Pie club tackling male loneliness gets cash boost
BBCA men's pie-making club that helps tackle loneliness by bonding over food has received a "vital" funding boost.
The Men's Pie Club, run by Stockton-based charity Starfish Services Ltd, meets on Friday mornings, providing space for men to talk and share food.
The charity has received a £1,800 grant from local employer Banks Group, some of which will be used to pay for pie-filling ingredients.
Claire Bainbridge, peer mentor lead at Starfish Services said the money was a "vital lifeline" for those struggling with isolation and "any small amount of funding helps the bigger picture".
Lead volunteers Martyn Robinson said he got involved after feeling like "the walls were closing in" after he retired from being a wagon driver.
He joined a separate men's group at Starfish Health and Wellbeing hub on Yarm Road, before becoming a member of the pie group, which has been running for just under a year.
"Look at these people - strangers, talking to each other, passing the time with each other," the 66-year-old said.
"Totally disparate characters - they don't know each other, they don't come from the same place, and it's wonderful how it brings people together.
"The best part is sitting down at the end and having a pie."
The pie club is one of several services Starfish Services offers to tackle social isolation.
Its hub on Yarm Road also offers Place to Be, a warm, drop-in space on week day evenings, as well as women and men's groups.
Many of the pie club members joined after going to the weekly men's group, including Paul whose life "came crashing down" when his dad died in 2022.
"For 10 months, I didn't want to do anything. My mental health just went bad," the 56-year-old said.
"I just enjoy talking now because I was the quiet one originally - it really has changed my life."
The pie project began in Newcastle in 2018, and partners with charities and businesses to create new clubs across the region.
Bainbridge said the project offered men a sense of "community spirit" and "purpose".
The money Starfish Services received from will be shared by the pie club and the Place to Be drop-ins.
