A GROUP of people that met in an unusual way have co-written a book, which residents can get their copy of now.

Ant Parsons, Managing Director of ALP Synergy Ltd, and former owner of Lydney’s Bargain Booze, was one of the authors of ‘The Fax Club Experiment’. He and 31 other contributors, ‘documented’ their journey within an intriguing and unique club known as ‘The Fax Club’.

The exploration began for Ant from an email in November 2023, which said ‘Hey, I’m starting a fax club, would you like to join?’.

Ant Parsons said: “I said hold on a minute, a fax club? We don’t have fax machines anymore! I read into it and this maverick thinker had decided he wanted to try to slow down interaction between people, so he created the idea of this club.”

The rules were simple. Members of the club needed a fax machine, they needed to remain anonymous, and you needed to remain an active part of the club. Every Friday at 5pm, members would receive a fax with a question, requiring you to answer it.

The questions were tailored to get participants thinking. In fact, each chapter of the book reveals the questions and answers which made members reconsider their interactions with the world.

When the club officially began in February 2024, there were one hundred anonymous members, only identifiable by a number. David Hieatt, co-founder of the Do Lectures, was the mastermind behind the project. Using his network from the Do Lectures, members were ‘recruited’.

Largely, these were UK-based residents, but some were as far as the US, Australia and Asia. However, as some members became inactive or not engaging, the numbers dwindled down to around fifty.

The organiser had planned for this to be a one year experiment, culminating with an official meeting event in London. Earlier this year, 35 members attended and finally put faces to the numbers. Of those 35, 32 decided to write a book about the weird and wonderful experiment. It was published on Thursday, October 2, and Ant held a book launch at Devil’s Pulpit.

Ant said: “What the book really shows is the power of questions. It introduces the concept and the questions, and it’s about broadening your thinking and moving it into today’s day and age. It’s not just about listening to one version of the truth or one potential answer.”

Ant also alluded to the benefits of the experiment, which showed limitations in our modern technological world. The fax machine allowed members to be anonymous, and therefore answer questions honestly.

Ant said: “I started to see the ways in which number 78 was answering questions and we built a connection. When I met them in person, it was a much more powerful connection. The message is that slowing down and building real connections is still possible in this day and age of technology and it’s probably more important than ever.”

You can get your copy of ‘The Fax Club Experiment’ on Amazon and will soon be available in local book shops.