Have you ever thought of starting your own club?

One of the best ways to make friends when you are overseas and new in town is to join a club. Here in The Hague I belong to a group called Connecting Women, which is for internationally and professionally aware women. I attend every meeting I can, enjoy the speakers who visit and have made many friends there who share my interests. After six months I joined the board and found that was even more rewarding. But sometimes there is no group available for you to join. This has happened to me and my solution was to start my own.

In Dubai, Oman and Norway I wanted to meet fellow writers, so I started a writers’ circle. All I did was place a few adverts on a few supermarket noticeboards and within a few weeks I had formed a group.

Back in England there was already a writers’ circle, but there wasn’t a professional women’s group, so I started one of those instead.

When you run a group, or are on the board of one that exists already it makes you a figurehead, gives you a reputation for being someone with get up and go and supplies you with like-minded friends.

What clubs have you joined and how have they helped you in your life overseas?