Mary's Blog

Wednesday 23rd June 2010

Estelle and Brydie

Justine-Paula

Who ?

I saw this back view of a girl standing at the bar and couldn't resist taking it but I thought I had better show the front view as well. Zoe didn't seem to mind when I showed her the pictures so here they are just to make you all jealous. Zoe tells me that she bought the dress in a Lipsy shop in Liverpool so it may be possible to get it in a similar shop in Manchester as there is such a shop in the Arndale centre. I would certainly like one so maybe I will go and see if they have it.

Zoe

Paula and Lisa

Karen shown here has set herself up as an Avon Lady and is trying to build the business. To this end she is trying to come regularly to the club so that people can rely on her for the products they need.

Mary

Steff

Milli

Vanessa

Ruth

Quite late in the evening I went over to a table where I had seen a lady that I didn't recognise sitting talking to some of the other girls. It was only when I sat down and introduced myself that I suddenly realised that I did know who she was, but we haven't met for perhaps 10 years now so was very surprised to see her. Ruth, shown here on the left was one of the early members of Northern Concord who used to come every week. We got to know each other quite well and I remember going on a visit to london with her and her wife in the back seat of my car. Since then she has had the change and has been living as Ruth for many years now. She used to have her own catering business but more recently her health has deteriorated and she had to give it up. She is now concentrating on losing weight to relieve the stress on her back and has decided that she must get out and socialise more, so welcome back Ruth. She is now a paid up member of Manchester Concord, number 331.

Wednesday 16th June 2010

This evening we had advertised a talk from Professor Stephen Whittle to take place at 9 pm. Unfortunately Stephen was unwell and was unable to to come along and give the talk. I hope Stephen is now feeling better and will be able to give his talk at Sparkle. I would like to apologise to those people that came along especially for the talk, but as we had a good crowd a pleasant evening was had by all anyway.

Brydie and Lisa Brookes

When I arrived just after 7 pm I noticed Lisa Brookes our local liason policewoman deep in conversation with Michelle who is shown in the middle of the picture on the right. It appears that Michelle had been intimidated by a man who followed her from her car into the club and when Michelle got into the Rem the first person she met was Lisa who had come along to introduce herself and be available to report any possible hate crimes that our members may need to report. So Lisa set to work straight away and took down all the relevant information. Michelle was OK but had been unnerved by the situation so this reporting was helpful for her.
Lisa then stayed with us at the meeting for some significant time, introducing herself to the members and listening to their stories. So Thanks Lisa your presence was very welcome and we hope to see you again on a regular basis.

Heloise, Michelle and Susanne

Millie

Millie, on the left, was back with us after her three week break taking a cruise round the Baltic accompanied by her Mother. She came armed with masses of photos from the cruise showing Millie posing and being wined and dined in the ships restaurant. She tells me that the only time she wasn't Millie was when they went ashore in Russia when she didn't feel like being challenged by the formidable russian female customs officer who was inspecting all the passports as the passengers left the ship. I am sure she will have the photos available for a few weeks to show people if you would like to see them. Millie is a very good advertisement for Transgendered people, spreading the word to the many people that she meets.
Once again it is lovely to see Rachel coming to the club so reliably from so far away in Kent, it is good to see you.

Rachel

Anya

Kerry

Jessica and Karen

Andrea

Anya, shown above, on the left , who is a fairly new member was sitting opposite Kerry who is now full time and was here with her boy friend, who I have deliberately left out of the photo for privacy reasons. Jessica above is now getting more confident at doing her own makeup having found that she can no longer afford to keep getting it done professionally. Karen is a fairly new member but also seems very confident and comfortable with us.
As for Andrea, on the left, this is a complete change of image for her, with a new, very glamorous wig and a fantastic glittery dress, she looks really good in this outfit.

Finally, I have not heard from Tarnia so I dont think she will be with us on the 23rd and unfortunately Gill has had to call off coming the following week so, at present the next wednesday eveing event will be a new "White Dress Evening on the 21st of July.

BUT before then we have Sparkle on the 9 - 11th of July and I still need a good number of volunteers to offer their time for an Hour to help look after the clubs stand in the park on the Saturday afternoon. I am setting up a rota so that there will be at least two people on the stand at any one time and no one should have to do more than one hour. Could you please either speak to me on wednesday or email me to volunteer your time. Thank you.

Wednesday 9th June 2010

Angelina and Anna

This week Angelina had agreed to come along to display her jewellery and hopefully sell some to our members. She is not out to make lots of profit so the prices are all very reasonable. I bought myself a very nice bracelet for not very much as did a number of other people. I think she enjoyed the evening and she has offered to come back in about 6 months, perhaps just before christmas, for another session with us.
She is shown here with her friend Anna who has come to the club much more often recently. Anna is a member of an out in the city social group for all LGBT people that visits various places around Manchester.

Paula, Lisa, Katie and Christine

Alison and Haley

Karen and Sarah

Sally and Ruby

I was pleased to see Alison and Haley again this week as they haven't visited for a few weeks, but it is disconcerting for me when people come along in male mode and I struggle to recognise them at first. But, thinking about it, maybe that is a good thing. I went to a meeting at Manchester Town Hall last thursday and while I was there I met Anna talking to a male friend who said he knew me as he had been talking to me the previous evening. He then introduced himself as Sally who is shown above on the right along with Ruby. I would never have known if he hadn't told me.

