I joined meetup when I lost friends when my now ex left me, we'd done lots together and I didn't want to go to things where I might meet him
I went to a few general get-togethers but didn't find them awfully helpful making friends, I went to something at a bar, a meal, for coffee, and with a big group and a noisy background really only 'met' the people next to me,so doing interest groups sounds much better. I don't know if you do facebook but I have joined some interest groups on there and met with some people who live locally. If you were to join a local history group or breed dog walking group, litter picking group or book group etc,or even just the local village group I think you stand more chance of finding someone to say hello to, and from there getting to know people locally