Organise an initial meeting
The simplest way to get a group started is to call an informal
meeting to assess interest in your area. You need to:
Find a venue
A local pub or veggie-friendly cafe/restaurant makes a comfy,
"neutral" space in fairly public territory for a first meeting. Do consider:
is it easy to get to? Does it have public transport, parking facilities
etc
Choose a date and time
Try and find a time when the sort of people you hope to attract to the
group will be free. Avoid clashing with major local attractions. Don’t
always think in terms of evening get-togethers, lunch-breaks on Saturday
in a popular shopping town can be appealing, or if you have a suitable
café, a late Sunday morning breakfast.
Publicise your meeting as widely as possible
eg, posters in libraries, health food shops, health centres, write to
the local papers and radio station. Remember to include an address
people can write to. They may not be able to make it to the first meeting,
but might still be interested in joining your group.
Don't try to get too much done in this first meeting, make it a bit
of a social but try to get a feel of what sort of activities people would
like. Do take a note book to jot down all the ideas and get people's
contact details so you can call a more serious "business" meeting in
a few weeks.
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