Michaela

Kate, Mary, Karen and Diane

Kimberly

Michaela, shown above, is supposed to be retired, but she seems to be working harder than ever so we still dont see enough of her. I hope one day she manages to slow down a bit and have more time to herself, meanwhile I am glad she manages to get here occasionally. The photo in the middle was taken to show off Diane's outfit, which was quite unusual, but somehow a few of us also managed to get in the picture.
The girl on the right, Kimberly, came along for the first time this evening and joined the club straight away. So welcome Kimberly and now everyone who sees this should at least know your name.

Nicole

I was sitting in the downstairs bar of Napoleon's later in the evening when the girl on the left, Nicole, came and spoke to me. She doesn't come to Concord these days as she is a late night bird, but she told me that she was very grateful to Concord for helping to bring her out of her shell. She first came along to our Christmas party back in 2006 when she was brought by Sue of YNOTBU fame dressed as a maid. It was attending the club that made her realise that there are a lot of us about and she didn't need to hide herself away. Since then she has become much more active with her dressing and really enjoys herself.
I know this is true as I see her around in Napoleons most weeks.
So thank you for that, Nicole, it is good to hear that we do help people find themselves.

Finally, please remember that next week, the 16th we have Professor Stephen Whittle coming along to give a talk. It will start at 9 pm so, if you are coming, please be here a bit earlier than that to get settled so that we can all enjoy the session. Thank you.

Wednesday 2nd June 2010

Bob

This evening, Bob, shown here on the left, who has been working at the Rem for some years now asked me if he could donate all his TV clothes, wigs and shoes to the girls at the club as he has now decided to give up doing Drag and wants the clothes to go to people that would appreciate them. We laid them all out this evening and most of them have now been taken. There are a few left which we will put out next week. All the girls were very appreciative and we would like to thank Bob for his generosity.
We now have a new barman here for the first time this evening called Jim. I think he enjoyed the evening and we hope he continues to serve us on wednesdays.

Jim

Karen

Karen, shown on the left, is now an Avon Lady, and is bringing her catalogues and some products to the club whenever she can get here. She had some very nice perfumes with her this evening.
We were pleased to see Ana here again this evening, shown here with some of her friends. We may not see her so often from now on as her daughter is coming to stay with her here in England for the next few months, but we hope she still manages to come along occasionally.

Lisa, Ana, Susan and Elaine

Rachel

It is always good to see Rachel come in to the club. She comes all the way from Kent, every few weeks and has made a lot of friends up here in Manchester. She also goes to other towns such as Leeds on her time off as she works shifts which gives her fairly frequent spare times that are longer than normal weekends.
Stella never fails to impress me with her elegant clothes. She seems to manage something different each time she comes. She is very appreciative of the opportunity that the wednesday evenings give her to come out and wear the many clothes that she has and recently wrote me a very nice thank you letter. So thank you Stella, we enjoy seeing you here whenever you come along.

Stella

Paula

Brydie

Vida

Beverly,Tina, Kay Denise, Kate, Mandy and Justine

The girls shown on the left came in towards the end of the evening, having been out for a meal together in China town. This meal was arranged by Kate who does this once a month on behalf of the Angels group. See the Angels website for details.

Finally, next week we have Angelina here selling her Jewellery and the week after we have Professor Stephen Whittle coming to give a talk. Please see the our coming events page for more details.

Wednesday 26th May 2010

Jenny and Kirsten

This evening was billed as our International evening and I was slightly disappointed at the number of people that made the effort to find something relevant to the occasion , but no matter, at least it gave me a chance to wear my Sari again.
So thank you to those who made the effort, Jenny and Kirsten in their chinese dresses and Frances and Jay who wore their indian outfits. Millie, who wore a sari last year, is away on a cruise for three weeks otherwise she would have been suitably dressed.
Jay, shown below, has had to postpone her move down south as she has found herself short of money and cannot afford to move at present. She is looking for a Job so if anyone knows of any opportunities that she may be suitable for, please let us know.

Frances and Mary

Jay

As it had been very warm last week we were not surprised to see Paula come along wearing something suitable for very hot weather. I hope she was not too cold this evening wearing "Not-a-lot".
If we ignore the international aspect of this evening, then there were still plenty of girls willing to have their photo added to this blog to show the variety of colour and dress that is always available every wednesday evening here in Manchester. I have shown a few below just as a taster as I am forever impressed at the quality of the outfits that the members manage to put together each week.

Paula

Christine

Ruby and Michelle

Milli

Jessica

Stella

Susan, Sophie and Joanna

Ana and Jessica plus Ana and Elaine

Ana, our visiting student from Brazil has been coming for a few weeks now and was delighted to be given the chance to have her photo included here with some of us and we were delighted to give her the opportunity. So thank you Ana, we enjoy having you here with us.

Ana and Mary

Zoe

Towards the end of the evening, this vision, shown on the left, Zoe walked in. She is a long standing member of the club and always looks good, but this evening she really excelled herself. The blonde hair really suits you Zoe and the rest of the outfit was just perfect.
Next week I was hoping that Tarnia, the photography student might be back for a second session with us but as I have not heard from her about this date I dont expect her to appear.
The following week, the 9th of June Angelina will be here selling her jewellery. See the coming events page for more details.

Wednesday 19th May 2010

Haley and Pam

This week we had the pleasure of Pam and Haley from Newimagefashion in Warrington who came along with a rail full of dresses and boxes of goodies all shown here in the photos. They had just returned from a family wedding in Malaysia but seemed full of energy. They are working on a new website called his2hers and plan to open up outside normal hours for us girls if that would be helpful. Their shop phone no is 01925 235050 if any of you wish to go along to see what they have. They suggest you phone first so that they can agree a good time with you to go along.
Haley got talking to Mercia, shown below, who said that she was very inexperienced with doing make up so she sat down with her and did her eye make up for her, explaining what she was doing as she went. Mercia was very pleased with the result.

