Knottingley friends 'overwhelmed' after hundreds sign up to their women-only 'meet and natter' self help forum

Female meet and natter (because you and your mental health matter) was set up by Angela Wilson, 39, and Kelly Bassett, 41, from Knottingley, last month.

Inspired by the West Yorkshire-established Andy’s Man Club, the two support workers created the forum from Angela’s home after deciding a safe space was needed for women in the area who need support.

Co-founder Angela said: “I tried reaching out to Kelly one day and she wasn’t available and I said, do you know what? Maybe there's somebody else that I can reach when you're not available.

“It made us think that there are plenty of women out there in this situation, so we created this forum as a safe space where people can reach out and discuss anything.”

Upon creating the forum, the pair were stunned after hundreds applied to be part of the new self help group.

"We were expecting about 20 people and suddenly we had 300 members, we were overwhelmed! It showed that something like this was needed,” she said.

Forum members have since offered a variety of help to those in need, ranging from a friendly chat to donating clothes and even cleaning a woman’s house.

"I’ve had women come to me saying that we’ve saved them,” Angela added.

"It's such a nice feeling and a nice thing to do for other people.”

Kelly and Angela are currently looking for a venue to host their first in-person forum meet up.

Local women can access the forum here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1651683061949293/members