What a busy night, a few new people and several others I had not seen for some time. The first new person I spoke to was Rosemary who is starting on the TS journey and would like to come along and make some friends. She works shifts so will only be able to come every few weeks but at least now she knows where to come and be accepted and relaxed. 
A bit later Shannon, who came for the first time two weeks ago, came in with a new friend called JJ who she had met over the internet. JJ is also a TS and has recently moved down to Manchester from Kilmarnock to try to find a bit more life, so she has come to the right place. She is in her twenties, which is a lot younger than me, but I found her very easy to talk to as she is a confident and interesting young lady. 
Shannon made friends with Alison when she came the first time and they have been in touch and gone out together a few times since then which is good to hear.

I was pleased to see Nic here with her wife who came for the first time and I think was pleasantly surprised how comfortable it all felt. When later on another couple came in called Lisa and Lorraine from Middlesborough I was able to introduce them and they kept each other company for the rest of the evening. It was also Lorraine's first time in the club although she had visited the village before.

I was pleased to see Jessica again after a long gap but still her usual extrovert self wearing a skirt even shorter than mine.

We also had a visit from Bernie, the local "Hate crime" policeman who visits us regularly to make himself and his position known, to encourage people to report hate crimes rather than just put up with things that shouldn't be happening. He is always a welcome visitor

Earlier I spent some time talking with Mac, who is the manager here at the Rem, about any events we may be able to organise during the Sparkle weekend at the end of June and I was very encouraged by the suggestion he made. So watch this space when we finally decide what is best to do.

The first person I spoke to this evening in the bar was Alison who was looking very smart having just been and had her hair done by a very good hairdresser. When she was asked how she wanted it done she just said " I'll leave it entirely to you " and she was very agreeably surprised when she saw the result. So here it is.

A bit later in the evening a new couple came in and introduced themselves as Mark and Shannon. Shannon is a very good looking but unconfident TS who had come along to try to meet some new friends more like herself and Mark is her very supportive boyfriend. I sat and talked with them for a while and then offered to introduce them to other TS's as I new Alison was in the club and I thought she would make a good start. I asked Alison and Steffi-Millie who were talking together if they would mind coming over to introduce themselves and spend some time with them. I was delighted to find that Alison and Shannon seemed to have hit it off well and they were still sitting together and chatting away at the end of the evening. I went over to Napoleons after finishing at the club only to find them over there as well still talking, so I think they enjoyed themselves and am sure we will see much more of them.

During the evening Bella Jay from Repartee Magazine came in having arranged to come and have a chat about Sparkle. Bella has taken over the organisation of Sparkle for 2008 as Kim Angel is planning to have the op in a few months time.

Bella has asked if we will sell the Sparkle Arm Bands as we did last year and I have agreed to do this as the money is really needed to help cover the expenses. She is looking for as many people as possible willing to sponser the event as a considerable amount of money is needed to stage the show in the park and pay for the MMU building where the talks are held.

All sponsers names will appear on the Sparkle website as a way of saying thank you and also giving them some advertising.

I was delighted to welcome back Christine and Jane who joined us for the first time last week. This week I was able to introduce them into a different group of people so that they could get to know as many people as possible.

I was also pleased to see Steff Millie again after two weeks as she had emailed me during last week about a recommendation she had for buying larger size boots and shoes. She had chanced upon a Dorothy Perkins shop in Sale where they were having a sale and found that within the shop there is a section that sells Evans stock. In the sale she was able to buy a pair of black leather boots with chunky 3" heels for only £7, some black suede shoes for £20 and courts for £5 so she was well pleased. The sale is now over but the point she wished to make is that many towns that do not have an Evans shop will often have a Dorothy Perkins shop with an Evans section. As these sell outsize items to size 10 and 11 they could well be a useful source of footwear for many of us. She suggests that it may be worthwhile phoning a shop before visiting it to make sure that they do stock what you are looking for. So thank you Steff for the tip.