Pam and Haley

Mercia

Mercia joined the club soon after we started but did not appear very often and has not been for over a year now. It turns out that she was a very lowly paid trainee nurse when she was here before, but has now moved to London where she was unemployed for around 6 months. She attended the job centre so assiduously looking for work that they have now given her a job as a manager at the job centre. This means she now has a bit more money and has come up to Manchester for a week to visit friends. So welcome back Mercia, it was nice to see you again.
Cheryl, shown on the right, came along this week with her partner for the first time to introduce her to her friends at the club. This rather fetching outfit was chosen for her by her partner and it certainly makes her stand out from the crowd more than usual. I like it.

Cheryl

Millie

Millie, shown on the left, now nearly always takes a stint on the door, but will not be with us for the next four weeks as she has just gone off on a three weeks cruise round the Med, taking many of her clothes with her. I am sure she will have a fine collection of photos to show when she returns.
Sarah Louise, shown on the right has now moved to Blackpool so we dont see her very often these days as money is still tight, but she made it this week in her campervan, which she uses to change in, before visiting us in the club. She is enjoying the scene in Blackpool.
It is always nice to welcome back our 'three very lovely girls, from the North' shown below on the right, Emily, Georgina and Julia who try to make it up here as often as they can.

Sarah Louise

Frances and Michelle on the door

General view of the club

Emily, Georgina and Julia

Brydie

Misha and Susan

Brydie and Ruby

Marolyn

It has been really busy this evening so I couldn't resist taking the above photo of the room. I think the promise of Pam and Haley bringing their clothes etc has caused a lot more people to come along.
Marolyn, shown on the left, is still working in London, but now seems to be getting more chances to work from her home in Manchester so we are seeing more of her, which is great.
Kate, shown on the right, comes over from the liverpool area with her partner and they also seem to be managing to get here more often. It really is nice when couples come along together as it adds to the evening for us.

Kate

Katie

Katie, on the left, was happy to have her photo taken but decided that she wanted to show "Attitude" so here she is looking very dominant.
I said last week that Jay had left to go to Brighton, but she emailed me this week to say that she has not gone yet so we may see her next wednesday before she goes.
Our young barman Jerrard has now decided to emigrate to Australia in September so this week was his last here. He is returning home to Nothern Ireland for a few months before he goes off on his big adventure. We wish you well Jerrard and hope to see you again one day.
We were again visited by our friend from Brazil, Ana, who kept us talking so long after the end of the evening that the manager had to come and ask us to go. When you are enjoying things you dont want them to stop.
Dont forget next week we are having our International evening so I am looking forward to seeing some more unusual outfits.

Wednesday 12th May 2010

Cathryn and Sophie

Sophie emailed me earlier in the week to say she was up this way for an interview and was planning to come over and spend the evening with us before returning home and when was the changing room available? I almost bumped into her as I was going upstairs to room 1 to change myself, so she timed things well. Soon after she arrived Cathryn came in as well which is very encouraging as she has had serious health problems over the past couple of years but now seems able to return to a normal life again. It is great to have you back Cathryn. I went down to Eden for my usual meal before the evening starts and Cathryn and Sophie joined us there for a drink when they were ready. This evening the others who joined us for the meal were Elaine, Lisa and Cate. Sophie stayed around till about 9:30 when she decided she had better start for home as it was a few hours drive, but she also told me she was going to go the whole way as Sophie which was first for her. She later wrote to tell me that she had really enjoyed the trip, even going into a motorway station without any problems which gave her a great confidence boost.

Lucy and Sophie

Gwen

It was lovely to see Gwen again this evening as she hasn't been since last October. She and Linda stayed the whole evening and enjoyed themselves so I hope they manage to get along here more often now.
Jay, on the right, is starting to come along more often these days and it is good to see her looking so cool. I did take a photo of her with Brydie but as Brydie is so little they were an ill matched pair so I am sorry Brydie but I have left you off this week.
I was pleased to see Abi here again after a long gap for various reasons but she now seems to be a lot more at ease with herself and was really delighted to have just been offered a new job after being interview as Abi, with no adverse reactions. I am sorry but I forgot to get a photo but I am sure a lot of you will know who I am talking about.

Jay

Debbie

Debbie, shown here on the left, is fairly new to us, but she was confident enough to let me take her photo so I hope we see a lot more of her.
Stella, on the right, came along towards the end of the evening looking very smart in this outfit so I couldn't resist asking her to pose for this photo. It would have been a shame not to record it.
One new member joined us this evening, Nicole, so I hope we see more of her and her friend in the coming months.
Finally, please dont forget that next week we have Pam and Haley from His2Hers in Warrington coming along with various Blouses, Dresses and accessories for sale so do come and see what they have to offer. I agreed to provide a Dress Rail for them which we bought last year to help with Linda's sale at Sparkle. Bob, one of the barmen at the Rembrandt, had offered to look after it for us so I mentioned it to him last week. This week he told me that he looked everywhere for it and eventually found it hidden behind a lot of other stuff in the office downstairs, so he was quite relieved. I am glad I did ask as this gave him time to find it.

Stella

Then the following week we are having our International evening so get out any Saris, chinese dresses or even French Maids outfits you might have and come along to join in the fun.

