In good company

Ben Bentley visits the North Shropshire Friendship Circle, which provides a valuable meeting point and social club.

Members of the North Shropshire Friendship Circle

It’s laughter like you’ve never heard – and probably this lot have never heard. Someone’s dropped out a blue gag at a cross-stitch meeting.

It’s all the doing of pensioner Melinda Cross, guest speaker at Shrewsbury Friendship Circle who, recalling the goings-on behind the school bike sheds during her youth, says: “We used to stretch out their willies and measure them.”

“I hope you didn’t use a wooden ruler,” says a heckler.

Blimey, you don’t know where to put yourself. But it’s okay, the ladies are among friends – this is North Shrewsbury Friendship Circle and the group carries on regardless, learning how to crochet greetings cards.

The friendship circle was formed, or rather re-formed after a sabbatical, around 12 months ago after it was missed by members and the group secured a grant allowing it to do all manner of activities – pampering sessions, sit-down aerobics, crocheting and shopping – to name but a few.

A couple of weeks back they descended en masse at a garden centre teashop and, by all accounts, had a ball.

The one thing that binds the dozen or so members is friendship. They are like one band of sisters.

Today they are crocheting at a community centre in Shrewsbury, but not before Melinda’s talk about the good old days.

“Hands up if you were naughty at school,” she asks.

A hand goes up. “But not behind the bike sheds with a measuring stick . . .” says the owner of the hand.

Later, when the heat of the moment dies down, the girls get down to the thing they love best – having a good old natter.

Muriel Edwards likes her days out, hopping on the bus with her friends to Church Stretton and Wellington.

“It’s great to have a chat because you get to know that others are on their own as well, and you realise you are not on your own after all.”

And through the  Friendship circle a few have met up with friends they lost touch with decades ago.

Hilda Prince says a girl who used to live on the same street when she was a youngster moved away and the friends lost touch. And then one day she simply walked through the door of the Friendship Circle.

“I had not seen Bessie Childs for 30 or 40 years and she came here,” says Hilda, clearly delighted.

“She was just the same and we recognised each other straight away. It was lovely to see her – it was like we had never been away and we just carried on where we had left off.”

Another member of the Circle, Ida Evans, a sprightly 88, used to live on the same street before moving away. Today, through the Circle, the pair are sitting not an arm’s length away from one another.

Like most folk, people go through life seeing people in their neighbourhood but never knowing their names. Doreen Boyling also ‘knew’ Ida, not by name, “but I’d seen her in the Spar,” she says.

Sadly many members have joined after the death of loved ones and family members, but each of these say there’s no reason to be alone. There is life out there and the Circle has given many  members a new lease of it. And with opportunities such as pampering sessions, it might be the first time in their lives they have tried such things.

Among the friends are strangers who won’t be strangers for long. This is the first time for Lavinia Warner who says she already feels part of something special.

“I was invited because I lost my husband in June and I’ve got no family in Shrewsbury,” she says. 

“It’s nice to have friends.”

If she’s lucky to have such new friends then she’s even luckier on the raffle. When her ticket comes up Lavinia is rendered near speechless, but is delighted with her win.

At the end of the activities, she goes home with 12 new friends and a new cactus.

Enid Gilbertson, who is 65, has since June been fighting lung cancer and was forced to stop attending the group, although she says she received terrific support from her friends there.

She’s still having treatment, which includes chemotherapy, but says seeing familiar faces has done her the world of good.

She says: “It’s lovely to see them, they are a lovely ladies. It’s good to see my friends again.”

Sitting next to one another in the corner are sisters Eileen Parry, 84, and Jean Davies, 82.

For Eileen it’s not the shopping outings and trips to garden centre teashops that matter, saying: “I’ve been coming since it started and we have a good chat. That’s one of the best things – just being able to talk with people.”

Jean Davies, it turns out, was the first policewoman driver in the Shropshire Constabulary.

Ever active, it is with her new circle of friends she finds fulfilment today.

She says: “I came because my sister came. I live on my own and it was nice to get out.”

And with that they get up to go, putting on identical-looking coats. So identical looking that they put on the wrong ones.

Well, what’s a coat between friends and family?