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.