Maz,
There's another side to this. I was one of those new PPLs who was determined not to let my newly acquired skills lapse, having heard of so many people who did. When I actually got my PPL I sort of panicked....What do I do now? Should I buy a share? Should I get 25 hours (or whatever it is) and do an IMC? Tell me, someone, what do I do?!!!!!
Well, I'm inclined to say, hold on for a bit. Carry on hiring, and just enjoy being able to fly when you want and where you want to. That'll give you a bit of an idea of what you actually want to do with your flying, which may not be what the next person wants. Then is the time to join a group, or whatever.
In my case I found another new PPL who wanted to go places. The school let us take an aircraft away for a day if we did at least three hours flying - that meant, for us, a visit to any airfield within one and a half hours flying distance, every week or two. It was a wonderful first summer of flying. After that I discovered helicopters; I don't know what he did. But I could have realised that I could do much more with an IMC, or decided STOL aircraft and farm strips were my thing, or that I wanted to tour Europe, and so on.
What I'm saying is, don't let your skills lapse, but don't jump into things either. Hiring for a bit is fine, and gives you the time and space to work out what you want from your flying.