Meet the Northampton ‘Happy Clappy Club’ who bring the joy to lunch club

The group takes place every Tuesday at Northampton Lawn Tennis Club.

When former Chronicle & Echo receptionist Karen Gardner was working for the newspaper she would see dozens of people each week who would submit their obituary notices to her.

She was often left feeling upset and helpless by the number of people who shared their stories of how lonely they were since losing a loved one.

It was when she left the newspaper she felt a need to kickstart her very own lunch club to help those feeling isolated to find new friendship.

Karen Gardner started up the lunch club three years ago and has helped to give back joy back to nearly 100 people. Pictures by Kirsty Edmonds.

She said: "Because I worked at the Chron on the front desk my job was to do mainly obituary notices so people would come in to me and I'm a bit of a chatterbox and I'd befriend them.

"They would be there for a little while and they'd come back year on year for other notices and I got to know a lot of them quite well.

"It just hit me like a brick the loneliness people suffer when they've been married for decades and suddenly they've lost half of themselves or they've lost parents, or children."

After pondering over her coffee club idea for a few months Karen finally took the plunge and started a small group in 2016 with just four elderly ladies, some of whom were her neighbours.

On February 18, club members were treated to a sing song from the 1960s.

She added: “Within a week or two we got up to eight members maybe. I went on the local radio and we started getting new people and since three-and-a-half years ago we have gone from those four and we now have 95 people on register.

"We have up to 48 to 50 people each week and we do lunch for them every week and we go on trips.

"A few of them are divorced but the majority are here becase they live on their own. Some of them at Christmas when they left were in happy tears because it's made a big difference. They say it's something to look forward to."

The group, which is called the Good Companions Cuppa Lunch Club, is also nicknamed the 'Happy Clappy Club' because of their joyful nature and love for singing and dancing.

Each week about 50 members get together at the club to have a chat and a bite to eat.

She added: "It's so rewarding, I love it.

"I have some really good helpers and without them I couldn't do it every week.

"It takes up a lot of time but I couldn't give it up now because I'd miss it too much. It is just wonderful."

If the club sounds like something you would enjoy or you could spare a few hours to help volunteer, email Karen on [email protected] or call her on 07790563748. There is no age requirement to become a member.