We never know how these evenings are going to turn out, tonight started off very quietly with only about half a dozen people in soon after 7, but I needn't have worried, people drifted in, in ones and twos and by 9 it was buzzing again.

Our first newcomer of the evening was Geraldine from Dublin who came soon after we opened and stayed the whole time talking to many different people and I think thoroughly enjoyed herself.

Soon after her a new couple arrived, this time from Chester. They were Jane and Christine and had been recommended to come along by Ellen from the Unique group, so thank you Ellen. It was only Jane's second time out so she was feeling nervous but I think she soon relaxed and enjoyed her time with us. Her partner Christine had done all the work to find out where to go on the internet and then encouraged her to come along. It is very nice to see people helping each other in this way. I introduced them to Nic who had come back to us last week after a year's gap and they all seemed to get along really well.

A bit later I recognised a girl who I hadn't seen for several years. When we last met she was called Trudy but has now changed to Emma, so welcome back Emma. She tells me that she stopped coming to the club as her confidence grew and she started going out much more at the weekends, but now life has changed for her as she has found a new partner and they now have a 2 year old daughter. This had curtailed her socialising activities for a while, but now she would like to come out again and make some new friends.

  Susan & Jessica

Finally towards the end of the evening we had a visit from the new owner of the Hollywood showbar who was upset that I had put a notice up saying where we were now meeting. I had not asked his permission so I did apologise for that, but explained that I did not know who the new owners were having only been told by accident last week that the bar had been sold. It turns out that he had known that we used the bar every wednesday and had assumed that we still did, because the previous owner of the showbar had not been told by his manager, that we had been asked for an increased rent, resulting in us looking for a new venue. He was now very anxious to have us back but as we are now very pleased with our new home I had to explain that it was very unlikely that we would want to return. He invited me along to see all the improvements that are being made and I will go and see and let people know what is happening.

We had our barman back on duty this week.   Last week was just a glitch in the organisation, we have been promised a barman every week from now on. Graham is charming and has served us well so I hope he keeps going with us.

The mirrors in the changing room have been approved by Mac and he has said that we can now organise some improved lighting so this is now being organised. Watch this space.

It was good to welcome back Nic who joined us in november 06 but then was immediately posted to work in Canada for a year. She is now back in this country and raring to go again. She highly recommends Canada, especially Victoria on Vancouver island where she had a trip on a large inflatable for over an hour out into the Pacific to watch whales playing in their own environment.

Later in the evening a new girl came in who was visiting Manchester from Dublin on the recommendation of some friends who had told her that it was much better than London as a TV venue. But they didn't tell her about Concord so she had no idea it existed. She had started her evening in NewYork NewYork and then progressed to Napoleons but it was not yet open so she asked the doorman at the Rembrandt as she was passing where she should go and was gobsmacked when she was directed upstairs to find a weloming crowd of girls like herself. She stayed the whole evening having talked to quite a few people and I believe finished her evening back at Napoleons accompanied by Nic. I had to go home without going on to Naps as I had an early appointment in the morning.

Finally, as I was driving off to go home I spotted that our Notice on the wall at the Hollywood was still there which was unusual as is has not been there by this time before. I reparked the car and went along to take it down but as I walked up I bumped into Russ the Manager of the Hollywood. I asked him how things were going and he told me that it has been sold and is going to reopen under a different name. He said that he did not know that this was going to happen when I last spoke to him.

I left him and continued up to the door which was being guarded by three real girls. I removed our notice but as I was walking away one of the girls chased after me and asked if I wanted to put it up every week. When I said yes she said that she was now working behind the bar in the Hollywood and offered to put it up for me every week. This seemed to me like a breath of fresh air so I said thank you vey much I would be delighted and gave her the copy of the notice, which is in a plastic sleeve so should survive the process.

I managed to get into town in time to get changed in room 1 before 6 o'clock so that I could go and eat with Gemma and Elaine in Eden before our start at 7. If any of you would like to join us at that time on any wednesday in Eden you are very welcome, it makes a good start to the evening.

