She believes that Huddersfield singles need somewhere safe to meet each other in person and while internet dating is now particularly popular it doesn’t suit everyone.

She said: “I have friends who have met people through the internet, but it can put people in awkward, or even dangerous, situations.

“There’s nothing quite like meeting someone face-to-face in a secure environment. I looked around Huddersfield and there didn’t seem to be much for singles. Most of the speed dating events happen in the big cities like Leeds and Manchester.”

And so she founded luv2connect which is about to have its first major event – a speed-dating dinner dance at Bowers Mill in Barkisland on April 15.

Two smaller speed-dating sessions have shown her that people of all ages and backgrounds are interested.

Genieveve has plans to run events for every type of singleton – from young parents to the over-50s.

She has personal experience of being a single mum, when her own marriage broke up, although she is now in a happy relationship with a long-term partner.

“I’ve got tons of ideas,” she said. “I’d like to do speed dating at school proms so that all the shy teenagers who’ve never dared ask someone out could join in and I’ve had quite a lot of older people who want something for them.”

Speed dating has been around for barely more than a decade but its popularity seems to have waned in the last couple of years.

Genieveve believes it can make a comeback in Huddersfield and already has ambitions to take it to other towns in the region.

l More details of speed-dating events in our area can be found at www.luv2connect.co.uk

THE concept of speed dating is said to have been invented by a rabbi and member of the Aish Ha Torah orthodox organisation who wanted a way for Jewish singles to meet and marry.

SpeedDating is a registered trade mark belonging to the Aish Ha Torah.

The first event was held in Beverley Hills in the late 1990s but speed dating is now worldwide.

At events, participants are given three minutes to ‘interview’ each other before moving on to someone new.

Supporters say that as most of us make up our minds about someone else within minutes this is ample time to see if you are interested in pursuing the relationship further.

American university studies have found, in fact, that some people take only three seconds to form an opinion of a stranger and first impressions are difficult to shift. Speed dating men tend to place a greater emphasis on a woman’s age, while women want men to be taller than them.

Speed dating is now entrenched in Western culture and has appeared on many popular television series, such as Sex and the City, The Bill, Frasier and The Vicar of Dibley. Frasier said that speed dating was “all the stress and humiliation of a blind date times 12!”