May 25th meeting replaced by a June 1st Meeting

Please note that the Surrey Swans meeting that had been scheduled for Sunday May 25th 2014 has been cancelled and replaced by one on Sunday June 1st 2014.

The complete schedule for 2014 is here.

Thanks.

A few pictures

Here are a few pictures taken at Surrey Swans on Sunday.

James, Sinead and Lexy:

James, Sinead, Andrea and Lexy.

Swans on Sunday Feb 23 2014

Another really nice evening. Great to see friends.

It was great to be visited again by James, Sinead and Lexy … they visited us back in November 2013 as described here.

There are actually two versions of the video … the shorter version as submitted as part of their course work … and a slightly longer version that you can watch here:

Thank you James, Sinead, Lexy, Vlad and Zander for all the hard work that you put into this.

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.