We opened up at 7 but this week they did not have a barman available to serve the upstairs bar so they asked us to fetch our drinks from downstairs as needed. It worked OK but I hope this is not what will be expected every week. Even so it was a very pleasant evening with well over 40 people coming in and many of them staying the whole time. The atmosphere seems much livelier that it was at the Hollywood. Some people went out to visit other bars during the evening but came back later on saying that the village was very quiet and that we had the best crowd going.

Many people come to the club for the first time not dressed en femme but they are still just as welcome. We had a new member come from the Liverpool area who stayed all evening and I think enjoyed enjoyed himself and will be back. Someone came last week in the same way and I'm very glad to see that she came back this week dressed and also enjoyed her evening. She is a local girl so I hope we will see a lot more of her.

Later on at around a quarter to 11 another TV came in dressed with his girl friend and introduced themselves as Sarah and Laura. They had seen our website and had come over from York to visit us, staying overnight in the Rem so that they could enjoy their evening. It was a pity that they had come in so late in the evening but we still made them welcome and stayed with them at the Rem till about 11:30 before going over to Napoleon's. We met them again over there and stayed talking till about 01:30. They both thanked us for making them so welcome and I'm sure we will see them again when they can make it from York.

Our first evening back in the Rem after a 10 year gap. It was really nice to be made so welcome by the management.

But, there were things to do before the start of the evening. Gemma and I had come in on friday to see what bedroom room one was like, as we had been offered this room again, to use as a changing room, but I wanted to know if it had changed. We had decided that the least it needed was more mirrors but that ideally they should be fixed to the wall. Mac agreed that we could fix them but it would have to be done during the day, so I came in early on wednesday afternoon with two mirrors and my toolbag ready to fix them during the period when we had use of the room. Unfortunately when I told him in the afternoon that I wished to fix them up then, he said Oh! no, could I please wait till the morning as he didnt want to disturb any clients that may be taking a late afternoon nap in the other rooms. He later relented and allowed me to do a quick fix just to get us through the evening but I decided to stay the night anyway and fix them properly in the morning. We had paid for the room so it was no extra cost to stay the night except for a car park fee.

By that time it was about a quarter to 6 so I went out to meet Gemma and Elaine outside the Hollywood where we stuck up a notice to remind people where we were and then went to have an evening meal in Eden before we opened at 7 pm.

We all got back to the Rem by about 10 to 7 and went up to room one to wait till the bar was opened at 7.

The three of us waited outside the bar door and Lo and Behold, bang on 7 O'clock up rolls Paula as our first entrant in the new premises. Paula has been coming for just over a year now and is one of our most loyal supporters, never missing a week, it is a pleasure to see her and I'm glad she was our number 1.

The bar was opened and we all trooped in to make ourselves at home. At this point I had to leave for a couple of hours for personal reasons but the club was in safe hands with Gemma & Elaine to look after things.

When I got back I went up to room one to get changed and found Andrea there already getting changed as well so I had good company. We got down to the bar at about 10 pm and found a good crowd there giving it a fantastic atmosphere. It is really noticeable, the smaller room and less carpeting etc makes the sound of human voices louder and gives the place a buzz that was missing from the larger bar at the Hollywood. I was pleased to see Kath and Bev there talking to Jean who is an occasional visitor who I have known ever since I joined Concord as she joined the week after me. I was also good to see Abby who was on a flying visit from Texas and will only be here for a week.

We had decided to stage a little opening ceremony where we formally cut a tape to bring in a new era at the Rem. This gave us a photo opportunity and we asked the barman to take it so that we could get everyone in.

                            

There were still quite a few people in the bar at 11:15 so people seemed happy to spend their evening with us, without going out round the town.

At this point there was a slight mix up as we had not sorted out with the management when the evening should end, so when the security man came in and asked us all to finish and move downstairs if we wanted to stay longer, I assumed this was what they wanted us to do. This did cause some confusion as, it turned out that the security man was doing what they do at the weekends but he was not supposed to ask us to move downstairs as this was NOT what they wanted us to do. They were actually quite happy for us to stay upstairs as long as we wanted to, so in future this is what we will be able to do. But as far as I am concerned, myself and Gemma will be off duty by11:15 pm at the latest, so we will expect people to vacate room one by that time to ensure it is cleared up and we can return the key correctly.

