Social butterflies inundated with members

When Gemma Willocks posted a question on Surfcoast Community Noticeboard asking if there was an interest in creating a women’s social club, she had no idea the number of responses she’d receive.

“I’d seen lots of posts on the community noticeboard about women finding it hard to meet people. There’s plenty of clubs for mature age women but not so much for other ladies who just want a reason to get out and meet others,” Ms Willocks said.

“I have been thinking about a women’s social club based around Torquay with a once a month casual wine night after kids go to bed, and a Facebook group where you can post whatever else you want to do and get others to join you.

“Social Butterflies Torquay has been inundated with requests to join, nearly 300 ladies on Facebook – many just interested to see what it’s all about. Due to the overwhelming response, we’ve had to stop allowing people to join.”

Ms Willocks said the rate at which people joined highlights there’s a big need for these types of groups on the Surf Coast, especially with so many people moving here.

“Our first event/launch is on August 10. There’s about 40 ladies coming along and we have an organising committee who are planning monthly events after that,” she said.

“We also have people getting smaller sub-groups together for theatre shows and walking groups so there will be lots of things happening eventually.

“I’ve had so many messages from ladies who have lived here for years and people new to the area who hardly know anyone and are finding it hard to meet people.

“We had to extend the age bracket from between 30-60 because so many people were keen to join. There is certainly a need for more groups like this, even though we reached our capacity at 300 I’m sure if we had of left it open we would’ve easily got to 1,000.”