A WOMEN-only Alcoholics Anonymous group has been set up in Northwich.

The informal group aims to combat an increase in the number of women with drink problems and give them a safe environment to talk about their fears.

One of the new group’s organisers, who asked not to be named, said: “Basically, we have seen a large increase in the numbers of women having problems with alcohol.

“Statistically, you are now more likely to die from an alcohol-related illness than cervical cancer.”

She added: “Women with alcohol problems put themselves in a very vulnerable position and that’s one of the reasons why we decided to set up a women-only group.

“We thought it would create a safe environment – women in trouble know it’s safe and they’re with other women who have also been through the same thing.”

She said the group could not be more different from the common perception of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

“Women can just come for some advice or a cup of coffee and a slice of cake,” she said.

“We’re there to offer support, even on a one-to-one level. They can just come to sit and listen and don’t have to come back if they don’t want to.

“Whatever is said in there stays in that room, it’s totally confidential and we never know each other’s surnames.”

She said women can get a lot of reassurance from just being in the same room as each other.

“I’ve been sober for eight years and when I came to the end of my drinking, I thought killing myself would be easier than stopping drinking. I’m a totally different person now to what I was. I needed to be with people who were like me – you don’t have to do it alone.

“It’s like speaking a foreign language and no-one understands you, but then you go to an AA meeting and you’re all speaking the same language.”

She added: “Alcoholism is an illness. Some people believe you choose to do this but no-one would choose this life.”

The meetings are held from 8pm to 9.30pm every Friday at Cheshire Carers Centre, in London Road.