Wednesday 5th May 2010

Jay

Jay, shown here on the left, told me a couple of weeks ago that she had decided to move back down south to be nearer to where she was now working with a music producer to help her further her life in music. She has now left Manchester and I would like to wish her all the best for the future and hope her music career takes off. Jay joined us after serving as our Barperson for a few weeks while finding her feet in Manchester. She has made many friends and been an active member of the club.
It was great to see Dee and Misha come to the club this week as recently they have been so busy running their business that they have not had any time to enjoy themselves. Everthing seems to be going well for them and they are really helping the TG community with their business DeeSelecta.

Dee and Misha

Michelle and ?

Rachel, Cindy and Elaine

Nicki and Rachel

Marolyn and Kerry

Jenny and Fay

It was great to see Jenny back in circulation only a few weeks after her op looking so well and almost ready to go back to work, shown here with some of her friends.

Fay Kerry and Alex

I mentioned last week that Abby has put on the show "Mixed Feelings" in a theatre in Houston Texas and this week she sent me some photos, so here she is on the set just after she first appears as Verna, having spent the first act as Vernon.

lost make up bag

This week I have put two more articles written by our members Jenni and Cate on to the website so please go to the "Items from members" page and read them. Each of them illustrates the pain that many TG people go through, possibly starting from a very early age. I do feel that it is high time Society found a way to foster a better understanding of the feeling of people that dont fit in with the "Norm". We still have a long way to go.

Last week someone left this make up bag in the changing room so if you want it back please see me at the club.
Next week we are having a visit from Pam and Haley from New Image fashions in Warrington. They are bringing quite a lot of clothes and accessories with them for sale so please come along and see what is on offer. It is also possible to visit them in their shop so come along and introduce yourselves which will make it easier for you in the future.
The following week we are having our "International" evening so lets see if we can get some more eastern outfits on show.

Wednesday 28th April 2010

Chloe

A couple of weeks ago I told you that Chloe had broken her leg in a skiing accident, so imagine my surprise when I met her coming down the steps into Eden Bar struggling with a pair of crutches. She was wearing fairly low heels, but even so I had not expected to see her for several weeks yet. She broke her femur just over 4 weeks ago and here she was looking her usual cheerful self. Congratulations Chloe on your determination to get on with life and enjoy youself, it was lovely to see you back.
(this photo is from a few weeks ago as I didn't get one of her this week)
Jessica. on the right, usually stays over in Julie's of Frillies flat on Canal street as well as having her make up done by Julie. As I got her to pose for this photo she bemoaned the fact that she is putting on weight. If she is I dont know where it is going.

Jessica

Paula

A few weeks ago I mentioned that Paula had been to the races at Aintree and had appeared on Granada News. The next day she also appeared in the Star newspaper and here she is on the left along with all the other glamour girls who appeared that day.

Paula in the STAR

Susan

This evening we were visited by a friend Anne, who really loves doing makeovers for us girls, so she came along with her partner and did the makeup of several girls during the evening including Susan and myself shown here.
I had asked her to give me very over the top make up and she did a great job giving me almost Cleopatra eyes, so thanks Anne, we look forward to you coming again in August.
Anne and her partner are great entertainers. A few months ago she invited myself , Elaine and Vanessa over to her home on the other side of Leeds for an evening meal and we were given star treatment in this fabulous house with a superb evening meal with Susan waiting on us as her maid.

Mary

Dee

Steffie

Cindy

Brydie

Here are a few pictures to show some of the glamour that was in the club this week. I have just bought a new camera that has a wider angle lens and I think this accounts for the fact that Brydie looks shorter than usual.
The slightly unusual background is because the bar had been decorated in preparation for the "Bears" weekend event that was taking place in the village all this bank holiday weekend.
As an added bonus this week we were visited by Professor Stephen Whittle who runs the organisation PFC or Press For Change. He had been brought along by Astrid, who is now working for PFC, along with two of Stephen's Post Graduate students Anna and Lee.

Kate

Stephen Whittle

Anna is a charming girl who is over in this country from Brazil to study the Transgender scene here for her PHD. Lee is a well known member of Manchester Concord who is also writing a PHD under Stephen's supervision.
Stephen had been very closely involved with the present government in helping to draught the new laws that will give fairer treatment to all transgender people in this country. He has offered to give a talk about these proposed new laws here at Concord and we have arranged to do this on wednesday the 16th of June. This is already on our coming events page. I got the impression that he and Maria thoroughly enjoyed their evening with us and hope we see more of them soon.

Many of you will know Abby, our member from Texas and last week I received an enthusiastic letter from her following the opening of the play, Mixed Feeling, in which she is playing the lead as well as producing it. They are having full houses and she is really enjoying her role as she changes from a man to a woman part way through the show and this results in many amusing scenes. I'm sorry that it is so far away, otherwise we could arrange a trip to go and see it. She is coming over for the Sparkle weekend so I am sure we will hear more about it.

Wednesday 21st April 2010

Mary,Cate, Kirsten and Lisa

We had been for our usual bite to eat in Eden when we thought a photo was called for and Elaine took the one on the left. But two very charming girls who were passing, offered to take us all so we were able to include Elaine in the one on the right. It is great when people are so pleasant and helpful.

Mary, Cate Elaine, Kirsten and Lisa

As you can probably tell from the photos above tonight was something different. We were having an Education evening so were expecting quite a few schoolgirls to appear along with perhaps some school teachers. Well you never know. Below are the two group pictures we took followed by some individual ones whenever the opportunity arose.

