What will our new Liskeard Meet Ups for quieter young people be like?

Starting somewhere new can involve a lot of unknowns.

Who will be there? What am I supposed to do when I arrive? Will everyone already know each other? Am I going to have to introduce myself to the group? What if I don’t feel like talking much?

So, before we tell you much about why we’re starting our new Young People’s Meet Ups in Liskeard, we thought it might be more useful to tell you what actually happens when you come along.

From Friday 25th September, we’ll be meeting every Friday from 6:45pm to 8:45pm in the Wheal Phoenix Room at Liskeard Public Hall. The Meet Ups are free and are for young people in Years 10-13, aged 14-18, who consider themselves to be quiet, introverted, shy or highly sensitive, or who experience social anxiety.

You won’t be expected to arrive ready to talk. There won’t be an awkward icebreaker or a point where everyone has to introduce themselves to the room. And you won’t all have to spend the evening doing the same activity.

So what will there be to do?

There will be different things available each week. You might decide to do something creative, play a game, colour, do a wordsearch or draw, chat with somebody or spend some time doing your own thing alongside other people.

Sometimes it can be easier to settle into a new place when there is something you can pick up and do. Conversation can happen while you’re doing something else, but it doesn’t have to. We appreciate quietude as much as chatter here.

And you can take some time to get used to the room first. 

We know that not everybody walks into a new group and immediately wants to get involved. Some people like to look around, see what’s happening and work out where they feel comfortable before deciding what they want to do.

That’s part of why we’re giving people choices rather than planning the evening around one activity that everyone is expected to join. 

We changed our thinking after the first Meet Up

We held a pilot Young People’s Meet Up in Liskeard in June.

Before that session, we had imagined that future Meet Ups might have more structure, perhaps with activities that the group would work through together.

Actually running the pilot gave Ellie, who is leading the Liskeard Meet Ups, a chance to think about how that would feel in practice.

She came away feeling that the regular Meet Ups would work better with more options available and fewer guided activities.

That doesn’t mean turning up to a room with nothing happening. There will be things there to pick up and try, and people around if you want to talk. It simply means that one activity doesn’t decide how everyone has to spend their evening. 

At these Meet Ups, participating might mean getting absorbed in something creative with another person sitting nearby. It might mean playing a game together. It might involve a long conversation. On another week, you might say very little.

There isn’t one correct way to be part of the group.

Where did the idea come from?

This project has been developing for a few years.

While studying psychology, Ellie Zalick carried out research with Quiet Connections exploring quieter people’s experiences of secondary school. Alongside her own experiences growing up in Liskeard, that work helped begin the conversation about what we could offer specifically for quieter young people.

The pilot Meet Up in June gave us a chance to try some of those ideas in practice. The Friday Meet Ups are the next stage, and we’ll keep learning from the young people who actually come along.

Who will be there?

Ellie will be leading the Meet Ups alongside a Quiet Connections volunteer.

She grew up in Liskeard and has been part of Quiet Connections since 2022. She established our volunteer-led adult Meet Up in Liskeard and has been running Meet Ups locally for more than three years. She is also a psychology graduate and works as a teaching assistant.

Perhaps more importantly, Ellie understands what it can feel like to be known as the quiet person in the room.

As she puts it:

“It is important to me that quieter people have a space where they can connect with likeminded people; where they feel accepted for who they are and comfortable in their own quiet skin.”

That last part is important to all of us at Quiet Connections.

There will be different experiences within the group. Some young people may experience social anxiety or find that shyness sometimes gets in the way of things they want to do. Others may simply prefer quieter ways of being with people.

You don’t have to work out exactly which words fit you before you come along.

If you’re a parent, carer or professional

If you’re reading this because there is a young person in your life who might be interested, it may help to show them the information so they can get a sense of whether the Meet Up will suit them. 

Knowing the practical details can make a difference. They can see what they might do, who will be there and what they won’t be required to do. 

The Meet Ups are community gatherings, not therapy and not a support group. They offer another way for quieter young people to meet others locally, particularly for those who don’t find louder or more structured social activities especially appealing.

Parents, carers, teachers, youth workers, social prescribers and other professionals are very welcome to share the information with young people who might like to know about it. We’re happy to supply flyers and posters if you can display them somewhere – just email liskeard@quietconnections.co.uk to request some. 

Coming along

The autumn Meet Ups are free thanks to a £1,016.47 grant from the Carew Pole Fund, administered by Cornwall Community Foundation.

What: Quiet Connections Young People’s Meet Up
Who: Young people in Years 10-13, aged 14-18
When: Fridays from 25th September to 4th December 2026, 6:45pm-8:45pm
Where: Wheal Phoenix Room, Liskeard Public Hall, 3-5 West St, Liskeard, PL14 6BW
Cost: Free
Find out more: quietconnections.co.uk/youth-group

If there’s something you or your parent/carer would like to know before deciding whether to come, you can email Ellie at eleanor@quietconnections.co.uk.

It’s fine to ask what might seem like a small question, such as what happens when you arrive, what the room is like or anything else that would help you know what to expect.