Meeting Dulcie was wonderful …I love her sense of fun

Mum-of-three Dulcie Watson, 66, met Claude Beirne, 67, who has two children, at a table tennis club.

Dulcie, who is married to Dave, a retired engineer, lives near the Aberdeenshire town of Turriff where the club is based.

The new grandmother, who has a degree in hotel and catering management and retired after 23 years with Scottish Water, believes in investing in friendships old and new. And she relies on good, old-fashioned Christmas cards and letter writing.

Dulcie says: “I keep up with a lot of my old friends and I have reconnected with others from 40 years ago. I am back in touch with an old school friend I have known since I was seven and ended up going to a school reunion with her. That led to me meeting up with another friend who had been a girlfriend of my brother’s. I also reconnected with the French assistant from my secondary school.

“Old friendships are gold. That’s the good thing about Christmas, it gives you a chance to send cards with a round-up of what’s been going on in your life. I also send emails and use WhatsApp.

“It was easy for me to make new friends after I retired because I joined the table tennis club and met Claude. The friendship blossomed from there.

“She is supportive of me and I am of her. When my mother was ill with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, table tennis was the only time I could stop thinking about it all.”

Claude, 67, who lives in Macduff with her husband John, and worked as a speech and language therapist before retirement, reveals: “I never had time to develop friendships outside work. Retirement was a significant change. It was a chance to make new friendships.

“I started playing table tennis and doing meditation before I retired and already had friends there. The antidote to loneliness is to start your interests before you retire.

“Meeting Dulcie was wonderful. I love her sense of fun. When I am with her I can be myself. And she has great values and has given me good advice.

“I’d advise anyone who is lonely to join a club. You become friends because you have a shared interest.”