July 2014

There were about 18 of us at the Surrey Swans meeting at the end of July. It had been a nice sunny day so we sat outside for a while and then headed indoors when it got a little chillier later on.

Here are a few pictures:

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.

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 29th 2012

The meeting on Sunday July 29th was great. There were several new people, including visitors from Carlisle.

We’re also trying to organise a trip to Pink Punters sometime, maybe, in August.

And here are some of the people that got along:

 

 

June 24 2012 Meeting

There were about a dozen girls at the Surrey Swans meeting on June 24th.

As always it was really nice to chat and catch up on news.

The alternative t Surrey Swans on the day, was the England football match against Italy in the European championships. Early in the evening Sophie quipped she was glad to be be able to get along to the Swans as a good excuse not to suffer the agony of watching England play. How right she was … it was painful enough to hear what was happening during the penalty shoot out via mobile phones.

Here are a few pictures of people that were there.

First is Rozz, who has the extremely important role of taking orders for drinks and food. She’s served at the bar for quite a few months now. Her actual name begins with a U, but she says it’s really hard to pronounce. The necklace was a prize included in the raffle that we’d held earlier.

The raffle took a surprisingly long time … people kept winning second, even a third, prize and re-donating the prize for a re-draw. It went on and on …

Here’s Adrianne:

And Chelle and Linda:

And Christina who was visiting the Swans for the first time:

Rhod Gilbert at Femesque

Rhod Gilbert visited Femesque recently as part of his Work Experience TV show. It’s the BBC iPlayer for 12 days here. Well worth watching. Femesque is also well worth visiting.

You can read about it here.

And here’s a clip on YouTube:

Andrea’s trip to Femesque is described here.

A visit by Lynne and Claire from Femesque to Surrey Swans is described here.

And some pictures:

Sunday April 29th

There were about 15 of us at the meeting on Sunday April 29th. As always, it was a really nice and relaxing evening.

Emma and Sophie are interested in the idea of a trip to Pink Punters sometime in June, and Tina and maybe Laura as well if they are able. It seems ages since I’ve been along so it’ll be great if we manage to organise something.

And in July there is Sparkle 

Sunday March 25, 2012

Round about a dozen girls got along to the meeting on March 25th. It was really good to meet some new people, including Heather, Lisa and Andie. And also with old, and not so old friends. Helen, one of the founders of the Surrey Swans group, was also there.

It was fairly quiet early on in the evening, with quite a few people arriving later.

It was the first meeting since British Summer Time started, so it was the first time in a while that it was still light until after 7:00 pm.

I’ve heard it said that trannies are a bit like vampires in that they find it easier to go out and about when it’s dark.

In fact, Lucy, who’s been along quite a few times now, lives in Transylvania, but seems pretty ok with daylight