Hello All. I wonder if I might tell you about a Friendship Group Meeting for Widows/Widowers that we are planning to hold in Belfast on Saturday 14th September. This is simply a group for men and women who have lost their husband, wife or partner and would like to meet together with other people in the same position. We are "testing the waters" to see if people are interested or think there is a need for a group like this. If you would like more information, please check out the contact details on our website - www.wfni.co.uk, get in touch with us and we will provide further details. Thank you all, best wishes, Lorna xx
FormerMember
What a wonderful idea! Rather too far for me to come (SE England!), but just wanted to send you all best wishes! Will you let the rest of us know how it goes?
Hi Sandy, well you would be very welcome if you could come!! Thanks for your good wishes, and yes of course, we'll let you know how things go! Best wishes, Lorna x
Hi Lorna, when I saw this yesterday I wished it had been posted the previous night. I had a day at a Spa yesterday together with a manicure. my lovely young beauty therapist is from Belfast and her Mum died nearly three years ago. She worries a lot about her Dad, who seems to be struggling, and I thought about you and your putative group but didn't like to mention it. If I'd had web address I would have given it to her. I'm even more sure it's a good plan and that it will be a success. How did you get on with seeking funding? Ai
Hi Ai, thanks for remembering this, and for your good wishes, I hope you had a lovely day at the spa, sounds good! Maybe next time you go, you would pass on our details to your therapist!! We haven't sought funding yet, because as far as I know, you have to register as a charity and have a proper committee in place. If things take off, as we hope they will, we can look further at funding then. Best wishes to you, thanks again, Lorna x
Hi lorna, i just want to say good luck for your first meeting. I had a look on the website. Well done for getting that all set up. If I lived there I would be joining you. Let us know how it goes. Love Maggie xx
Thank you Maggie for your support! I wish you lived here, would have been good to meet you "for real"!! I will of course let you know how things go! Love Lorna xx
Hi All, I was just looking through some posts from a long time ago and came across this one I had written about a Friendship Group we were trying to start here in Northern Ireland. Some of you lovely people were on the site at that time and had asked me to let them know how things went, so I just want to give you an update.
I'm happy to say the Group took off last September, at our first meeting around 32 people came along. This has dropped off to about 18 regulars and we've had another 3 enquiries this week from others who have heard about it. We meet one Saturday every month for coffee and a chat, which usually leads on to going out for lunch! We also organise an "outing" once a month, meals out are the most popular but we've also been to a Quiz and had a trip to the theatre before Christmas. We're planning a trip down to Dublin in the Spring and there's even been talk of a weekend away!
It did take a lot of organising to get things set up, but I would honestly recommend it to you all if you feel you could do something in your own area. I know it's slightly easier for us here because Northern Ireland is so small compared to the mainland, but it can be done, some people from the Way-Up website have set up similar things in their own areas which have been very successful. It does put people in contact with others who find themselves in this awful position, even if there were only half a dozen people meeting, it's nice to be able to talk to others who know exactly how you feel and hopefully to form new friendships. It won't change our situations of course but there's bound to be many lonely people out there who might well be glad to have the opportunity to meet with others. I would be more than happy to let you know how we went about things if you feel it might help, please PM me. Best wishes to you all, Lorna xx
Good to hear from you Lorna and with the exciting news of your Friendship Group. I have organised 2 Get Together's in different places which were very successful, with people coming from quite far away,. Since then other people have arranged them more locally.
Its always good when we can met up with people who really understand. I wish you continued success with your group.
We are all amazing as even though we have been through the worst life can throw at us we still keep on going.
Take care and long may we on this site help and support others who need it. Then out of this has come these groups.
