About Us
The Penfriends Society was created to help bring people together witihin and beyond the university community through the lost act of pen palling and letter writing! We host a wide variety of activities to help bring people together, socialise, develop crafting skills and creativity, and learn about a wider range of cultures, and much more! We also hold collaborations with other societies and hold other outgoing socials, such as craft store crawls, pub crawls, coffee shop crafting and more. There's something for everybody here.
What is pen palling?
Pen palling is an activity where you write letters to someone as a hobby! This is typically in physical letters, but in the modern day, pen palling via email correspondence and postcrossing (mainly sending postcards) are becoming more popular. The hobby rose in popularity in 2020, which shifted the focus to the aesthetics of the letter, such as the themes and colour combinations that are used to decorate it. Our society aims to continue the momemtum, and share it with the student community!
Why should I join? Why Pen palling?
Our society was founded in order to address the lack of direct support given for those with social anxiety at the university and within many of the university's societies. We decided that using pen palling would be an exciting way to help people directly find and contact those from similar courses and interests, using letter writing and gift giving as a segue to in person meetings to help boost people's confidence!
This hobby also provides a low-pressure environment to participate in activities every week, since you can craft and write letters remotely if you want. However, the wide variety of different activities that we have planned ensures that no matter when you join our society, there will be something new for you to try!
Whether you're a seasoned crafter, or you haven't picked up a glue stick since primary school, we have something for you! Our wonderful committee is always here to support you if you're feeling nervous or unsure about trying a new hobby or meeting new people, so please contact us if you have any questions at all!
One of the best ways our society can help you meet new people and start pen palling ASAP is through our Pen pal Matching Group Chat on Whatsapp! Our full guide is on our Instagram, and further down this page (Pen Pal Information). The groupchat provides a space for you to look find other potential pen pals who may have the same interests, hobbies, courses, etc. as you!
Bristol SU recognises that the costs of participating in student groups can be prohibitively expensive for some students. The Activity Hardship Fund was created to support those students who wouldn't otherwise be able to participate in their chosen activity due to the cost.
Event Information
Our updates can be found on our Instagram and Whatsapp! Please follow our social media channels to get notified on events!
Some of our crafting activities include:
- Greeting card decorating for special occasions
- Postcard decorating
- Felt charm making
- Sticker making and designing
- and more!
Our pen-pal related crafting activities include:
- Calligraphy workshops
- Handmade envelope making and decorating
- Pen pal letter memory books - to keep your correspondence in one place!
- Making different kinds of letters - such as Victorian Puzzle Letters!
- Scrapbooking and junk journalling sessions
- and more!
Other:
- We hope to host a variety of volunteering opportunities lined up for our members! Our main event will be our Christmas letter writing campaign where we write anonymous letters to send to elderly residents in local care homes around Bristol! Keep an eye out for more information!
- We also host socials, such as pub crawls, cafe crawls, crafternoons and many more to keep things excited and to provide a space for members to get to know each other better!
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