“Curious” is our non-fiction book and ideas club.
“Curious” is a slightly different kind of Book Club. It’s non-fiction focused but we’re also not tied to the idea of a ‘book’. It’s much more about reading in general around a theme or topic.
So, ‘reading’ could include a non-fiction book, but it could equally mean a blog, a substack newsletter, a magazine, a long-form article online – or even connecting to very different media such as a YouTube channel or audiobook.
It’s really about reading and enjoying the read and discussions together whilst learning something new.
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“Curious” is run by VANEL from the Community Hub at 82 Grimsby Road Cleethorpes. It started October 2026. It receives no funding, however, we’ve had financial support from the Literary Trust (September 2026) to help us purchase books and materials.
Meetings are monthly at 82 and from 2027 we hope to hold face-to-face meetings elsewhere in North East Lincolnshire too.
There is an online discussion site to be used between meetings to allow for larger membership and to keep the conversations going between meetings.
For more information contact the group leader Karl Elliott at VANEL or speak to Liz Dugard at VANEL about attending.
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How we work
We’ll pick a topic or focus – maybe something historical or scientific or something else, and there might be a focal point like a particular book or article. Then we can discuss around the topic. Others might suggest other sources, different viewpoints, different resources.
Who know. The idea is to learn from each other, perhaps discover things we didn’t expect or didn’t know we were interested in. Who know where it will lead.
Face to face meetings will be monthly on the second Wednesday of the month, 11am-12noon (alongside our monthly Camerados sessions).
Meeting dates:
14th October 2026 – first general meeting
further dates to be confirmed
The group also has an online element. On the VANEL “Neighbours Together” discussion website (www.nelwatch.org.uk/neighbourstogether), we have a “Curious” Space especially for the Book Club and its members to ‘meet’, chat and discus the books or themes in question or even more. If you’re interested, visit the site, register and request to join the Curious Space.
Better still Contact Karl or Liz at VANEL (01472 231123 / karl@vanel.org.uk / liz@vanel.org.uk) who can get you connected to the group.
Karl Elliott (VANEL) leads the group and ‘curates’ the book and topic choices (for now). Once we’re underway we’ll work out the best way of choosing the reading for the month ahead.
watch this space…
