Table left empty Haywards Heath bar in bid to fight loneliness
The Empty Chairs Project is encouraging people to turn up at the Francisco Lounge from 7pm to take a seat and have a no-pressure chat
Chairs are being left empty on a table at a Haywards Heath bar as part of a national project to help fight loneliness.
The Empty Chairs Project is encouraging people to turn up at the Francisco Lounge from 7pm to take a seat and have a no-pressure chat with others.
The campaign was started last year by Dean Perryman, who aimed lost his best friend Ben to suicide in November last year.
Kerri Caparzario, from Burgess Hill, decided to host the event in Sussex after finding it hard to make and maintain connections as a single woman in her 30s:
"I find myself not in on the typical societal expectation of a thirty-eight year old woman.
"I'm single. I live alone. I work fully remotely. I don't have any children.
"I'm really the only person that I know out of my friends and family that is in this situation.
"You don't have people to reach out to because they're all focusing on their own families.
"It takes a toll quite quickly when you're alone most of the time."
But she told Greatest Hits Radio that even having one person join would make her "really happy":
"If someone walks away thinking I didn't sit at home by myself, I'm quite happy with that and and I think at the end of the day you just want people's cups to be filled.
"I know I need my cup to be filled and I need connection to do that and that's what I'm hoping for people to feel and for me to feel at the end of this."
Other events are taking place nationally - you can view them here.