Sunday November 24 2013 … New Visitors and a Film Crew

The meeting on November 24 was unusual in several respects.

There were over 20 people there which was great.

There were four new people – Saffy, Gina,Carole and Louise – which was fantastic. It was great to meet them.

There was also a film crew, which was unprecedented.

There’s some background on how a film crew got to be involved in the evening here.

The crew consisted of James, Sinead, Vlad, Lexie and Xander from the University for Creative Arts, Farnham. They are making a short (5 to 7 minute) film and are including some footage from Surrey Swans.

They arrived before anyone else so that they could spend some time interviewing Mike who runs the pub where Surrey Swans meet.

At about 7:30 they dropped by the room where the Swans actually meet.

During the evening they filmed general goings on and also interviewed several volunteers.

Xander and Vlad with cameras.

Vlad lines up the shot:

Vlad, Xander, Lexie (with thumbs up) and James setting things up for an interview.

Adrianne being interviewed:

There was a band called No Lip playing in the main bar.

James asked if anyone was ok with the idea of being filmed as part of a No Lip audience. So half a dozen, or maybe more of us spent a while tapping our feet in the bar.

No Lip in the main bar:

The crew take a break. Lexie, Sinead, Vlad and Xander.

Shooting the juke box. I think the song was Girls Night Out.

Another interview:

Farewells:

The end of the evening: Xander, Lexie, James, Andrea, Vlad and Sinead.

We’re hoping that we’ll be re-visited by the team at the end of January 2014 so they can show us the end results of all their hard work.

For me the evening was very special for several reasons.

It’s great to spend time with friends.

It’s especially great to welcome new people to meetings.

The film crew were also great. Very friendly, helpful, unobtrusive and professional in everything that they did. Fantastic.

I feel that it’s good to open up the transgendered world to help people better understand it.

And it’s my hope that the making of the film will have helped James, Sinead, Lexie, Vlad and Xander understand us a bit better.

And that it’ll also help the tutors and other students on the course in the same way when they get to see the finished product.

The trip to the main bar was also unusual. Individuals have always done this from time to time, but it was unusual for so many of the group to be there together.

Again it’s all part of the process of making it not so unusual for transgendered people, in this case mainly transvestites, to be around in ordinary everyday kind of situations with no one feeling that it’s especially weird.

As this type of thing happens more and more, society … and individuals within society … will be given a chance to re-examine their preconceived ideas and learn to accept the transgendered simply as people.

Words of thanks and inspiration

Hi Ladies Thank you so much for allowing me to present about coaching at the last Surrey Swans meeting. I felt honoured and wanted to thank you for accepting me into your meeting with such friendliness and curiosity. I just wanted you to read this visualization piece if you would, just to get an idea of how wonderful you really are:

Have you ever dared to believe that “you are accepted as you!!!?”

What is it that stops you from letting yourself go with friends and family and telling them that you are a transvestite? I am not telling you to do this, I am just asking you the question………….

What if that certain barrier that stopped you from telling people this fact was lifted and that you could tell anyone you wanted that you love to dress. That you desire to dress and that if you don’t dress you will explode with sadness and inability to actually be yourself.

Please indulge me and meditate/visualize with me. I intend to create a world for you to imagine that you are accepted by society, by loved ones and friends dear to you.

Find a place that is relaxing and either say these sentences to yourself in your head or aloud if you can………….

Please take a few deep breaths, relax into that chair, focus on the words you are saying and believe in every word that you say…………..

 

I am

I am a good person

I am liked by my colleagues at work and loved by my friends at home

I am loved especially by my family.

I can achieve goals that I have set

I can lead an amazing life of things that I love to be and do.

I am me

I am good at being me

There is no one else like me

And I love that.

I love that because I am unique; there is no one like me because I am a perfect example of me.

I love being me.

People love me being me

People who cannot accept me as me have a choice to do so, however miss out on my uniqueness if they do not choose to accept who I am.

I accept me as me

I accept that I am not perfect in all eyes, but who is?

I understand that I cannot be accepted by all, however who can?

My life is great, my morals are set high and I expect to be treated as I treat others.

I do not hurt anyone and am kind and peaceful when I can be.

I am me

I am  

 

And now I ask you to fill in the rest of the sentence for yourself:

To be totally and utterly accepted by society, friends and family would allow me to be………………..

If you could feel this every day, what would this do to your confidence? If you knew that you could walk out that door any way you wanted to dress and feel alive and accepted, how would that make you feel?

Could you do that do you think? How could you do that? If you would like to talk about your confidence, or work on any issues or goals that you have set in the future and need assistance to achieve, or just want to by you, but not sure how to do that, give me a call or send me a mail and we can get together and start now!

 

Happy days being YOU!

 

Hopefully see you again soon. If you would like to discuss any aspirations or goals or issues you would like to achieve or put to bed, please contact me below. We can discuss confidence, femininity, stress, time management, work life-balance, diet exercise and nutrition or anything you feel you want to be coached on.

 

Have fun

 

Andrea Chapman

 

Life-style coach

 

07718 155408

 

info@andrea-coaching.com

September 29, 2013

The final Sunday of September 2013 was the tenth birthday of Surrey Swans.

