A new 'Virtual Friends and Neighbours' group is aiming to help Biddulph residents socialise with each other at a time when many are stuck at home.

With Biddulph and the rest of the country in lockdown, many people are experiencing feelings of loneliness or isolation, but a new local group is hoping to change that.

The Friends and Neighbours group (or FAN) was started by Suzanne Williams, a counsellor living in Biddulph.

Suzanne used to run Wellbeing groups at Biddulph Youth and Community Zone, until lockdown meant these groups had to be put on hold.

Suzanne said: "These groups were designed to help people discuss their stresses and worries and also addressed subjects such as low self esteem, how to be more assertive and anger management.

"I acknowledge that some people find discussing such things difficult in a face to face environment, never mind to a computer screen, so I have not continued with the groups for now.

"I have, however, joined a group which is predominately run in Wales, but is open to anyone, which is not mental health driven, but more helping people to connect and have something to look forward to each week. My friend lives in Wales and initially joined this group to make friends and asked me to join up to get some ideas as to how I can help our community."

She explained how FAN first came about, saying: "FAN (Friends and Neighbours) was originally started back in 2003 to help people, where English was their second language, to practise their English skills, but it wasn't before too long that other members of the community joined the group to make friends and connect. It became a charity in 2010, and has many groups across Wales, some in England and I believe there are groups across the seas!"

Suzanne has now decided to launch her own FAN group in Biddulph, and everyone is welcome to attend.

Meetings are around 30 - 40 minutes long, and there are no forms to fill out or commitments to attend each week, and the meetings are also completely free.

Suzanne added: "We choose a topic each week, for example, Remembering your childhood holidays, and each person is given the opportunity to introduce themselves, say a little about their week and tell the rest of the group their thoughts about the topic.

"From having attended several groups now I can see there are various age groups, nationalities, and gender, and they generally seems to be a good feel about the group."

If you would like to join, email [email protected] or call 07783180917