“I got lots of help with my membership when I joined and I was very happy – I’m going to rejoin”

I got the direction magazine from church one Sunday and started browsing on it. At the back that’s where I saw your advert, read it though checked it out online and just left it couple of weeks I just decided to go ahead and join it. I have recently joined and they staff are friendly and you just know you got their full support by the emails they sent. Right now I’m excited to meet someone who share the same faith with me and spent the rest of my life with I would recommend this to friends and family who are struggling to meet that one special someone.  God bless

“It’s so lovely talking to the staff in your office. They’ve all been really helpful and so encouraging.”

“Knowing you were there to support me through my membership meant I was happy to belong to your organisation. The service you give is excellent.”

“I’ve found the 12 dating guides very very informative and very useful so far.”

Dear Katherine Thank you for all your continued kindness and advice. It is all very helpful INDEED. With sincere  thanks

“The newsletter has inspired me to go and get some professional photos taken, I was really impressed with it”

“Please renew my membership. I realise I should have applied myself more to your suggestions”

I came home to find my Welcome folder in the post. Thank you. I’ve read through the literature and wanted to tell you how helpful it was!

“A friend of mine suggested that I might like to join your organisaion. She had seen it advertised in a Christian magazine. When people had suggested this kind of thing before I hadn’t been interested. There were too many other things going on in my life and I didn’t like the look of the online dating sites. When my friend told me that this was an off-line agency I started to think about it and decided it would be nice to have some new friends to go out with. I liked the fact that you gave members personal support through the process of applying and meeting new people. When I spoke to one of the membership managers, she was very helpful and explained that, because you are off line, a higher number of older people join than usual. In the correspondence and on the phone you seem to be Friendly! And to understand the reservations that make people hesitate to join a dating agency. Now I am looking forward to  the adventure of contacting new people who I would never meet otherwise.”

“Good-afternoon Katherine and thanks very-much for both your lovely-email and that relationships’-newsletter you’ve sent me too Your Relationships-Newsletter IS VERY-GREAT-READING” .

“I thought your Sept edition of Cloudnine was very uplifting ” Maria Sanz

I would like to say though, that your employee (Nick, I believe) with whom I spoke on the telephone last Friday was charming, engaging, understanding, articulate and very easy to talk to. What a great asset you have there in your company. I only wish I could find a man like THAT! So if you reckon you can sort something of that nature for me, then well, maybe we have a deal…

“Thank you again, Katharine…Your helpful input is appreciated”.

On 1:1with KG: “Thank you for shaking up my cobwebs and how I think. You’ve hit the nail on the head.”

“As a retired psycho-therapist who has recently joined, I would like to congratulate Katharine and her team on the very high standard of the advice on dating in their many publications that one receives as part of the membership package. I think the psychological content is spot on – for example in the Dating Master Classes. The way psychological input is linked to Christian principles is excellent  – helpful and up-lifting! I am also very impressed by Katharine’s personal input in phoning me to help me work through my profiles and encourage me to keep an open mind! God bless you in your work”

‘First of all, thank you for taking the time to speak with me on Friday afternoon. I found it very helpful.I have done as I promised and watched the ‘How to view a profile’ on You Tube. I felt it was good, sound, common-sense advice and I think that I have been following it in all ways but one – I have tended to be influenced by each ‘wish list’ so I will try to get over any inhibitions in that area when the next set of profiles arrives’

What a well worded letter. I have spent all my working life in writing and I know how to write a letter that compels people to respond.

“I love the support that is going on. It is really appreciated.”

Your full engagement, encouragement and range of ideas to help me in this area of my life are massively appreciated. I led a bible study on Thursday from John Ortberg, “Build Community” about ” Balcony People” – those people in your life who cheer for you and encourage you…Barnabas being the example and you are on of those Balcony People for me.

“Thanks for Cloud Nine Magazine, a very good magazine “healing a discouraged heart”

“Many thanks to you –  without your help we would never have met.”

“you’ve been so encouraging – I really appreciate it”

“I really appreciated the additional support and advice. Your staff were very friendly and supportive and it made my membership more personal, which was good”

“My experience of meeting people through you was part of my journey of discovery – of myself and the sort of man I was looking for. Thank you for your support in the past.”

Dear Katharine  Thank you for asking for feedback. I have only just joined  & so have not yet been able to make full use of everything that is available, particularly as its been v busy at work. I filled in the questionnaire & wanted to add some comments. I appreciate:- the potential to be able to ring & talk through things with someone- some of the literature has provided quick to read handy hints re dating- the ethos encourages respectful treatment of people.- not having to scan on a photo of myself- I’m not v technical.

‘Firstly, thank you for your advice over the phone on Friday and for all you are doing to match me with appropriate people. I really appreciate all your hard work.  Your passion and enthusiasm for your job were obvious, and I felt very encouraged after our conversation’.

Thank-you so much for being so caring and writing such motivational emails. They have been really helpful to me

“I found contact with your staff encouraging and supportive. Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new. Please find my cheque to renew my membership.”

Dear team Thank you for your phone call. Your dedication and support already has been overwhelming and encouraging! Thank you! Looking forward to reading your brochure when it arrives and getting back in touch with you with good hopes for the future. Once again thanks.

