I used to belong to a rather large quilt guild in NH, I was fortunate to have a friend introduce me to some of the other members. There were some members who were very friendly, noticing that I was a newbie and encouraged me to bring quilts for show and tell, sign up for classes held after a guest lecturer; where I learned a lot of new skills. That said, when I became President a few years later, the question of welcoming newcomers came up several times. We formed a group of "greeters" who would take turns at each meeting to welcome a newcomer, sit with them, introduce them to other guild members, etc., and that seemed to work. There were still the small "groups" of people who always sat together, and who were not as friendly as other members, but I think you will have that wherever you go. I do believe that our welcoming committee members made a difference to at least a few people, and I know that there are almost double the number of members when I was President for 2 years.