Finding new friends

Katherineanton

Hi,

My partner (46) and I (39) have recently moved to a new area where we know nobody.

I work 30 miles away and my friends and family are about 35 miles away and my partners family even further.

We are both friendly and would love to meet other adults (with or without children -we have 3 girls between us aged 13,11 and 10) just to go for a meal with or for a day out with the children.

Any suggestions on where to meet like minded people please?

jackieglasgow

School. Join the pta, school board or whatever its called in your school. Join the local bowling/tennis/hockey#insert suitable sport# club. Join in every work thing you can manage, get the kids along to youth clubs etc. have a meet the neighbours bbq and invite the families of all the children your kids have connected with.

GlynD

OP I think it would help a lot if you were to include the place where you live - just the town, not your immediate neighbourhood.

CH27

Join the PTA at the schools.
Do you cycle? Join the cycling club?

Do you or OH's work have social events?

Katherineanton

Hello,

Thanks for your kind replies to a newbie!

My OH works away each day - usually 2+ hours commute to different parts of the country.

My children attend school where I used to live, so unfortunately I do not have the links with local school mums etc which I agree would be an ideal meeting place. I have looked online to see if there are any "friendship" clubs and my OH and I did attend one, but they gave us the wrong date so no one else turned up - ironic!

I do have some lovely friends at work, but of course everything they do involves a minimum 1 hour round trip for us to attend, which is not ideal when your OH sometimes gets in at 8pm after a 150 mile drive.:rotfl:

I live in Andover, Hampshire.

GlynD

Katherineanton wrote: »

Hello,

Thanks for your kind replies to a newbie!

My OH works away each day - usually 2+ hours commute to different parts of the country.

My children attend school where I used to live, so unfortunately I do not have the links with local school mums etc which I agree would be an ideal meeting place. I have looked online to see if there are any "friendship" clubs and my OH and I did attend one, but they gave us the wrong date so no one else turned up - ironic!

I do have some lovely friends at work, but of course everything they do involves a minimum 1 hour round trip for us to attend, which is not ideal when your OH sometimes gets in at 8pm after a 150 mile drive.:rotfl:

I live in Andover, Hampshire.

You're well away from me then OP so I can't offer anything concrete. There are bound to be loads of things in that area however because there are lots of forces wives in that neck of the woods and they're going to be bored stiff when hubby is away. They'll have wives clubs and community groups.

Have you checked the local paper yet for community groups or been to the local library?

Katherineanton

Hello,

Yes, I go to the library at least once a month and see what is going on.

I think one of the issues is that we live on a brand new housing estate, so there isn't much community spirit (I had previously lived all of my life in a village where we all knew one another, which makes this situation even more difficult for me to accept).

I hadn't thought about the Forces wives - I will have a look and see if there is anything going on.

Many thanks for taking the time to reply

GlynD

Katherineanton wrote: »

Hello,

Yes, I go to the library at least once a month and see what is going on.

I think one of the issues is that we live on a brand new housing estate, so there isn't much community spirit (I had previously lived all of my life in a village where we all knew one another, which makes this situation even more difficult for me to accept).

I hadn't thought about the Forces wives - I will have a look and see if there is anything going on.

Many thanks for taking the time to reply

There was a time when I knew a lot more about Andover, when my regiment was based in Tidworth. Sadly that was a long time ago. I bet somebody from Hants will come along soon though and give you all the gen on Andover.

We wouldn't want you taking to the bottle out of boredom lol

Emma37

How about joining a dance class, such as salsa? It would be fun to do together as a couple, would help to keep you fit, and would be full of other couples who you could easily make friends with.

Katherineanton

Thanks Glyn and Emma.

I would love to join a class and so would my OH, but his job really does get in the way - one day he can be home at 5pm, the next 8pm and then two days away in a hotel, which means we can never commit to attend evening classes etc together :mad:

We did try to go to the local pub (even though I don't drink he he) but we were the only couple in there, it was so quiet.

Will keep trying though.....:D

GlynD

OP you might find something here http://www3.hants.gov.uk/localpages/north-west/andover.htm from the local council. Some classes etc there.