A NEW Tavistock-based group is opening its arms to the women of the town and the surrounding areas with the promise of friendship and support.

The ‘Stronger Together’ women’s friendship group, spearheaded by both methodist pioneer and community worker Ali Mansfield and Karen Davies, has been running for four weeks and is continuing to expand and offer great appeal for women in the area. Meeting during term time at the lower hall of Tavistock methodist church from 10am to 1pm every Wednesday, women can enjoy a range of different activities and entertainment.

The ladies have been recently been working with Julia Law, who was jointly responsible for creating the ‘Tavistock and Ukrainian Friends’ Facebook group which has co-ordinated efforts to welcome and help Ukrainian refugees in West Devon into the community. In the group’s most recent session, Tanya and Maryna (originally from the Ukraine but now based in Tavistock) brought along four new Ukrainian ladies where other members of the group were able to listen to Ukranian music and learn more about one another’s cultures, languages and different ways to support one another. Also during the session, the group enjoyed a special musical performance from Kelly Withers, a folk musician, who plays the ukulele.

Ali said: ‘This is a great way for women who are looking to make friends connect. We’ve already had lots of women through the door and we’ve built a great little team to help with operations consisting of our volunteers Dana, Emma, Rachel, Carol and Theresa. This week, we’ve had a fantastic surprise. Meadowlands would like to partner with us to give the ladies in our group swimming, gym and female-led class sessions as well as the use of the cafe to support our wellness and help take care of ourselves.

‘In future sessions, the group will benefit from emotional logic and art therapy with emotional logic coach Claire Hine. We will also be running art sessions with pebble and plant pot painting with the help of artist Christine Durrant. We offer signposting to a range of other services too, such as help with mental health and financial support. We just want as many women as possible out there to know that there’s a group out there for friendship and support.’

Although the group currently meet only during term time, they are currently exploring different options to meet during the summer holidays.

More information can be found on the Facebook group where regular updates are posted: https://www.facebook.com/tavistockwomenstrongertogether