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.

November 25 2012

The meeting on Sunday 25th November was, as ever, great. There were about 20 girls there. For several people it was their visit, and even a first trip out as a girl in public.

One of the nicest things about Surrey Swans is that it provides a safe and friendly environment for transgendered people to “come out”. The girls that attend the meeting are very friendly and easy to get along with. All us us remember those first frightening steps out into the world.

The day before the November meeting I received an email that mentioned:

I intend to give … her first proper outing tomorrow night and come along. Must admit am very nervous, but looking fwd to it. I will be the one arriving about 830 looking terrified!

It was really great to meet her. She looked great and despite the feelings of terror en-route to the meeting, settled into things very quickly.

If you’re reading this and are transgendered and haven’t been able to express that other part of yourself then feel free to get in touch and come along to a meeting sometime.

However … there isn’t a meeting in December, the next one is on Sunday January 27 2013. Dates for the rest of next year are here.

October 28th 2012

I couldn’t get along to the Swans at the end of September because I was on holiday. However, Emma organised the evening and it went well. And here she is:

This past Sunday there were about 18 people and it was a really nice evening.

It was especially nice to meet Stacy who’s first visit had been in September, and Petra, who’s first visit was that very night.

Stacy (on the right) is next to Christina here:

It was lovey as well to meet Chantelle who provides the drinks and things during the evening. September was her first month at the Swans. All the way from South Africa, though she has been in the UK for about 10 years now. Here she is along with Laura:

And here are a few of the other people that were there:

 

 

 

Christina mentioned a new trans-group called R-Trans that is starting up in Reading. There are details on facebook here.

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: