"I often go to a weekly get together at our local Methodist Church. It’s not a religious meeting but lots of folk just get together, we have tea and coffee, biscuits and cake, it’s an open house. We sit and have lovely chats and play board games, knit and crochet, paint, do arty things etc. If it is someone’s birthday we’ll celebrate and we’ve had the odd sing song.
I’ve met some fabulous people there and had all sorts of conversations with people. Some are a little lonely, some are lost. I worked in the NHS for 25 years so you can imagine the things I experienced and the people that I met. It feels really good to be able to draw on those things and just to be able to talk to folk, it’s a real tonic for me too. I’ve never really played chess, never understood it but one of my friends has pledged that he’ll start to teach my next week." M.