The idea for Piper came during the long hours of lockdown, at a time when we could only meet one other person outside the house for exercise, and family dogs became the most exhausted members of our furry society. Whilst I was out and about rambling over the South Downs, I saw many walkers alone, some new to the area and wanting to know local routes, some just wanting to stop and chat. Then in the summer of 2020, everybody seemed to buy a kayak or stand up paddle-board – but not everyone had a friend or a family member to paddle with. There was also a boom in e-bike sales as people wanted to avoid public transport. Now folks had a new toy for the weekend but not always somebody to play with. I realised that this was not a dilemma limited lockdown, and had many applications for when we all got back to normal. Some of my friends who had been less active over lockdown were now keen to get moving again, sports were opening up, people were talking about Wimbledon and thinking about hitting a ball on a local court. The seed was planted. At about the same time we adopted a four-legged friend, who was called.....Piper! It all came together and Piper website was born!

This is Piper by the way. If you’re lucky enough to get matched with him, you’ll see from his profile that he likes scampering on the South Downs, barking at pigeons, running after cyclists, chasing bees (be careful Pipes – it won’t end well!) sniffing cow pats and eating socks. He’s not very good at tennis, largely because he likes to steal the balls and chew them, then bury them, then chew them again, then leave them in our bed… but he likes to think he’s a good ball-boy. Piper wants everybody to have as much fun outdoors as he does, so thinks it’s a great idea for you all to sign up to his site.