The Dorset group ‘Chitter Chatter Club’ aims to reduce loneliness by providing safe places for people to meet up, play games and be who they are.
Based on Facebook, group members meet up in various cafes around the Dorset area, including Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, to chat and play games with their friendly volunteers welcoming everyone in.
Group creator, Anne Anderson, had problems with loneliness and feeling isolated after her move from the North to the South.
She said: “ I’ve always struggled with the Southern ideology. Everywhere I went, I said, Good morning, hello, and no one replied. Everybody looked really stunned, and I felt really shunned, and I didn’t have the confidence to go and say it again. So I did that for 10 years, and then after that I just gave up, and I just became really socially isolated and very, very lonely.”
She created the club in 2022, after a while of feeling lonely herself, to bring people who may be struggling together. The club has helped many people in times when they felt like they needed someone.
Miss Anderson wants to help people get their confidence back and help with people’s mental health after everything Covid has done to society, and sees fitting in as changing yourself and not truly belonging, wanting all people who come in to be themselves and feel like they’ve always belonged there.
She said: “ They’re struggling with loneliness. It’s a really vulnerable time in their life to come through the door and come in and sit with a group of people. They come in and sit down, and slowly join the group. They come in grey and they leave pink.”
The group now has nearly 300 followers on Facebook, with anywhere between 15-20 people coming to the meetings, and is said to have brought over a thousand people together so far, but is constantly looking for more people to join in.
The members of the group appreciate the help. Pauline Cheung had attended the club when it first opened in 2019, and after taking a small break, has recently returned.
She said: “I feel like I’ve made more new friends, and it gets me out of the house. Coming to the club helps at least once a week. I find that it gives you a chance to socialise with new people and there’s no judgement, so they’ll accept you however you are.”
Loneliness seems to be a rising problem in the UK, with findings from the government’s community life survey that have found that during October 2023 to March 2024, 7% of people in the UK reported that they felt lonely often or always, which is an increase of 1% from 2022/23.
A study by the government in 2023 showed that nearly all students say they felt lonely at least once during the last academic year, yet almost half have hidden feelings of loneliness because they fear no one will understand.
Ghaida Rafeeq, a master’s student at Bournemouth University, has been volunteering at the club for six months.
She decided to volunteer because, as an international student, she knows what it’s like to feel lonely and struggled with it during her first months in the UK.
She had previously helped people with their mental health before moving here to study.
She said: “Sometimes a person needs another person to talk out loud with. When you call a friend and talk out loud with them, it helps you reorganise your thoughts and know what you want to do next.”
She also believes that the UK needs more groups like this for younger people as well, especially with the rise in social media.
She said: “Everything feels like we’re connected but disconnected more than ever, because for some people they’re just commenting on posts and think she’s doing good, so we don’t need to contact her. People are texting more than calling and posting on social media more than connecting in real life.”
The group meets up weekly in different areas of Dorset: Bournemouth on a Monday, Tuesday in Christchurch, Wednesday in Canford Cliffs and Thursday in Weymouth.
Anyone interested in joining can see the events here
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