Loneliness group helps young adults find friends

A man living in Shropshire has thanked a local support group for helping him gain more confidence and friends after finding out about them online.

Matt Huddleston, 21, moved to Shrewsbury from Derby two years ago, and said he felt isolated and struggled to meet people.

Since joining his local Empty Chairs group, Huddleston said his social circle had grown.

The national group was set up by Dean Perryman to help tackle loneliness, after his best friend Rob died from suicide.

Since then, more than 850 events have been held worldwide, including in Australia, Colombia and Portugal.

Huddleston moved to Shrewsbury when he was 18 to start a degree apprenticeship.

He said he "underestimated" the challenges he would face moving away from home, and needed a group like Empty Chairs.

"I suppose it was a period of change in my life, a lot of different things going on," Huddleston said.

Office for National Statistics data show that about one in four adults in the UK feel lonely either often, always or some of the time.

Huddleston said when he was going to the first event, he was "ready to make a change".

"I mean there's always a bit of kind of apprehension, you don't quite know what to expect, it's something new," Huddleston said.

"I was ready for meeting those new people and hopefully making some friends out of it which I can say I have, so that's really good."

The Shrewsbury group was set up by Cameron Beddows as it was something, he said, he felt he would have wanted when he was struggling to meet people in the past.

He has to wear a bright orange hoodie so he is easily spotted by people attending the group.

"I've been in some dark places myself where I've not had many friends, not many people to go to, and something like this would have pulled me out of that very quickly," Beddows said.

"It would have been that space that you can go to that I'm now trying to create because I guess I didn't have it."

He added he wanted to make sure the group, which is run every Wednesday at the pub Admiral Benbow, is as inclusive and accepting as possible.

"It's a safe space, it's the only bar I know that allows anyone in the door without judgement," he said.

"We've got people from 18 to 80, all backgrounds, all genders, everyone comes along at this point."

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