, and cultivated everyday connections.

What’s On: Loneliness Awareness Week 2023

Over the course of this week (12th-18th June) our social media channels will be full of content about Loneliness Awareness Week, and there’ll be some things going on in the bookshop, too!

Tuesday, 13th June: Chatty Tuesday

We’re inviting everyone in store to have a good chat – with our booksellers, between friends, or you can meet new people at our Chatty Cafe table! On social media, we’ll be asking people to share their stories about loneliness, and some of our booksellers will be talking about their experiences with feeling lonely.

Wednesday, 14th June: Charity Spotlight

We’ll be highlighting some of our favourite charities on our social media and showing what great work they do in alleviating social isolation and loneliness. 

Thursday, 15th June: Book Recommendations on Loneliness and Connection

We’re talking books on loneliness and connection on Thursday, including a bookshop.org list for you to browse. 

Friday, 16th June: Feedback Friday

We’re asking for your feedback! What you love about House of Books & Friends, what we can do better, if we’re a place where you have made connections. We’re always trying to do better and there’s no feedback we value more than our community’s. 

As always, we’ll be signposting to services that can help you if you are feeling lonely and socially isolated. Please take a look at our resources page and Marmalade Trust’s website. The Cares Family have created a report all about building connections especially for Loneliness Awareness Week 2023, too.

With the first meeting of our very own book club fast approaching, we’re sharing some guidelines on hosting your own book club for those not able to make it and fancy having a go at their own reading group. Quite a lot of thought goes into preparing for a book club meeting, especially if you’re leading the session. We hope that these guidelines will help you cultivate a safe, meaningful and fulfilling reading group.

First and foremost, there are lots of decisions to be made. How many people would you like in your book club? How often would you like to meet? Will you read a specific genre, or take suggestions from the group? These are all important questions that need to be answered.

Number of members

• The ideal group size for a book club is usually between eight and ten people. This is large enough to allow a mixture of opinions and perspective, while being small enough that everyone can have a voice.

Frequency of meetings

• Most book groups meet monthly. This gives everyone enough time to read the book around busy schedules, and form some interesting points of discussion too. Our book club will be meeting once a month too!

Where you’re going to meet

• The majority of reading groups meet in libraries, cafes, pubs or bookshops like ours! It’s nice to have a nice surrounding environment, especially one that’s relevant. Above all, it’s important to meet in a public place, for the safety of all group members.

What books you will be reading

• It’s a good idea to decide on a genre, so that everyone knows what to expect. Once you’ve chosen a genre, you’ll need to decide how you’re going to choose a book each month. Perhaps you’d like to take turns to suggest a book, have a lucky dip, or vote on a selection of titles.

It’s also good practice to hold a pre-book club meeting to discuss all of these details and how the book club will be ran going forward. We hope this will guide you in creating a warm and welcoming book club – some other great resources include Penguin, The Reading Agency and Oprah Daily.

Happy reading!

We have some wonderful news: we have an official opening date of Monday, 12th December! We are so excited to confirm that our bookshop will be open just in time for Christmas, and we will be there for all of your gifting needs in the run up to the big day.

A little bit about us: we are an independent bookstore opening in Manchester, which sells new books for adult and children. However, we are a little different than your average bookshop.

We are a not-for-profit, Community Interest Company with the aim of combatting social isolation and loneliness. We believe that bookshops can play a significant role in fostering a sense of community and helping those isolated or feeling lonely.  Every penny you spend in our store, or on bookshop.org, goes towards our mission.

We would like you to leave our bookshop feeling better connected to the community. In time, we will have a book club, chatty cafe days, and many other initiatives that will alleviate social isolation and loneliness in a practical way. Every book sold makes a difference.

We are thrilled to welcome you on our opening day, but please bear in mind that this will be the first day for our new booksellers and we would appreciate it if you could be patient and kind with us while we find our feet.

See you in a couple of weeks!