🎉 Happy 1st Birthday, Lonely Llama Turns One – A Year of Growth, Learning & Community 🎉

Happy 1st Birthday! As Lonely Llama turns one, I’ve spent some time looking back on where this all began — and honestly, it still surprises me how far we’ve come in such a short space of time.

Because the truth is…

Lonely Llama started in the most ordinary way: me, sitting at a computer, having never built a website in my life.

No experience .No roadmap . Just an idea I couldn’t shake — a feeling that something was missing in the world.

I wanted to build a place for everyone. A place that could grow. A place people could lean on when they felt alone, overwhelmed, or simply needed someone to understand.

And so, between a full-time job and looking after the kids, I sat there day by day… hour by hour… minute by minute… slowly stitching together the very first version of LonelyLlama.co.uk. I had no clue what I was doing at times — but every new button clicked, every colour chosen, every sentence written taught me something. And honestly, I loved it.

That’s still one of Lonely Llama’s biggest mottos today:

Failure is always an option.

Because that’s how we learn, grow, and get better.

The Launch That Wasn’t Meant to Be

The funny part? I originally aimed to publish the website on National Llama Day — December 9th.I thought it would be the perfect symbolic start.

But… I got impatient. After days of tweaking and checking to see if the site even worked, I hit publish on the 5th of December instead. I couldn’t help it — I needed to see if this thing I’d poured myself into would actually work.

And that moment became Lonely Llama’s official birthday.

What a Year It Has Been

If you’d told me back then that Lonely Llama would grow into something people genuinely use, trust, and lean on… I don’t think I’d have believed you.

If you’d told me we’d build a team, that we’d have volunteers, that people from all over the world would like, share, comment, message, and support what we're doing… I definitely wouldn’t have believed you.

But here we are.

This year we’ve:

• Met incredible people

• Made amazing friendships

• Had support from a dedicated team

• Worked alongside wonderful volunteers

• Raised money for good causes

• Attended events, built connections, and created community

And somehow, this little idea created in a quiet room has reached corners of the world I never imagined.

More importantly, I hope it has reached hearts.

Still a Long Way to Go — And That’s the Exciting Part

We are still small. We are still growing. We are still learning every single day.

But this journey has only just begun, and the fact that we’ve made it this far — with support from so many incredible people — fills me with hope for what 2026 will bring.

I’m proud of what Lonely Llama is becoming. I’m proud of the people who’ve walked with us so far. And I’m beyond grateful to everyone who has liked, commented, shared, donated, reached out, or simply read a post and felt a little less alone.

Here’s to Year Two

Whether we release this on National Llama Day or Lonely Llama’s official birthday, the message stays the same:

Thank you. Truly.

Thank you to everyone involved, everyone who believes in the vision, and everyone who has supported us in any way.

🧡 Here’s to many more years of helping, supporting, and growing — together… because as you now know, together we thrive.