Getting older doesn’t mean becoming less curious.

If anything, having more freedom and fewer commitments can mean you’re finally able to do some of the things you’ve always fancied. Seeing more theatre, visiting exhibitions, exploring London, going on day trips, trying something completely new or simply having lunch somewhere interesting.

The difficulty is often not finding things to do.

It’s finding people to do them with.

Friends may be busy. Couples may want different things. People move away, change jobs, retire, become grandparents or simply settle into routines. You can have a perfectly good social life and still find yourself thinking:

I’d really like to go to that, but who am I going to go with?

That’s where a social club can make a difference.

It’s not just about having something in the diary

A social club brings people together around shared experiences.

The activity might be a theatre show, an exhibition, a talk, a meal, a day out or something you’ve never tried before. But the activity is only part of the reason for going.

You are also going because other people are going.

You don’t have to find three friends who are free on the same Tuesday evening. You don’t have to persuade someone that the exhibition you’ve just discovered is worth visiting. And you don’t have to wait until somebody else suggests something.

There is already a group of people who enjoy getting out and doing things.

That’s quite a liberating way to organise your social life.

You can come on your own

One of the biggest advantages of an established social group is that coming alone is normal.

You don’t need to arrive with a friend in tow.

There are people there to meet, and the activity gives you an immediate starting point for conversation. You already have something in common because you’ve all chosen to be there.

A well-run group also understands that saying hello to a room full of strangers can be awkward. The organiser and existing members help break that initial barrier.

You don’t have to be the most outgoing person in the room.

You just have to turn up.

Friendships can develop naturally

There is a difference between meeting someone once and gradually getting to know them.

The first time you meet, you might discover that you both like theatre.

The next time, you discover you both enjoy museums.

A few outings later, you’re sitting together having a coffee and discussing where you should go next.

That’s often how adult friendships develop. It’s through repeated small encounters rather than one big attempt to make friends.

A social club gives those encounters a chance to happen. You don’t have to decide on your first visit that you’ve found a new best friend. You simply keep turning up when something interests you. Over time, familiar faces become friends.

You can try things you wouldn’t organise yourself

Sometimes the hardest part of doing something new isn’t the activity. It’s making the decision to go. A social group can provide that little push.

Someone has found an interesting exhibition. Someone else has discovered a new theatre show. There’s a talk you’ve never heard of. There’s a day trip you wouldn’t have organised for yourself.

You might think:

That sounds interesting.

And because other people are going too, you actually go.

That’s one of the great pleasures of belonging to a group: your world can become a little bigger without requiring you to organise everything yourself.

You don’t have to give up your existing friends

Joining a social club doesn’t mean replacing the friends you already have.

In fact, you may never need to see your new social group outside its activities.

That’s fine.

You can have friends you’ve known for decades, family, work colleagues, neighbours plus have a group of people you enjoy going to the theatre or exploring London with.

Different friendships meet different needs.

And sometimes your existing friends simply aren’t interested in the things you want to do. That’s not a problem if you’ve got other people to ask.

It can be particularly useful after retirement

Retirement can be wonderful. But it can also remove some of the structure that used to bring people into your life automatically.

Work provided colleagues.

Children provided other parents to talk to.

Regular routines created familiar faces.

Once those things disappear, you may need to be more deliberate about creating opportunities to meet people.

A social club provides one simple answer: there is somewhere to go, something to do and people to see.

You don’t have to fill every day with organised activities. Far from it.

But having regular things in the diary can make it easier to keep your social life active and varied.

There is something particularly nice about being with people at a similar stage of life

Being over 50 doesn’t mean everyone has the same interests or circumstances. Quite the opposite. But there can be an easy understanding between people who have reached a similar stage of life.

You may have more freedom than you once did. You may be working less, retired, travelling more or simply deciding that you want to make better use of your spare time.

And you may have reached the point where you don’t want to wait for somebody else to organise your life. You want to get out and do things.

A social club gives you a reason to say yes

Perhaps the biggest benefit isn’t any particular event. It’s the fact that there is always the possibility of the next one.

You see something in the programme and think:

Yes. I’ll come along.

You meet people you’ve seen before. You chat to someone new. You discover somewhere you’ve never been. You have a good afternoon. Then a few weeks later, there’s something else.

That’s how a social group grows — not through one spectacular event, but through lots of ordinary enjoyable experiences shared with other people.

It’s about the people as much as the places

You could, of course, book your own theatre tickets.

You could visit the exhibition by yourself.

You could find a restaurant and make your own reservation.

You can do all of those things.

The point of a social club is that you don’t have to do everything alone, and you don’t have to organise everything yourself.

You get the experience and the company.

And sometimes the best part of the day isn’t the show, exhibition or meal you went to see.

It’s the conversation afterwards.

It’s discovering that someone else has exactly the same sense of humour.

It’s being greeted by someone who remembers you from last time.

It’s hearing:

“Are you coming to the next one?”

And realising that, somewhere along the way, you’ve become part of the group.

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Is a social club for you?

It might be if you find yourself saying:

• I’d love to go, but I don’t have anyone to go with.
• My friends aren’t interested in the same things I am.
• I’d like to meet more people, but I don’t want to go to a singles event or a huge networking group.
• I’m happy going places on my own, but I’d rather have company.
• I want to try new things rather than spending every weekend doing the same thing.
• I’d like to meet people naturally rather than making “making friends” the whole purpose of an evening.
• I have more free time now and want to make better use of it.

You don’t have to be lonely.

You don’t have to be recently retired.

You don’t have to be particularly outgoing.

And you certainly don’t have to come to everything.

You just need to like getting out, trying things and meeting people.

That’s what City Adventurers is about.

Small groups. Interesting places. New experiences. Familiar faces.

And, hopefully, a few people you didn’t know before who eventually become friends.

Sign up to the  City Adventurers