My first visit was towards the end of 2007 – by which time the group had already existed for four years. However, there were several people at the tenth birthday that had been at the inaugural meeting.

About 22 people attended the meeting and we had a lovely time.

There was a birthday cake and a visit from Andrea Chapman who works in the area of Life Coaching. It was really lovely to meet her and hear about the kind of work that she does and the ways in which that can be of help to people in working towards the realisation of their goals, ambitions and dreams.

Here are a few pictures:

Andrea Chapman and Amanda:

The girls:

The cake:

And more of the girls:

 

 

 

 

Kathie and Sally cutting the cake:

July 28, 2013

There were over 20 girls at the Swans meeting, which was great.

There was a school uniform theme to the evening and quite a few girls dressed the part:

Claire organised a quiz, which went very well.Emma got the highest marks (17 out of 20). No-one knew what a bumbershoot was at the beginning of the evening, but we’d all have been grateful for one before the evening ended.

At round about 9:00 it was, as is usual, time for the raffle. This was a little more cheek-reddening than normal, since Laura insisted in making sure everyone got to read the message that was following me:

In fact, no-one did.

May 26, 2013

Last night was a regular Surrey Swans get together. It was different in that it was actually warm enough to sit outside for a while in the early evening.

This did pose some challenges.

Four of us were sitting at a table. Myself, Laura, Chelle and Brenda.

“Hello Andrea” says Chelle.

We struggle to see each other. The sunshade / parasol is down and positioned right between us.

“Maybe we can take it out”, says I.

Then, after a short struggle.

“Maybe it would be easier to just put it up” says Brenda.

So I hold onto the pole with my left hand and the sliding bit with my left and start pushing.

“Omg …” says Andrea.

“What’s up dear?” asks Laura.

“I think I’m losing a boob”.

At this moment Andrea loses interest in the parasol and catches the boob as it slides out from under her blouse.

The opening of the parasol is completed with an upturned silicone boob sitting on the table.

As I slide it back into place it reminds me of a joke I first heard as a schoolboy. I share it with the others.

"A friend placed his left hand on his chest and solemnly declared ‘You know, sometimes I feel a right tit.' "

We giggle like a group of schoolgirls.

Rozz is serving drinks for the night. It’s really nice to see her again.

Part way into the evening Claire introduces herself.

It seems that in the near future she’s running a lingerie sale kind of event at the pub as a charity fund raising event. Mike, who runs the pub, had mentioned to her that we might be interested in the lingerie. So she asked if we’d be interested in taking a look at some catalogues that she had brought.

Oh and the lingerie as well.

Things were then quiet for a little while as people studiously looked through the catalogues.

 

 

The pictures were taken just before the rack of lingerie was assembled.

It was really nice to meet Claire and she was really helpful to everyone. I think a few people had checks on bra sizes.

On checking with Emma, it seems that the first ever Surrey Swans meeting was in September 2003. So in September 2013 we’ll be 10 years old. That’s cool.

April 28 2013

Another really nice evening at the end of April with about 18 girls.

We had a visit from Lisa of yourSanctuary.

yourSanctuary, formerly called Surrey Women's Aid, is a local charity that provides a range of services which offer emotional and practical support to people and their children who are experiencing or have experienced domestic abuse.

Along with providing services ourselves, we also work closely with other agencies to offer a package of support. Although we work with these other agencies we are a voluntary organisation and are not part of a statutory agency. This means we are able to offer impartial support and provide information to enable people to make informed choices about what they want to do. We do not make decisions for people or make anyone do anything they do not want to but we do help to look at options.

yourSanctuary works to prevent domestic abuse and undo the damage it does to individuals, families and communities. In addition to direct services to women, men and children affected by domestic abuse, yourSanctuary provides comprehensive prevention, advocacy and educational programmes. Our clients come from diverse communities, sexual orientations, religions, ethnicities, socio-economic groups and age brackets. We are based in Surrey, where one in three women experience domestic abuse as opposed to the one in four nationally. We don’t restrict our work to the Surrey borders, reaching out to fleeing families from around the country and answering calls on our 24hr helpline from whoever needs help.

She chatted with quite a few people about the kind of work that yourSanctuary do and the widely different forms that abuse can take. It was really nice to meet her and very informative as well. Hopefully she’ll pop along again once in a while and keep in touch with us. Here’s Laura with Lisa:

When it came to collecting the attendance fees and managing the raffle, Tina and Laura gave me a night off and did all of the work. The event wasn’t without incident however – a couple of tickets were pulled out of the bag that no-one admitted to having bought.

The mystery was eventually solved. Linda had bought two strips of tickets but had inadvertently been given three. One was stuck to the back of the other.

The was a special request for a theme evening sometime in the future. The barmaid for the night was wearing pigtails and someone said that she’d look nice in school uniform. She wasn’t so keen on being the only schoolgirl in the place though, so it was suggested that if there was a school uniform theme evening everyone could join in. So, it’s due to happen on July 28th.

February 24 2013

Another great time to meet up with people.

Again, there were about 18 of us – five of whom were newcomers and we also welcomed maid, Stacie.

January 27 2013

The meeting at the end of January was, as always, really nice.

About 18 people were there, with quite a few people making only their second visit.

It’s great to see old friends and also to get to know new people.