One of the devastating factors caused by the pandemic was the increased feeling of isolation, the fact that many of us hadn’t seen some of our friends or family in over a year. With rules easing, we can hopefully start seeing a safe return to normality and start becoming the social beings we are, one group that can help is the Maidstone and Kent Queen Bees.
Maidstone and Kent Queen Bees are a Facebook group created by Jules, 57 who created the group to help cope with the loss of her mother.
CommunityAd caught up with Jules to find out a little bit more about the inspiration behind the group and how it can help local residents socialise in a time where its never been needed more.
Jules explained to us: “My mum Agnes McLaughlin was the inspiration for this group.
“I started the group two years ago when my mum died and I was grieving and felt at an all-time low. My mum was deaf and was quite isolated and felt cut off from people and I realised there would be lots of people out there feeling lonely and isolated with mental health problems.”
The group was created in February 2020, just a month prior to the national lockdown which put a halt on any members of the group meeting up for the foreseeable future, but Jules haven’t given up hope for the group adding:
“We have kept in contact over the last year and some positive friendships have been made. My hope for the group is to offer ladies an outlet to get out there and make new friends but without the fear of any kind of unpleasantness. We really are a nice bunch of ladies and so many people have messaged me saying thank you for giving them the chance to meet new friends.
“I want the group to be a safe place for nice people to meet and for nobody to be excluded or left out. Everyone over 40 plus and female is welcome, the only rule is “be nice”.
“We meet fortnightly on a Monday at the Bull Penenden Heath and we encourage all members to put events up: we also have a book club too!”