Kirsten early in the evening

Brydie and Ruby

Lisa

Michaela

Kirsten, Pauline and Millie

Sophie and Jade

Joanna and Christina
relaxing

Sammy, shown on the right with Sarah, was visiting us from London and came with her friend Sarah Thompson who is a much more local girl. They both travel to venues all over the country for different nights out. Sarah tells me that she is the TG representative for the conservative party in Blackpool, helping to add to their understanding of the TG community. She is also a moderator for Trannny International and has offered to give us extra publicity for any of our event evenings so thank you girls for making the effort to come along tonight and join us.

Sammy and Sarah

Lisa

Lisa, on the left, is only able to come here occasionally as her job keeps her away, but she told me that in the previous week she had been in London and had visited the Candygirls venue in sunbury on Thames in London and had a very enjoyable evening, so is now recommending it to others. Their website is candygirls.com if anyone is ever down that way from here.
Cheryl and Susan shown on the right, are only now able to visit less often than they used to since Jessica left us. Susan comes up from Coventry and used to stay with Jessica so now things are not so convenient for her.

Cheryl and Susan

Karen

Karen, shown on the left, came along for the first time this evening with her very supportive girl friend and has now joined the club. They came over from Yorkshire, so will not be able to get here as often as they would like but we will see them when they can make it again.
Two weeks ago I mentioned that our longest serving member Shirley had gone into hospital with a bleeding Ulcer and had been in intensive care for three days. I am pleased to be able to tell you that she is now back at home and has recovered well.
I have no more news of Estelle or Chloe but will pass on anything I hear as soon as possible.
Next wednesday we have Anne Lambkins coming along with her friend Susan to do a makeover demonstration so I hope as many as possible can join us for that.

Wednesday 14th April 2010

Paula

Our glamorous roving restaurant reporter, Paula, was again out and about last week but this time at the races at Aintree. Being her usual shy and retiring self she managed to get interviewed by various radio and TV reporters and this picture on the right was taken from the Granada TV 6 o'clock news by Lisa. I am told that she also appeared in the Daily Star competing very favourably with some of the other glamour models that regularly appear in that publication. What will she do next, I cant wait.

Paula at the races

Michelle and Milli

Michelle, shown here on the left with Milli, is our newest member and was happy to have her photo taken with Milli who had had come along in this very striking outfit.
I took the opportunity to picture Karen with Emma this week as last week Emma was here as her other self and did not want her photo taken.
Below left, we have a picture of Caroline who also joined us this evening even though she was visiting Manchester from London and will not be able to get here very often. She was quite taken with the Manchester Scene and has assured me that she will be back soon.
We met her outside Eden when we were going in for our evening meal as she had been in contact with Elaine via TVchix and knew about our eating there before we start at the Rem.

Karen and Emma

Caroline

During the meal we got talking and it turned out the she and I have an awful lot in common. We are of a similar age and both went to school in Wimbledon. They were different schools but she went to the same one as both my brothers in law, very close to where I went. We then both did military service and trained at the same regiment at Catterick in Yorkshire.
During my life I have only met three people from my old school after I left and each time it was here at Concord. It does make you wonder if there was anything in the water there.
Pipit, on the right, was a bit reluctant to have her photo taken but she was persuaded and I am glad, as this outfit she was wearing was really very unusual and it seemed a shame to miss the chance to record it.

Pipit

Alex and Sarah

Joanne and Lucy

Christine

Lisa and Elaine

Millie and Jenni

Carla, Farn and Alison

Much later in the evening I was delighted to see Carla, Farn and Alison come in. Carla and Alison had persuaded Farn to come to Manchester for an evening out as she had not been out for a long time now. After she joined Concord, some years ago now, Farn really went to town and was out and about Manchester most days of the week. She couldn't get enough of it, but at some point she had a heart problem and this really knocked her back and now she finds it difficult to push herself to come out and enjoy life as a girl. I hope Carla and Alison can now start to drag her out more often as she was always a bundle of fun. It was good to see you again Farn, keep in touch.

Finally, this coming wednesday the 21st, is our education evening so I do hope to see lots of girls out perhaps a bit later than they should be.

Wednesday 7th April 2010

Early in the evening I was very surprised to see Estelle coming through the door as she was due to have an operation a few weeks ago and I wasn't expecting her back for a few more weeks. Sadly, when she went in for the operation her bed became unavailable and they sent her home again with nothing done. She is still waiting but expects to go back in on Sunday. I do hope they manage to find the space this time as it seems to me to be very heartless to keep people waiting around like this. But, Estelle is a very resilient person and stayed all evening laughing and joking with her friends so I do admire her and wish her all the best for next week.
Unfortunately, Estelle is not alone, as I heard on tuesday that Shirley, our longest serving member of Concord, was rushed into hospital with a bleeding Ulcer and was in intensive care for 3 days. She is now back in a normal ward so hopefully the worst is over for her. I sent her a card on wednesday and I am sure that we all wish her a speedy recovery.
Then I heard, again on Tuesday, that Chloe/Amanda has broken a leg on the ski slopes so I hope she is also back on the mend and it is not too long before we see her again. If you can, let us know how you are getting on Chloe as we do miss you.

Pauline

I had mislaid my camera this week so here I am using Elaine's which was fine once I had got used to it. Thank you Elaine for the use of it and sending me all these pictures via email. The wonders of modern science.
I couldn't get all three together so here is Pauline who was deep in conversation with Jay and Frances along with Pauline's partner Christine who I have left out as she didn't wish to be included for obvious reasons.
Fairly early in the evening I was delighted to see Gina and Maxine coming throught the door, although Gina was in Drab I still recognised her. Gina used to help look after the door back in the mid 90s and then went on to run the help line for a few years. They are a lovely couple, now heavily into 1940s re-enactments which is taking most of their spare time now.