Thanks for all your encouragement, Katharine! I am just waiting for the cash to get started! Shouldn’t be too much longer now. You are probably right in that I am over thinking it – i guess I feel my age is against me – 56- although I am much younger in a million ways! You, and our site seem to speak the most sense I have come across in the singles field so I  know you will guide me well!

“Hi Dawn, Thanks for all your encouragement.”

“The news letter is great, I’ve enjoyed reading it, It was nice to see everyone’s photos”

The following feedback has been collected from anonymous surveys conducted with members in 2012. They were asked: What difference did our advice, support and encouragment make in helping you make new friends?

I was widowed 2yrs 3mnths ago and felt my life had ended, it was the worst pain that I have ever experienced, for 12 months I hid away from life, then I turned to God rather than away from him and just held on tight, then gradually over the last year I have, moved house -70 miles away from where I used to live – , joined a new church, I have made new friends, and have begun to feel life flowing through me again ……………It was while I was out with friends one eve I was asked for my number by a guy (I declined to give it) but it made me realise that I was ready to meet someone but I know I only want to be with a man who loves God first. I knew I didn’t want to do anything like online dating as I had heard of so many horror stories, so It got me thinking  about how I could meet like minded people, so I just tapped in Christian friendships and your organisation popped up ! I read everything I could about the organisation and liked what I found, after a few weeks I decided to  join, since joining I haven’t actually spoken to anybody yet but that was because I missed the call, but I have had encouraging  emails and endless offers of help and support, I have complete peace about my decision and am looking forward to meeting and making new friends with the help of God and your team.

“Thank you for your support over the last 12 months.”

Dawn, thank you for your phone call – it prompted me to take that next step.”

The staff are all lovely and supportive – I really enjoy talking to them

Thank you for your help and amazing service. God Bless

“I’m very satisfied with your service”

Thank you for the Dating Master class, it is really fantastic, for dating, and even as a life skill, really excellent, thank you.

“Dear Katharine, I have been meaning to contact you for some time and your recent email prompted me. I joined your organisation a couple of years ago and although I didn’t have any success in contacting anyone, a conversation we had really made me stop and think. You telephoned me to encourage me to be more open-minded and suggested that I had put barriers up so that I was not going to meet anyone, even if they were queuing up on my doorstep! Although a little dismissive of your views at the time – I am a teacher and not great at taking criticism, however gentle! – God kept bringing me back to reflecting on what you had said. I began to acknowledge that you were right and that insight opened up a door. I confess that I didn’t go back to your agency but joined another one for a short period. I wanted to try out my ‘new’ approach quickly before retreating back into old habits. I met Jon, from Brentwood, within the first few weeks. We emailed for a time, spoke on the phone for a few weeks and finally met. There was no instant physical attraction on my part but I already knew that he was a really lovely man. We had both prayed before even going on the website and had each committed our search to God, whose love has been at the heart of our growing relationship. I am delighted to tell you that now, eighteen months later, Jon and I are to be married on October 12th. All the practical difficulties of distance, jobs, church lives have melted away. I want to thank you Katharine, for your wise words. Although your organisation did not work for me, your advice did. It made me look long and hard at myself and at the legacy of previous failed relationships. With God’s help I have been able to start afresh.  I watched the Panorama programme about online dating and was horrified by what they uncovered. Jon and I will always be aware of the difficulties facing single people and hope to have opportunities to support them as we have been supported. With my grateful thanks and best wishes for your continued success.

Nick’s professionalism has shone through so I would like to thank him personally for the service he has  given to me.

Jackie, Thank you so much for calling me yesterday.  I really needed to hear those words of encouragement.

“I appreciate your help greatly”

‘Congratulations to you and the team on your Cloudnine newsletter, I think it’s wonderful!!’

Received all information, which may I add seemed very comprehensive and professional.

“Really wonderful news letter, I enjoyed reading it very much”

” Gave reassurance that I was taking the right approach”

“Thank you for your support – your service has been really good and what you are doing is wonderful”

Your organisation has been a source of light to me. My daughter is going through a difficult divorce and, thanks you, I am able to be strong for her.

“You should be proud of your reputation of being a very caring Christian organisation.”

“Without one to one support I wouldn’t attempt doing this through an agency – for me it’s a must. I’m impressed with what you advise and thank you for being so friendly.”

“I really want to use this opportunity to thank you and your hardworking team Sarah and Jackie and any other member of your staff.  I attended your dinner at Covent Garden last December and I really enjoyed it. I’d like to take a break due to financial reasons and I appreciate the help and support you gave me.”

Thank you for your courtesy calls regarding my membership with you. I am pleased with my profile and look forward to my membership start at the beginning of July!

“Thank you very much for your prompt and friendly call and email. I expect you get  quite a lot of nervous people like me but it was nice that you were so understanding and put me at my ease.”

“Thank you for all you do behind the scenes to make connections between people.  May God continue to bless you as you seek to bless others though this ministry.”

“Thanks very much Jackie, you were really helpful and encouraging and I’ll be in touch again soon, Best wishes Lynne”