Hi from New Zealand

Hi Gilly, sorry for the slowness replying, I've been on holidays. :)    If you want to ask to join a private group, best way is to send a personal message to the facilitator and ask if they take new members (some don't but there's no problem at all with asking).  To do that, just go to the group's page, click on the facilitator's name (on the left side of the page under the big picture), and on the left side of her profile, you'll see a link labelled 'send a message'.   Just explain who you are and why you'd like to join and take it from there.   Let me know if you get stuck.   ~Di.