Jay and Frances

Mary

Gina had brought along a collection of old photos so we had plenty to talk about, I will try to get some of them copied onto the clubs computer so that we can show then one wednesday evening along with video's of various fashion shows that we did way back in the past that she has copies of. We need some method for copying the videos from tape onto CDs if anyone has any ideas. As Gina was in Drab I took no photos so here is one of me instead, with Millie and Lisa on the other side. Millie is our stalwart member who is doing more than her fair share of looking after the door for us.

Millie and Lisa

Brydie and Lesley

Brydie and Lesley on the left are good friends and meet up occasionally on other days and visit places together. It is great to see members of the club helping each other when they can.
Both the girls, Emma and Jennifer shown on the right are living full time now. Emma is in full time employment and changed over at work many months ago now and it seems to be working well for her. Jennifer a full time student which is financially very much harder. This means that we dont get to see as much of Jennifer as we would like as she doesn't have money to spare for entertainment, but I hope it helps her when she can get here and gets a chance to talk to others in the same boat.

Emma and Jennifer

Sarah and Alix

Sarah and Alix are both fairly new members of the club, with Alix last coming to Manchester at Sparkle last year just to see what the Scene was like. Sarah was reluctant to have her photo taken but succumbed to pursuasion and allowed me to use this one.
Karen on the right is a good friend of another Emma, not the one shown above and had persuaded her to come out even though Emma didn't have time to dress as her work is almost taking over her life. Again it is good to see frienships developing among the members. I therefore avoided taking a photo of the person sitting opposite Karen. All you can see is an arm.

Karen

Next week, the 14th is a normal club evening but the following week, the 21st, is a theme night where the theme is an "Educational evening" ie if possible come dressed as schoolgirls or teachers or whatever else you can think of on this theme. The more the merrier as I would like to get a large group photo if possible.

Finally, can I put in a little NAG here. The membership for the club runs from January to December but there are still a significant number of members who have not yet paid their renewal fee for 2010. You dont have to wait until you attend the club, we have provided two other ways to pay which are detailed on the "Howitruns" page of this website. We would appreciate members attending to this as it does give us a lot of headaches if we have to keep chasing.
If you dont wish to rejoin then we would appreciate an email to let us know so we can stop worrying about you, but we dont want to lose anyone.

Wednesday 31st March 2010

Sarah

This evening we had scheduled to have Tarnia and Jo back to take some more photographs, unfortunately they found out only two weeks ago that they would not be able to get access to the equipment they needed. Tarnia emailed me and told me in good time but we have not yet been able to agree when they will come as the Easter holidays have got in the way. I will let you know as soon as we know.
It was good to welcome back Sarah, shown on the left, and her partner Lesley who last came together in November when Tarnia was here before.
Brydie, on the right, is a regular attender at the club and she tells me now that she has been asked to be a member of the Thameside Hate Incident Panel (THIP) which is organised by Thameside council and GMP police. At least she feels that she is doing something to help the community by doing this, which is good.

Brydie

Pauline and Millie

On the left we have Pauline and Millie shown looking after the door. Pauline has just come off the committee but still comes when she can and is willing to help out if needed.
On the right we have Frances and Michaela who I interrupted having a serious discussion. Michaela has also just come off the committee as she cannot give it the time needed but hopefully we will still see her when she can get here.

Frances and Michaela

Stella

Kerry and Fay

Kate, Andrea and Kay Denise

Stella, shown above on the left, is coming more often that she used to and always manages to look elegant. Something different each time she comes, which is great. Kerry and Fay, in the middle, were all dressed up for a night out on the town together and had really pushed the boat out. I am sorry but I dont think this photo has done their outfits justice, which is a shame as they both looked stunning.
The three girls on the right, Kate, Andrea and Kay denise have also started to appear more often, which is lovely, especially when they come along looking this good.
Finally, I have put a thread on the forum asking for ideas and volunteers to take part in the Pride Parade this August Bank Holiday weekend. We need to start talking now as it can take some time to get organised if we are going to take part. It is in the members only section of the forum so you have to be a member and log in before you can see it under the Members only/MC Matters section, so please if you have any ideas let us know.

Wednesday 24th March 2010

Wanda and Frances

This evening was our second AGM, arranged to be just before our second anniversary on the 1st of April 2010. The meeting was well organised by Frances, shown here on the left with one of our American members Wanda who was visiting the UK on business, just for this week. It was great to see you back Wanda.
Rather than spend a lot of time going through the various activities over the past year, Frances had asked three of the committee Astrid, Elaine and myself, to write reports about the Social activities, the membership and the forum. These are available for all to see on the website under the AGMreports section. We decided not to put the financial report onto the web so this was put up on our display screen and Vida, our treasurer, went through it at the meeting. I am happy to say that at the end of 2009 we had a healthy surplus in the Bank. The details are available at the club for members to see if you are interested.
We would like to thank Ruth for auditing the accounts and providing the final very clear account sheet for all to see.
A few years ago now Jan, who used to look after the door, produced a folder containing a lot of information that could be useful for anyone who is considering transitioning.

I have not put this out recently as I was unsure how up to date it was, so I recently asked our committee member Alison if she would take on the task of updating it and she gave a short talk on what she had done. Alison had decided that she wished to leave the committee but has agreed to continue to monitor this book. We were asked by Melanie if we could consider putting this information up onto the website. We said that there was no reason not to, provided it was kept up to date, and she then volunteered to take the book and scan the contents so that this could be done. At some point in the near future, this information will appear as a new section on the site.
Three members of the 2009 committee have decided that they could no longer continue as they were not able to give the necessary time. These are Alison, Pauline and Michaela and we would all like to thank them for what they have done with us in the past year and hope that they continue to be members of the club in the future.

