The Auckland Friendship Group

Story

Hello and welcome to all

This group is all about friendship - especially meeting and making new friends in Auckland: going out, having fun and enjoying yourself in a SAFE, Friendly and Supportive environment.

For various reasons we can all find ourselves in a physical place where we know no-one or only a handful of people and that can be very lonely and sometimes even distressing. And I can speak from first hand experience - I found myself living in Auckland with my two children (about 3 years ago now) and I didn't know a soul. I didn't enjoy going out to the cinema or dining out alone and yearned to be able to explore Auckland with some like minded people and having fun in safety. And yes, safety WAS a big issue for me - meeting and going out with total strangers can be fraught with difficulties. Sadly this group didn't exist then ! But my goodness the difference it would have made if it had.

Hence why I set up this group. I wanted to create an opportunity for single people or couples (with or without children) to be able to enjoy a huge and wide variety of activities and at the same time make friends. I also wanted to create a group which would act as a "lifeline" to new people coming to live here, whether they were moving from the other side of the world or merely from the next town . To date, I feel I have succeeded in these objectives: Our group is now well established with well over 350 members who come from all walks of life, different nationalities and cultures and cover a wide age range .

Because of the emphasis on FRIENDSHIP, this quality has been a driving force in attracting the very people wanted in such a group who in turn enjoy meeting and greeting new members into the fold.

WHAT DO WE DO ?

Ha ! Goodness - where do I start ? I think the simple answer is EVERYTHING !

The friendship group organises a wide variety of meetups throughout the year in and around the greater Auckland region. Events to date have included weekly pub quizzes, fortnightly walking and cafe groups, monthly lunches, winery festivals, mini golf, skiing, go-karting, cinema outings, island visiting, weekends away , kayaking and trips to farmers markets to name but a few ! The group works by members suggesting activities they would like to do and my job is to organise them !

Anyone can make suggestions for activities as long as the the idea has been generated by the member themselves and not "taken" from another site / group (not a very friendly thing to do). Activities organised (and their frequency) are entirely up to the members, so please feel free to submit as many ideas and suggestions as you want. Likewise members choose to attend as many (or few) meetups as they wish depending on personal taste / other commitments etc.

So in summary, if you don't like going out on your own, are new to the city, or a work-a-holic and never get out to meet and greet or perhaps shy and find making new friends hard, or just simply looking to meet new people, then this group will be ideal for you. However, once you join the group be prepared for a very full social calendar (if that is what you want of course)!


I hope you decide to join us and look forward to seeing you at a meetup soon

Hugs,

HALEY SMITH (Group Organiser)