THIS Monday will mark the first anniversary of a monthly reading group in Hamilton which have the imposition of serenity as part of their goals and the founder has even tagged #introverthappyhour.

The Silent Book Club was started by Diane Barrera as a response to the isolation in and following lockdowns and she was thrilled to have reached the milestone with many locals coming along for the shared experience.

“When we launched, we were the second one in Australia,” she said.

“The first one was on the Gold Coast and it’s actually a friend of mine who organised (it).

“She had promoted it during COVID and I thought it would be a great thing to start here to help people reconnect.

“It’s a passive way to connect with your community.”

Ms Barrera has promoted the meetings as “a time to quietly connect, chat, enjoy a cuppa, and read our favourite books alongside fellow book lovers” and has always welcomed newcomers to join in.

“It's been fantastic that every month we get between 10 and 15 people (coming) along,” she said.

“A mix of ages and all of our books that we bring along are always different.”

A typical meeting was not just a bunch of people sitting quietly for the entire two-and-a-half hours, Ms Barrera said the first half hour was for catch-up amongst the group.

“We start up at 9.30am every month and then we chat for about 30 minutes and it can be about anything,” she said.

“Some people look at the covers as we're sitting there and then they start chatting about the books they've got, some people haven't seen each other for a while and talk about life - and it’s always really lovely to be back, especially with COVID and how we were separated for so long.

“Then at about 10am everyone looks at their watches - you see it happening, everyone’s like, ‘oh, it’s time to read’ – they’re all used to it now, they don’t need me to say, ‘ok, reading time’.”

The support of the Botanical Restaurant was also something Ms Barrera was grateful for, as they were happy to make the environment suitable for reading.

“Everything goes silent and you just read,” she said.

“We even asked the Botanical owner if she could turn the music down because they often obviously have music playing in the restaurant, but she doesn't mind because we're the only ones there.”

The easygoing nature of the meetings even extended to the form of reading material.

“Once a lady brought the newspaper because she was wanting to catch up on news and she hasn't had the chance all week,” Ms Barrera.

Asked by The Spectator which newspaper that was, she laughed and said, “Of course it was the Spec.”

All are welcome at the Silent Book Club celebratory first anniversary event this Monday, March 21 at 9.30am to 12 midday at the Comfort Inn Botanical Restaurant & Bar on the corner of French and Thompson Streets.

Don’t forget your book – or this newspaper.