Two women who have been friends for more than 30 years have joined forces to set up a website they hope will make it easier for people to find true love.

Anona Hessler, 42, and Clare Beaney, 41, (pictured) have been best friends since they met at Kirtlington Primary School.

Now, more than 30 years later, they both have children and Mrs Hessler has been happily married for almost 26 years.

But Ms Beaney found herself on the dating scene again, having met the love of her life online, only to have him snatched away in a tragic accident. She said: “I know it is possible to find love online, because I did.”

But after a few discouraging experiences, she felt a website was needed which forced people to be more honest.

“People use out-of-date photographs and embellish their profile with loads of stuff that is not true," she said.

Ms Hessler added: "We watched the TV programme Undateable and we wondered if we could set up a website for people with a disability, but we discovered there were plenty out there already.

“Then we thought we might have one called leftontheshelf.com, but people told us they didn't want to be labelled like that.”

They decided to make a virtue out of forcing people to be honest about themselves by including a ‘rate your date’ feature, to be seen only by the two people concerned.

Ms Hessler said: “We have a feedback system which allows you to check how the date went, rather than hanging on for days with no response.

“When you have been on a date you can receive feedback about things like how honest the photograph was. It is only for you to see.

“We have not found any other dating sites that allow you to do that."

She added: “We hope this will really reinforce the need for honesty and help people with confidence, personal development and to make some positive changes to their approach to dating.”

Ms Beaney said: "Our approach is totally different to other sites. We encourage members to be brutally honest, so we called it honestlydating.com.”

They are carrying on with their day jobs as website traffic builds up — Ms Beaney is a hairdresser, while Mrs Hessler works in accounts.

And having lived in the same village all their lives, they both have a network of friends, many of whom are single and have signed up to the site.

Web: www.honestlydating.com