A NEW option for woman looking to try something new and escape the pressures of daily life is coming to Northallerton.

Darlington-based community interest company Pimm’s & Needles offers woman the opportunity try a different activity each month, socialise and meet other like-minded woman, all over a cup of tea and slice of cake.

The groups, which welcome more than 600 woman each month and meet at 10 locations across County Durham, Teesside and North Yorkshire, were set up by friends Charlotte Pyah, and Donna Feeney.

The pair met in 2015 at a sewing course Ms Pyah was teaching, and chatted about there being a need for woman’s social crafting-type club so decided to set one up. They promoted the group via facebook and were astonished to find a queue of 70 woman outside on their first night.

Ms Pyah said: “We’ll never forget our shock on that first night, we had only expected around 20 woman to come along but the queue was never ending” said Charlotte. The duo embraced the challenge and quickly set up more groups to meet demand as word spread.

Ms Feeney said: “We love what our groups bring to communities, the mindfulness aspect of relaxing and having a cuppa and a giggle makes such a difference. We regularly see stressed women come along then the same women leaving happy and relaxed”.

In the coming months the group will meet at Northallerton Town Hall and will be trying laughter yoga, having a go at needle felting and singing well as learning how to make the perfect hanging basket, hosted by Ravensworth Nurseries.

The Northallerton group will meet on the second Thursday of the month from 7pm to 9pm in the upstairs hall of Northallerton Town Hall. Find out more by searching Pimm’s & Needles on Facebook or email hello@pimmsandneedles.co.uk.