At our last committee meeting we had decided that perhaps 9 members was too large for the committee and as we have only had one new person, namely Vanessa, volunteer and fill in the necessary nomination form, we have decided to keep the committee for this year at 7 people. ie the six remaining members, Astrid, Elaine, Frances, Mary, Tina and Vida plus Vanessa. The meeting was asked if anyone objected to this arrangement and it was accepted with no objections. So We would like to Welcome Vanessa to the committee and look forward to working with her.
We also asked the meeting to agree a small change in the constitution where it used to say that new members had to give a "femme" name when they joined. It was pointed out to us that sometimes this is inappropriate so we have now agreed to remove the word "femme" and change the wording to "Any name that you wish to be known by".
Only a small point but changes to the constitution cannot be done by the committee alone, they have to be agreed by an AGM or EGM.
This formal meeting only took just over half an hour so we were then able to continue with our normal social evening.

Vanessa and Millie

Millie and Daniella

Andrea and Debbie

Brydie and Lesley

Stella

Sam, Pauline and Jay

Pamela

Kate and Mary

Above are some of the members that I talked to during the evening. When I saw Kate wearing these really fancy tights and a skirt as short as mine I couldn't resist taking this picture and lo and behold I think it is shorter. But it makes a good picture and she looks great in the outfit.
Kathy, on the right , had recently bought this sailor girls outfit and came along this evening to show it off. I am glad she did as we haven't seen her for some months so it is time she came out for some air.
Sue and Zena shown below had come along tonight to advertise a party they are organising for all T girls and admirers at a club called La Chambre in Sheffield on Tuesday the 27th of April

Kathy

Sue and Zena

from 12 noon till 6 pm. For further details either phone zena on 07780910052 or email Sue by clicking here.
Sophie, on the right, wrote to me earlier in the week to introduce herself and then came along to the club for the first time this evening. She was very complimentary about the club and this website but pointed out that she had had difficulty finding the actual address of the Rembrandt. To this end I have now modified the wording on the front page to make it more obvious. So thank you Sophie useful comments are always welcome.
Finally please note that Tarnia and Jo will not be here next week as they cannot have access to their equipment. I will announce a new date as soon as possible.

Sophie

This evening was advertised on the events page as a "Careers" evening but it seems that I should have spelt out in much more detail what was meant by this.
Frances and myself stood out as the ones who looked most different from our normal appearance. Although I still couldn't resist wearing a short skirt, so I wasn't that different, a number of people asked me if I was a Croupier so I must have got the look near enough right. Frances looked great in her nurses outfit, even down to the watch hanging upside down on her left breast.
We will do this theme again at some time so I hope more people will now understand what was meant by a Careers evening.
We had a prize ready to give to wearer of the best outfit but decided to hold it back for another time.

Frances and Mary

The three girls shown here on the left are all very new to Manchester Concord although Sophie last came to Northern Concord before we left the Rembrandt in 1996. It was great to welcome her back and get the chance to catch up after all this time. She has joined again this evening so I expect to see a lot more of her in the near future.
I was very pleased to see Christine and Joanne quickly taking an active role here by looking after the door for us later on in the evening.

Christina and Joanne

Brydie,shown here, has been a member of Concord for many years now. She is quite proud of being a member of the Independent Advisory Group to the Thameside police as she is their only Transsexual member.
Heloise, on the right, came along for the first time last week and joined straight away. I am glad to see she is taking full advantage of the group and hope she continues to enjoy our company.

Heloise

Millie

Fay and Kerry

Alex, shown here on the left, is the second person to come this evening who last visited before we left the Rembrandt in 1996. She has her own website called tvdreams which she has run for several years. She joined Manchester Concord this evening and has promised to put a link to us on her website. She remembered me from all those years ago which was very flattering. She is very knowledgeable about computers and website building and is very easy to talk to.
Sarah and Alex seemed to hit it off as I later saw them together again in Napoleons.

Sarah and Alex

The two ladies on the left, Pam and Haley run a dress in Warrington called New Image and they emailed me a few weeks ago to ask if our members would be interested in visiting their shop, perhaps on special evenings or weekends.
They also asked if we would be interested in them bringing a selection of their stock, which includes jewellery and shoes as well as dresses, to the club one evening.
I suggested that they should first of all come along to see what we were like and then we would fix a date if they were happy with us.
As you can see they came along this evening and stayed for a few hours talking to most people here. They seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves and have arranged to come back again on the 19th of May bringing a lot of clothes etc with them for people to try on and buy. We will supply a rail to save them having to bring that as well.
Meanwhile they are just about to launch a new website called his2hers which will cater for all transgender people.

If anyone wishes to visit them before then it would probably be best to ring Pamela first on 01925 235050. They already have a website call newimagefashion where you can see what is on offer.

Finally, dont forget that next week we will start the evening at 7:30 with our AGM so please try to get here early as we would appreciate a good number. The business will not go on too long so dont let it stop you coming.

The following week we will have Tarnia and Jo with their cameras so come along and get you picture taken.

