Christmas can be the loneliest time of the year. HOWARD DAVIS looks to the web to see what is on offer to those looking for love.

While I was sat considering the subject of this week's column a press release landed on my desk from singlemindedpeople.co.uk.

"When Hazel Edwards divorced seven years ago," the press release read, "she could see the need for a group that helped single people to enjoy leisure activities without committing to a relationship."

"Five years later, she was still waiting for someone to get around to forming an activities-based group, so she decided to do it herself!'

So I logged on to singlemindedpeople.co.uk half expecting it to be a thinly-veiled swingers site. But no, true to her word, Hazel Edwards has set up on introduction service based around interesting activities.

Aimed at getting single people of the house and engaging in shared interest, subscribers to singlemindedpeople.co.uk seem to fall into two distinct areas: divorcees trapped by 'mutual' friends and looking to meet new people, or businessmen and women too busy for a longterm relationship, and too busy to make friends the old-fashioned way.

Two of the site's case studies highlight this perfectly. Stuart says "After divorce it's easy to feel a failure, and when the only pastime was 'couch potato'; I felt on a downward spiral." Laura, on the other hand, "wanted to stay single, but enjoy her leisure time in the company of like-minded people."

Laura and Stuart now go abseiling together. "The verdict - great fun, no commitment."

While this does seem to paint a wonderfully rosy picture, singlemindedpeople.co.uk fills a gap in the market previously only populated by hit-and-miss chat rooms. And with internet stalking on the rise chat rooms are not the most reliable methods of introduction. However, not all of us are high-flyers looking for just friendship. Most of us want more. With the Internet's more personal feel, using a dating service on-line may prove a little less embarrassing than the more traditional dating agencies. It can be done from the comfort of your home, without interaction with anybody save a faceless database somewhere in cyberspace. And there are a plethora of dating services to choose from.

Abcsingles.com offers a vast database covering the whole of the UK. Unfortunately, the ratio of men to women on the database is 14:3, and I only managed to find four women in North Yorkshire that matched my exacting criteria (that they must be between 18 and 80, and have a pulse). Luckily they were all drinkers, so at least we were guaranteed one thing in common.

Kiss.com, an international dating service, still returned over 500 matches for the UK, and most potential dates also provided pictures. The first page brought up two ladies from Yorkshire, but a long search did not bring up a single Yorkie. Nevertheless, if I was willing to travel there was swathes of singles for me to choose from.

Bliss-dating-club.com, on the other hand, would not let me browse before paying a registration fee starting at £6 for one month. I don't think I would be able to explain that away to my better half. Nevertheless, the testimonials on the site, unsurprisingly, seemed promising.

And this seems the bonus of on-line dating. You can read a potential date's profile so, while its not guaranteed that the person you are interested is not a weirdo, you can at least start a conversation with the ice already broken.

There are also dating sites for those for whom religion plays a major factor. Singlec.com and jewish.co.uk both offer dating services for those of the relevant denomination.

You could also try lifeguide.co.uk, an astrology-based site, if the stars govern your life. (You should also try joining the real world as well.)

So, if you are lonely this Christmas, get on-line and get a date. It may even save you from an embarrassing and unwanted encounter at the office party.

This is York has its own dating service, www.twoscompany.co.uk, with a database that covers all of the UK.