All in all I think the evening was very successful and I look forward to many enjoyable evenings ahead.

PS. I was able to catch up with abby at her hotel the evening before she returned to Texas. She has now finished her business commitments over here so we are not so likely to see so much of her in the future but she has promised to keep in touch and I am sure we will see her again soon. She has now reverted to her main love in life which is appearing in the theatre and is now about to appear as a professional with an equity card. Her next venture will be a nine week run in a play where, surprise surprise, she has to play a transvestite doing many costume changes during the evening. I know she will thoroughly enjoy this and I think it is fantastic that she can get so much fun out of life in this way.

I was expecting a quieter week after our party and was pleasantly surprised to find a good crowd already in when I came up from the changing room. There was quite a buzz about the place as so many people had enjoyed the party the week before. I was pleased to see Cindy back from her travels again in South America and Marolyn up for a break from her new job down in London.

We also had a new girl in from Wales on her very first night out, enjoying herself making some new friends. She even had the courage to go out onto the town with a few others to sample the night life. Everyone gets a buzz out of helping new people to find themselves.

It is now time to say a bit about what has been happening behind the scenes regarding our venue at the Hollywood. I received a letter a few weeks ago advising us that they wished to double the rent we pay each week for the use of the bar.  
After much discussion and following a suggestion from Pauline I approached the Rembrandt Hotel to see if it would be possible to return there after a 10 year gap and use their upstairs bar, plus use a bedroom as a changing room. Their attitude was to welcome us back with open arms. They would love to have us back and we have now arranged to start using the Rembrandt from Wednesday the 2nd of January. The changing room is booked and paid for and they are happy for us to fix up some more mirrors, so that several people can get made up at the same time if necessary. Perhaps not quite as good as our changing room at the Hollywood but still perfectly adequate for our purposes. 
We will be paying slightly less than we are now for this facility so we wont have to raise our prices and also we will no longer have to wait outside in the cold until the management at the Hollywood opens their doors at 7 pm or as happened recently, much later.

SO, from Wed the 2nd of January we will be meeting in the Upstairs bar of The Rembrandt Hotel. It is situated on the junction of Canal Street and Sackville street. The entrance to use is the side door on Sackville street. If you go in that door and turn left, the nearest door opens onto a staircase to the first floor where you will find the bar. Using this entrance you dont have to go through the downstairs bar at all. See you there.

Finally we will NOT be meeting anywhere on Boxing day the 26th Dec. May I wish you all a merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. Mary

Sue, who supplied the fantastic food for the last few parties, had said that she would not be able to do the food this time so I was wondering how we  would manage. When asking around, Astrid and Sandra said that they had a Makro card and would be able to get the food for us. Later on, Sandra said that she would prepare it all as well, provided we could go over to her place to get it. So that is what we did, Pauline and I were delighted to find all this food ready for us to take away .

Gemma & Donna

  

 Hazel & Emma

Finally please note we will NOT be meeting on Boxing day Dec 26.

I am sorry but I was unable to attend tonight's meeting for personal reasons. Please dont forget that next week on the 12th we are having our Christmas party with a buffet, a raffle and Alison with the Karaoke.

Wed 28th Nov 2007 & Sat 1st Dec

This was a busy evening with quite a few people we have not seen for some time. I am delighted to see Rachael and Lottie coming more often now but was annoyd to hear that the doorman had initially refused them entry. I will talk to the management of the Hollywood about this. Alison was back from her holiday in the Canaries all ready to perform her duties at the party on the 12th.

Amanda was booked to come to the dinner on saturday but she recently pulled a muscle in her back and decided that it was probably unwise to come out in heels until it was better. She generously gave up her ticket and I was able to let Jane have it instead, as she had only tried to book at the last minute, when there were none left. Our best wishes go to Amanda for a speedy recovery.

