Where to meet new people, form connections and friendships?

AubreyMac

I go to meetup and have started my own group there.


I have met many nice and interesting people and in 3 years of going to this site I've made 2 good friends (one will leave the country soon due to work visa coming to and end ).


2 friends in 3 years may not seem a lot but they are very deep/close friendships and to be honest, when one of them leaves the UK I'm not certain that we will remain in touch in the long term, as that's just never happened for me historically.


I agree with the other poster who said only go if you're interested in the activity anyway as some meets can end abruptly after the event. I recently went on a meetup day trip where one woman you can tell was just very lonely and wanted to make friends, she was quite clingy and wanted to be joined at the hip with me. I wanted to explore by myself.


I tried to introduce a friend to meetup and she went to the cinema then decided she didn't like it. But come on, how much interaction are you going to get with people at the cinema?


I mainly do meals out and hiking. In the summer I do day trips too. Those activities allows for interaction.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Local walking groups and volunteering.

Iguana

I can recommend Meetup.

There are lots of different groups and all kinds of different things to do.

KnightRider

I guess I must live in the wrong area for Meetup - the only ones that were local for me had people much older than me or were sports related (which I find boring).


No potentially geeky ones like book clubs, sci-fi meets or anything like that!

AubreyMac

KnightRider wrote: »

I guess I must live in the wrong area for Meetup - the only ones that were local for me had people much older than me or were sports related (which I find boring).


No potentially geeky ones like book clubs, sci-fi meets or anything like that!

Start your own?


Although I live in London and there are thousands of London based meetup groups, I wanted one that is area specific and for foodies only and not in big groups (no more than 5 in my meals). There wasn't one like that so I started my own.


It does cost to run a meetup group but you can ask members for a small contribution.


As you can have 3 groups for the price of 1 I will start a theatre goers group. There are already a few theatre ones but I want to create one that is guaranteed for us all to sit together and will throw in drinks after to discuss the show/musical we've just seen.

tea_lover

I didn't really get on with meetup either, although I know lots of others really rate it. The groups local to me all seemed to be either young students or older people (who did a lot of daytime activities). Nothing wrong with either of course but they just didn't really fit with what I was looking for. I did think about starting a group but I was only looking for an occasional outing, rather than a big commitment.

I've got on much better with various interest groups (volunteering, musical, evening courses, etc). They seem a bit more natural than meetup which I found a bit forced (but as I say, I'm definitely in a minority there so it could be that you find a local group you love).

Good luck

Alias_Omega

Person_one wrote: »

Volunteering, college courses, sports teams, new job?

i would like to learn to dance...im that guy who stands on the side of the dancefloor (unless very drunk), and learn to cook...

Sadly dancing/cooking is not on MeetUp in my local area.

-taff

Nothing to stop you starting your own meet up is there?

duchy

Alias_Omega wrote: »

i would like to learn to dance...im that guy who stands on the side of the dancefloor (unless very drunk), and learn to cook...

Sadly dancing/cooking is not on MeetUp in my local area.

Have you tried asking your local council about adult education classes, most do cooking classes and some forms of dance.

teddysmum

I decided to look at the link to Meetup, as I am in my late sixties (married with grown up offspring with their own) and don't gout much now, but found the ones near us rather intimidating as they seem to be aiming at a lively lifestyle.


From past experience I would suggest a class (yoga, craft etc) or volunteering (where group meet ups are involved eg rescue dog walking), but found details of WIs very interesting, as they are no longer just based on over sixties who bake and, from their websites ,seem very welcoming.