A women’s friendship group that started with just two members in April welcomed around 100 women to an event in Cwmbran last week.
Kayleigh Mitchell started Girl Code by sharing a video on TikTok in March to find new friends. She said: “It’s ended up blowing up. It’s gone from me wanting to make friends to helping loads of other girls make friends.”
The group meets weekly at Woodland Road Community HWB. They held a launch party from 6.30pm today to celebrate their new home.
She said: “We have a range of ages. I think 17 is our youngest, all the way up to 75. It’s now just helping other people and today is our biggest event, a big party because the lovely people of the Hwb, Dan and Ashleigh, have given us this space for free to use as a weekly regular meet-up space. It’s gone a bit bigger than we expected.
Wendy Mitchell, Kayleigh’s mum, said: “I do enjoy it, I really do. She’s not like me, I’m the outgoing one, so I’ll talk to anyone and I want do all the events that she doesn’t want to do, but I wouldn’t let her do it by herself. She wouldn’t do it by herself. But yes, I got roped in and I was just mum at the time, but now I am the other half of Girl Code, official.
“So many people have said to us, ‘if it wasn’t for you girls, I wouldn’t get out of the house. I wouldn’t have anyone to talk to’. Even if they haven’t come to an event. They’re talking in the WhatsApp group. They’ve got someone to talk to, so it is such a big thing.”
What would Kayleigh say to someone thinking about joining?
‘Don’t be nervous’
She said: “I would say don’t be nervous, but I would also say I know how it feels to be nervous every day. I promise you, you’ll leave feeling like you’ve accomplished something. Once the conversation starts going with all the girls and the strangers, a weight gets lifted and you just feel so at ease. You feel like you’ve known these people forever and you can just talk anything.”
Wendy said: “Message us privately if you want us to meet you outside because that’s a big thing…we’ll meet you outside if you don’t want to turn up alone.”
The pair added that Joel Cantelo, Torfaen Council’s community capacity builder, had helped them “immensely” as the group grew.
You can follow Girl Code on Facebook and Instagram.
IG thegirlcode.wales
FB https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579591179140
THE GIRL CODE🤍
South Wales friendship community
come solo, leave with friends💗
founded by
The Girl Code is a South Wales community started by Kay to help adults make friends through casual meetups like coffee mornings and walks.
The Girl Code is a women’s friendship and social community in South Wales founded by Kay Mitchell to help women make new friends, build confidence, and attend events together (often coming solo)
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