33 of us sat down to a very enjoyable meal in Eden Bar on saturday evening. All our thanks go to the staff at the bar for looking after us so well. My apologies to Marolyn who I forgot to include even though she had asked me several weeks ago, but the staff rallied round and a meal was provided anyway.

I didn't manage to get many photos but the one here shows Hazel and Emma and Maddie plus several other people in the background. If any of you have other photos I will be happy to put them up here later.

 

Wed 21st Nov 2007

This was a quieter evening but there was still an interesting crowd. It was good to see Molly from the lake district who is starting to get out again after a long interval.

Wed 14th Nov 2007

We got in by 19:10 this week which is a lot better than last week but still not as it should be, as we tell people that the start time is 19:00. I always get changed at the club and was very pleasantly surprised when I got upstairs to find so many people there already, including Gwen and Linda who have been absent for several weeks. I was begining to worry that we might not be going to see them so often but they assure me that they are going to continue coming when they can. They lead busy lives and Gwen's health is not as it should be so there are reasons why they cannot always make it.

Pauline was there trying to sell off some of her Boots and shoes, not very successfully, so if any of you out there want size 10 or 11 boots or shoes, she still has some for sale. All in nearly new condition.

Several people asked and paid for Christmas dinner tickets so we are now at present full up. I had asked the manageress of Eden if we could squeeze in any more this evening and she gave me a figure of 32 people maximum. That is the number I now have so if you have not already booked, I am afraid you will be disappointed unless there are some cancellations.

I spent some time talking with Dave, (she doesn't believe in using a femme name so just uses her own name). She tells me she is writing a book giving many tips and lots of suggestions to help people like ourselves and our partners to come to terms with and enjoy, the lifestyle. I look forward to seeing a copy of it when it is done. She says that she may give us a few advance copies so that we can comment before it gets published. She is an occasional visitor to the club so I have met her a number of times. Knowing her normal daytime job I was very surprised to hear that she was doing this but she seems very level headed and is probably an excellent person to do it as she seems to have the level of confidence necessary.

I spoke the the manager of the Hollywood about meeting on Boxing day, which is a wednesday and he said that we can have the room if we want it but that we would have to pay extra because they would have to pay their security staff overtime for doing it. As we are likely to have less people able to come on that day and it will cost us more I decided that we will not meet.

So there will be no meeting on Boxing day. We will start again on January the 2nd.

This week was marred at the start by an unfortunate late start. The manager got caught up in a traffic holdup on the way into Manchester and didn't manage to get to the Hollywood until about ten to eight. He was very appologetic but there was not much he could do about it. There was quite a crowd of us waiting outside by the time he came including two newcomers, so I hope it didn't put them off. Phillipa and Becky were the first new comers waiting outside with us and they stayed for the whole evening so they must have enjoyed themselves. A few days later I received a very nice email from Phillipa thanking all of us for making her feel so welcome. It was a lovely letter very much appreciated..

Later on Two other newcomers came in. First there was Jennifer who came with a friend and then Kate who came on her own. I introduced Kate to Becky and Phillipa and they seemed to hit it off straight away and she and Phillipa have even exchanged telephone numbers. I believe that making new friends is really what this club is all about. Long may it continue. Mary

This was a busy week with quite a few people now confirming their bookings for the christmas meal. We now have over 20 people coming. If you want to come you will need to be quick as I am not sure if we can have more than 30.

It was very nice to see Gabby again as she has not visited for quite some time. She looked so good I couldn't resist taking some photos, (actually Elaine took them as I had left my camera at home by mistake,)

Here are two of them which I thought showed her and the outfit off well

 

It was also good to meet Amanda again. She is an occasional visitor to Manchester just to sample the scene here. Her claim to fame is that she is one of the two people who now run the Chameleons group in a Leicester Community centre. It normally meets on the first saturday of each month but in November it will be the third saturday instead. For address details see the Concord info. It was only when I saw the photos in my computer that I realised how similar their outfits looked but I thought so what they both look good.

