The new Solos group is now established and ready to hold its first meeting in January. As the purpose of this group is rather different from most others, which focus on a particular subject, Pauline is giving this introduction…
“The Solos group is for anyone living on their own, or caring for a partner, whether they have been on their own a for long time or are going through a new and possibly raw experience.”
The purpose of the group is to generate a supportive network of people with the aim of encouraging friendships, sharing activities which are more enjoyable with others than on your own and providing a “drop in” to share feelings and experiences, whether it be sharing a laugh or a new achievement, questions and tips about managing aspects of living alone and creating a new life, and providing support when times are tough. People will all have different needs and things to contribute and nobody will be expected to joinin with everything or contribute more than they feel comfortable with. These meetings will be the Hub of the Network rather than an end in themselves and will be partly a time to share and plan as well as any content members want. At a meeting of the small planning group we thought it would be helpful to:
- Start to get to know each other
- Exchange contact information and consider the best ways for group communication
- Discuss a possible venue for a place to “drop-in” on Saturdays
- Draw up a list of topics for discussion
- Put people with mutual interests in touch with each other, and consider waysof linking with other u3a groups.
Six people have signed up for the group so far, but there’s room for another six in the group meetings and we hope others will want to join the network. We look forward to hearing from some of you.
There will be a monthly group meeting, the first of which will be on Tuesday, 24th January from 2-4pm.
For more details contact our Groups Cordinator