I thought I’d figured out all the different ways I could describe myself, but then I came across a new one: AWOC - Ageing Without Children.

It was thanks to a tweet from Denise Jackson, from Oakengates. She’s part of the active AWOC community, and she wonders if other people in similar circumstances would be interested in forming a Shropshire or Telford local group.

Denise explains more and tells her story in this podcast. She mentions quite a few different organisations and points of contact; here are the links to them -

Denise on Twitter

Denise on Facebook

Ageing Well Without Children

Gateway Women, founded by Jody Day, for women who are childless for whatever reason

The Full Stop (podcast, newsletter, online community) supports people who are childless not by choice for any reason, and their friends, family and colleagues

Childless Collective, an online community for childless women and nonbinary people

Dr Robin Hadley’s done a lot of work in this field and has a website investigating the complexities of male childlessness

World Childlessness Week 2024

My job is just … bench

Come and say hello? I’ll be sitting on a bench tomorrow afternoon, Tuesday February 27th. It’s the bench at the junction of New Park Road and John Street in Castlefields, Shrewsbury. Thanks to Sandra for suggesting it!

I’ll be there from about 1:30pm, for an hour or so, recording conversations and the sounds around me. You can hear what happens on the next (probably) episode of Hello You … even if it’s just a soundscape.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimallthetime.substack.com/subscribe