Wed 24th Oct 2007

This was a good week, with the numbers attending picking up again as the nights draw in. It was nice to welcome Sarah as a first timer who came in with a very handsome boyfriend. They were both very complimentary about the club and it's website, saying that they appreciated the amount of information it gave that is useful for trans people. I'm sure we will see a lot more of her. She was wearing a very useful accessory giving her name in diamante letters which for me was good as I have great difficulty remembering names. Perhaps we should all do this.

There were other newcomers as well but, as I cant be sure I have their names right, it is difficult to talk about them. I really think we are going to have to give everyone name labels to make it easier for all of us.

It is good to welcome back Rachel and Lottie who have come two or three times in the last few weeks but had not been for some time before that. Rachel now seems to be fully recovered from all her ops and is back at work. Lottie is a lively lass who adds some life to the party.

Michela came in later in the evening loooking very upmarket in a long evening gown. She showed me her new photo album which contains many pictures of all the outfits she has created over the years and she has finally gathered together into one place.

This was a slightly odd evening as we had a comfortable number early in the evening but then it went quiet as many people left in small groups, either to go and eat or just to visit other places in the village. But then rather surprisingly a lot more people arrived around 10 pm and made the end of the evening quite lively.

I think a few of them had been out in the village for their evening meals and had then come on to the club afterwards. During the evening we had seven more names for our christmas meal on the 1st dec so I think we are going to get a good number there.

Member Tina rejoined after a gap of several years. It is nice to see people come back after a gap but there is always a different reason why they had to stay away. I think we will see more of her now.

Jill popped in on a quick visit to say hello. She had come over to collect some paperwork before starting her new job as a teacher in Thailand. She looked well and happy and we wish her all the best in her new life out there.

I am now in the process of adding a few more people onto our "Who-will-you-meet" page and to this end took a number of photos this evening. Below are just a few of them.

Wed 10th Oct 2007

Alison shown on the left of this picture is now working successfully as a girl and is very pleased with the reaction she has had from her work mates. It is very encouraging to hear how the new policies of work tolerance are enabling tg girls to much more easily get work.

The other girl shown, Lee, is working on a Phd about transsexuals and their social lives. This is obviously keeping her very busy as we have not seen her for some time but it is always a pleasure to see her.

 

Wed 22nd August 2007

Doors opened at 7:15 pm instead of 7pm. The management of the Hollywood apologised but I do hope this doesn't happen again especially as we had two new people waiting with us to get in and this is not very welcoming.

The two new people were Sophie and Sarah and they came and got changed with us in the changing room. Later in the evening we eventually had three other newcomers Toni, another Sarah and Tina so I hope this is a continuing trend as it is new people that always makes the evening more interesting.

Doors open at 7 pm, Gemma on the door but no Elaine, hope she is OK.

We had visitors this week from The GMPTE - Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, what a mouthful, who had emailed to ask if they could come along to try to gather any special comments or requirements from transgendered people relating to any of the public transport systems within Greater Manchester.

They are in the process of updating their plans, especially relating to staff training , to ensure that all their customers are properly catered for.

They stayed till around 10 pm and spoke at length to several members so I think they were pleased with their night's work and our members were very happy as each person who was interviewed was given a £10 voucher as a thank you present.

If any other TGs reading this would like to add their pennysworth then please email mary@northernconcord.org.uk and I will put you in touch.

We welcomed three new people during the evening which is always fun to do. There was Sarah, who has just moved up from Birmingham to do a college course, so hopefully we will see a lot of her in the future.

There was a girl from Halifax called Vivian who came with a lady friend who was looking for somewhere to meet other TGs so I think we will see her again soon and finally a friend of Molly's who she has corresponded with on the internet but had not met in person before. I'm sorry but I can't remember her name but I hope we see her again soon.

It is Mardi Gras in Manchester on Saturday the 25th and Bev and I are planning to visit the village to watch the parade dressed up as wedding guests and If anyone would like to join us we would be delighted to see them. It is a fantastic photo opportunity as many people like to have their photos taken with us.

To go to the initial introduction page click here