Breakfast club in Sussex by Lianne Oldham

Above: Jacquie Clarke founded the Breakfast Club. By Kate Eastman

Sussex Life

February can be a tricky time for some as the spirit and sentiment of St Valentine takes over. For the single, divorced or even widowed the pressure to find someone new can all be a bit much. This was very much on author Jacquie Clarke’s mind as she sat on a palm fringed Hawaiian beach, a couple of years ago. “I had recently lost my husband after 44 years of marriage but far from viewing it as the end I knew it would be the dawning of a whole new future. I decided there and then, it would be an exciting one full new goals and achievements not just for myself but for others too.”

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And so the first Sunday Breakfast Club began on the perfect day for those not in cosy coupledom. “Sunday is traditionally the preserve of the family and for those who have recently been widowed it can be a very isolating day,” adds Jacquie. “So instead of staring vacantly at exotic destinations in the Sunday papers and feeling like Bridget Jones second or third time round, I wanted people in the same position as me to feel they had something positive to do that day.”

You’re welcome
Now, every Sunday a group of up to thirty people meet up in The Palm House restaurant at Manor Nursery, Runcton, over a leisurely breakfast, which often spills over into Sunday lunch at one of their houses.

People who have been or are still involved in TV, broadcasting, music, bio-chemistry, teaching, and finance discuss future plans including theatre outings, holidays to Devon, lunchtime concerts at Chichester cathedral, cinema trips or simply a fireside tea party.

According Sue Ridgwell Smith, manager of the Palm House, it’s quite a lively group. “You wouldn’t normally think of Sunday mornings, particularly grey ones in February, as particularly inspiring but there is always something being planned at the Breakfast Club, they are incredibly motivated.”

Although the club was not set up as dating agency it is inevitable that like minded people will form meaningful relationships and now, happily, this year two couples who met through the club are getting married. However, Jacquie firmly believes that it is only by discovering and fulfilling personal goals that you can be truly happy with or without a partner. “You have to discover what you really want out of life before you can even think of being...

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