Moving to Newcastle

[LissyGlitter]

Hi, my name is Alicia and I'm going to be moving to Newcastle sometime between now and September. I have a 2 year old daughter and live with her Dad who is my fiance. I'm a bit scared about moving so far away (I currently live in Preston), especially as the only people I know in Newcastle are my in laws!

I enjoy live music, real ale, art, theatre and books and I'm a student of English Literature. I'm 24, and have never lived any further than 5 miles away from my parents, and now I'm going to the other side of the country! Frit!

Anyway, can anyone recommend a good way of making friends before I move, so I feel a bit less scared?

Hi, Newcastle is great and us geordies are so friendly anyway.
There is plenty of places you can go with a 2 year old and meet people. You could also join theatre groups or art groups. Try doing courses, plenty of them around also. There is alos a link on this site somewhere to meet mums in the area.
You could start by having a few visits to the area.
Hope this helps.

Newcastle is ace! So much to do for kids and grown ups. I'm a Southerner and came up here for uni about 14 years ago. I'm stuck here now as like you my bloke is a geordie. It's cheap to live and all my friends are here so I'm quite happy. Don't worry about making friends before you get here, you'll have plenty of time and opportunity once you arrive. Make time for your current friends as although you'll be away from them you'll probably still need them for support, old friends are always the best.
You'll probably love the Cumberland Arms in Heaton for Ale and music and they have a night on about once a month where everyone plays ping pong (one table and everyone goes round it taking it in turns for a shot and if you miss you're out!) Doesn't matter if you're not a ping pong person (who is?!) but it's a great way to meet people. Northern Stage have a performance group to join and of course there's the Baltic for art!!
There are tonnes of toddler groups to meet other Mums, you'll have a great time!

thanks for your help