One Monday evening a year ago, Laura Cooper was lonely. She posted a message on social media about setting up a friendship group, unsure what to expect.
Within hours, more than 100 people had replied – and the messages kept on coming.
Twelve months on, 926 women are part of the Scunthorpe Lovely Ladies friendship group. They say it has made them “feel human again”.
“It’s been amazing, it’s changed my life”, says Laura. “It’s made me feel like I’m the old Laura again. I’m more confident and I can do anything.”
Laura, 43, found herself feeling lonely after moving home and recovering from an illness but her story travelled the world and the group now has members in France and Guyana.
She has been inundated with requests to appear on morning television and feature in women’s magazines.
“It’s been heart-warming,” she adds.
“We’ve done photoshoots and [I appeared on] Good Morning [Britain] in London, where I had my make-up done, my hair done.
“I wouldn’t say it’s shocked me. It is a reality check for a lot of ladies and myself – you can be lonely, you’re needing friends.
“I’ve just created this from nothing. It’s positive and it’s needed, I believe.”
The latest meeting takes place at the Priory pub in Scunthorpe. Outside it is dark and the rain is torrential, but inside there is a warm feeling. Everyone is greeted with a hello and a hug.
“New members are coming all the time,” Laura adds.
“Everybody’s telling their friends, their mothers, their daughters, it’s just getting bigger and bigger.
“The positivity thing – everyone brings everybody up – we always meet with a hug, there’s always a smile – it’s a loving, warm group.”
It is a simple formula but it has been life-changing for many members who say they walked in on their own but have made wonderful friends.
Lucy Robinson, 37, found herself suffering from loneliness after losing her nan and stepfather within a six-month period.
“He was my stepdad, but I called him my dad. I’d lost my biggest support system,” she says. “I’d literally just stay in bed.”
Lucy had just herself and her mum in the house.
“We stopped going out, and because we stopped going out, people stopped asking us to go anywhere and people drifted away. Because I’d let people drift off, I found it so hard to bring them back.”
Within an hour of seeing the post on social media, she was speaking to Laura and had joined the group.
“It makes you feel amazing. It makes you feel wanted and that you are part of something.”
Raffle tickets soon come out. This is not a charity and there are no subscriptions – people pay their own way for days out or trips, and money in the pot goes towards events such as their forthcoming Christmas party.
Outings have also been organised, including a night out in Cleethorpes where some of the women missed the last train home they were enjoying themselves that much. They had to find a B&B.
One big family
Monika Lear, 62, joined the group after moving to Scunthorpe earlier this year. She wanted to make new friends and says the group has “made a big difference”. She is now organising a “Christmas cards evening” for the group in a few weeks’ time.
Rosie Cook, 44, joined in January. She says she struggled with her mental health for a long time, but has found the group to be hugely supportive.
“It’s unbelievable how a group of ladies that need that little bit of something in their lives, come here and feel like they’re part of a family,” she adds.
Laura, understandably, sees no reason to slow down.
“It’ll keep going on and on as far as I can keep going. I’m going to take this to the top, hopefully,” she says with a laugh.
Marjory Dunning, 79, adds: “Laura will not be satisfied until she’s got every lonely and isolated lady in the district – she’s always looking for them.”
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