Wednesday 10th March 2010

Elaine in Taurus

A few weeks ago now, we gave a contribution to Taurus Bar to enable them to modify the social room they have in the basement where we had already fixed up six lockers for people who wish to change during the day. This money has now enabled them to fix up a permenant curtain to give privacy to the area and the mirrors with lights above to make it possible to see, while doing your make up. This is a great improvement, as the mirrors and lighting in the ladies proved to be very unsuiable for this purpose.
This facility is available, free of charge, at any time while the bar is open. The lockers are there so that people can, for instance, leave their bags while they go out shopping.

Taurus is normally open between midday and around 11 pm, but check with the staff that they will be open when you get back, before leaving kit in the lockers.

Cate and Tina

Many of our members are now sharing the task of looking after the door as this seems a much fairer way of spreading the load and it gives more people the chance to get to know each other better.
Here are Cate and Tina on duty at the table with an extra picture to show off Tina's earings as they couldn't be seen in the picture on the left.

Tina

Gill, Makeover Girl

She will be in the Place apartments at Sparkle offering makeovers to people who are attending the ball on the Saturday evening.

This week we had Gill Springay, the Makeover girl with us. She came with Sarah Jane having done her make up for her before she came to the club.
Gill is an image consultant so she will give make up advice as well as clothing colour coordination etc. She is creating a website so we will give the link when it is ready.

Sarah Jane

Marolyn being pampered

A number of people made good use of Gill's services this evening and were very pleased with the results. Shown here is Marolyn who we are delighted to welcome back to Manchester having been working in London for a few years now. She is still working for the same company but is now able to work from home. At present Jenny is staying with her as Jenny has just had her operation and is recuperating well. We hope to see her here again soon.
It is lovely to have Marolyn back, as you can see from her smile she is always the life and soul of the party.

Marolyn

Jaye

Jaye, shown on the left, joined us in december last year but is not able to get here very often so it was good to see her back looking so glamorous. She also enjoyed a makeover from Gill this evening.
Susan, on the right, has been a member of Concord for several years, but we haven't seen her very often recently. She tells me that she has now changed over at work, to be Susan, full time and has had very friendly reactions from almost everyone she is involved with. She is very encouraged by this and is enjoying life.

Susan

Alex

Kate

Joanna

Joanna, shown on the left, is the area representative of the Beaumont Society in the Midlands. We met at the first TREC event last year and she promised to come and visit us when she was able. She emailed me a few days ago and came and spent the whole evening with us. There is no Beaumont Rep in the Northwest at present and I suggested that if they got any enquiries from people in this area, they could perhaps put them on to us as we are here every week and are well able to help newcomers. I think she went away favourably impressed and will continue to keep in touch.
We had two other new people come along and join us this evening, but unfortunately I never got round to taking their photos so have nothing to show at the moment. Victoria is from Virginia in the USA and Adelina is from Australia.

Paula

They met a few years ago in Costa Rica where they apparently also heard about the "Scene" in Manchester, so word does get around. They have recently decided to move to the UK and considered living in either London or Manchester. I am pleased to say that Manchester won and they have now bought a large apartment in Manchester. (Incidentally they have a spare room which they are willing to let out if anyone is interested). They both joined the club this evening so we expect to see much more of them. Welcome to you both.
Paula is shown above, in her usual place against the corner of the bar, but this has enabled her to make very good friends with Chris who has been our barman on many occasions. Sadly Chris has now decided to move on and has got a new job in a bar nearby. But Chris assures me that he will continue to visit the club in order to continue his friendship with the members, especially Paula. We are sorry to see you go Chris and wish you luck for the future.

Alan and Chris

Chris shown here with Alan who left a few months ago now.

I am pleased to see that Jenny Baker has now included our "Events" in the Social events page of the Northern Concord website, so thank you Jenny for doing this. Which only leaves me to remind you that next week we are having our Careers evening. Come as the woman you always wanted to be. I hope to see you there.

Finally, I would like to say that Sarah Jane is taking part in the Mile for Sports Relief a week on Saturday dressed as shown here. She is part of a group called the Cartoon Crazies.

If you are able to sponser her then please go to the sports relief website and search for the Cartoon Crazies where you will be able to make a donation. Sports relief link

Sarah Jane plus Cat

This evening Karen, shown on the right, had arranged for Tara and Haley from Bibelo to come along to the club to display their jewellery and fancy goods wares and hopefully sell a few as well. Their business is just run on the web and here is their link. They were here bang on our 7 pm opening time and set to, to put on a very colourful display. They really enjoyed themselves and made a few sales as well, so all in all a good evening. They would like to come again, in say a couple of months time.
Jay also spent the evening with her new perfume wares for sale, at very reasonable prices. She will bring them again soon.

Karen

Carla and Alison

Lisa and Dee

Millie

Paula and Tina

Kay Denise

Susan and Fiona

Chloe(ex Amanda)

Andrea with Estelle behind

This evening was unexpectedly busy with over 50 people coming along during the evening and many of them staying till nearly 11:30pm. The photos can only ever be a subset of those who come but I have tried to include as many as I can.
Chloe, above on the right, apologised for not coming last week but then told me why. She had been involved in a head on collision with a car that was on the wrong side of the road. Luckily she wasn't badly hurt but her car is a write off. She described the whole experience so vividly that I have asked her if she will give us a write up so that we can all hear about it without me having to tell the story second hand. She is away for a week so will have to wait till she gets back.
Andrea, shown here looking very relaxed, was brought along by Julie from Frillies as it was her first time here. We will see more of her as she also joined this evening.
Finally, I am sure we would all like to wish Estelle, shown in green behind Andrea, good luck with the operation she is about to have to remove her Cancer tumor this coming week. She will be in Thameside hospital for around two week recovering and doesnt expect to be back for at least a month, but we will be thinking of her.

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