Recently we interviewed Holly, the presdient of our fabulous UWS Book Club.

The aim of this interview was to gain an insight into what it's like to be part of a society and how it can impact your university life. It was also a great way to reflect on the past year and look back at all of the fun and exciting things that have happened.

1. Can you give a brief overview of what your society is and the kind of idea behind it?

"The book club originally started to try bring people together that weren't necessarily in the same subject, just kind of across the board to make friends in different areas, especially for people who were quite introverted and didn't feel too comfortable talk to people."

2. what has the society done this year?

"So this year, obviously we've been doing a couple different meetups that have been very casual and low commitment. I think that was a good way to get some first years in, especially at the start. We've mainly done things that focus on reading the books, talking about the books, and then also some crafty things where everyone could work away with their hands. This helped with not feeling awkward around new people and gave everyone an activity to focus on"

3. what do you think's been the main kind of success of the society this year?

"I think definitely lots introverted students becoming more confident. They were genuinely at the start not talking to each other, I found that I was trying to egg them on in conversation. But towards the end you can see that they have gotten really comfortable with each other and they can come and not feel the need to shy away from the group"

4. what's been the of biggest challenges for the society or for yourself and why are they challenging?

"I had a lot of bigger ideas that I couldn't do by myself. During the summer, I'm definitely thinking of recruiting two more people to run the society with me for sure. That would be amazing."

"The girls have helped me set up and clean after meetups. It's not like they just run away and I'm doing everything myself. They definitely help me. They also help me with ideas every time we do a new book. We have a suggestion box for things they want to do for different activities. So for sure it's not been impossible, but that would be the biggest challenge."

5. What impact has your involvement in this society had in your university life?

"I was pretty confident before I started the society and then I realised that I wasn't as much as I had thought. Talking in front of people was so hard, especially the freshers. This has helped me develop and talk to people."

6. what do you think is the most important benefit you've gained from being part of your society?

"I think that would definitely just go hand in hand with confidence and friends as well, to be honest. The reason why I started the book club was because I was entering my third year and I hadn't made any friends at Uni. I was thinking like man it's kind of hard because a lot of the mentality at Uni is let's go out and let's get smashed and things like that. I'm not really like that as a person, I'm like a grandma. I like to be in my bed, I like to read my books, I like to play cosy games and things like that. When I realised there wasn't a book club and I thought, what a perfect opportunity. Book Club Girlies are going to be exactly like me, and even, you know, there could be guys."

A huge thank you to Holly for giving us an amazing insight into the goings on within the UWS Book Club!

If you fancy joining the UWS Book Club, you can check out their society page here: https://www.uwsunion.org.uk/organisation/13915/

you can also check out all of our wonderful societies here: https://www.uwsunion.org.uk/societies/societies/