MEMBERS of a support group set up by a former Swindon Town striker said their new venue feels like a place of their own.

Earlier this month, Andy Rowland helped launch two, weekly peer-to-peer support groups for people with mental health issues with the help of mental health charity Swindon Mind.

Susam Thompson, 56, who uses the club, said: “It’s brilliant since we’ve moved, this feels like it’s our space, and it’s here for us.

“I’ve been coming along since it started.

“We meet sometimes in other places, like the Savoy, in coffee shops, and other places, but it feels like we’re intruding in other people’s spaces. This doesn’t, it feels like it’s ours.”

“The staff and volunteers are just brilliant, you wouldn’t know they were staff, they’re just one of us,” said Andrea Phillips, of Stratton.

“It’s just a place to come, it gives you a reason to get up in the morning.

“It helps prevent isolation, and although we are all different, we understand each other and we are tolerant of each other.”

One of the club’s all-time top goalscorers, Andy was inspired to help others to tackle their own struggles with mental health after overcoming his own demons.

Now 60, he spent many years dealing with mental illness, until everything came to a head at the start of 2013, when he was hospitalised following alcohol-related problems.

He spent several months of his recovery working with Swindon Mind.

Around five weeks ago he used his own experiences to established a breakfast club and a support group on Mondays and Fridays in a partnership between Mind and Town’s Football in the Community group.

The sessions take place on both days between 11am and 1pm in the Junior Reds’ Room.

“These sessions are a chance for people to sit down, go over their problems and meet new people,” he said.

“It is a chance for our members to get together to talk, have a walk round the block, play pool and Xbox. ”

While there, visitors can enjoy a bacon butty and a cuppa with friends, as well as make use of the numerous facilities like a pool table, table-football and the games consoles.

Anyone is welcome to attend the workshops and Andy hopes to help people after learning from his own troubles.

He said: “Having been there, you really can understand what people are going through, I was just fortunate to come through the other side and I want to help others.

“In my case, my problems were alcohol-related, and when you are going through that you really don’t know what day of the week it is.

“There’s not a lot I can remember from that period and it did take about a year for me to get back to myself.

“I think the big thing in these situations is that you need to want to help yourself, we don’t promise instant results, but things can get better.

“It is about putting your heart into it and trying to live your life.”

Before moving to the County Ground, the group met in the Mind building in Regent Circus.

For more information about the group and what it has to offer, call 01793 432031 or visit swindonmind.org.