Boston Belles

Year  2009

In addition to our regular participation in many community committees and projects such as Boston Community Showcase, Lincolnshire Kaleidoscope, Lincolnshire Compact and the Independent Police Advisory Groups, our own work continues, at a pace, with ever increasing demands upon all side of our services.

Attendances at our Social Support evenings at Brothetoft are steady, but we are still striving to improve the attendance, so as to ensure that we are sustainable, as there is an ever-increasing demand for our confidential support services, whether it is over the telephone, by e-mail or face-to-face meetings.

 Also our training and education services are in greater demand this year and take up quite a lot of additional time and resources?

The Year 0f 2009

The year got under way well and in January, we had a good evening at Brothertoft, and then Lincolnshire Kaleidoscope forum in Lincoln on the 22^nd January, which was really well attended and was a most interesting evening.  Belinda & Joanne had their 43 rd wedding anniversary party, which also celebrated Belinda’s 75^th Birthday as well, to which the Boston Belles were all invited, and as they say “a good time was had by all”. Also we had a really good write up in the Beaumont Magazine with pictures of our Fourth Birthday and our 60^th evening

February started with many committee meetings, some of which were brought about by the economic downturn and seeking views on how we all can best limit the effect on our areas.  Again, a good evening at Brothertoft, despite the adverse weather conditions, and on the 14^th there was an “alternative Valentines Night” at The Collection in Lincoln with the County Council and Lincolnshire Kaleidoscope playing their part, It was a really great event which I am sure was enjoyed by all those attending.

March really got under way with a bang, we had a great March social support evening at Brothertoft, despite the effects of the recession, whilst fewer members attended, the atmosphere was so very congenial.  Also we were invited to take part in a Diversity Training Conference for the National Health Services and also take part in an county wide NHS Impact Assessment and also a Sexual health Conference, again all for the Lincolnshire NHS, at these events we received a great number of compliments on how professional we are in our provision of our services, and we had quite a number of enquires and also invitations to give talks and act as consultative partners in other organisations.

During March also the Independent Advisory Groups met and the west and the south division were re-invigorated and are now up to strength again, the east division goes on from strength, with particular concerns about community tensions aggravated by the downturn in the economy, and is trying to be of assistance in reducing theses perceived tensions.

April, Started well with our attendance at the Community Day at Nettleham Police HQ. Which concentrates on Neighbourhood policing and ensuring that the communities have there said and consent to the policing. Our Social support Evening was again a very congenial one, we are running at less attendees due to the recession but everyone is still enjoying the opportunities to meet others and chatter away. Another Strategic IAG meetings, also a full day at the Hate Crime Scrutiny Panel, the month ended with our joining the Shadow Single Equality Council for Lincolnshire, this organisation that will bloom later this year will be a much stronger force towards single equality than the various diverse organisations that it will eventually replace.

May, Our Social Support Evening was again a very enjoyable evening, during the month a lot of support meetings were undertaken and we were called upon to assist with many requests for support. There was a bit of a break in meetings that needed to be attended this month.

June. This month started off with the AGM of the Boston Area Partnership. Then followed the East Division IAG, which discussed a working paper on how to seek to work towards improving public acceptability of all the minority communities. Our Social Support evening was again a very friendly affair, with some new girls attending.  Lincolnshire Kaleidoscope held their AGM in Lincoln at the Healthy hub at which the trustees we re-elected unanimously for another year to continue the work of seeing more acceptance of the LGBT community in Lincolnshire. Again a large number of support enquires were received some from as far a field as Manchester!

July. Commenced with another meeting of the Hate Crime Scrutiny Panel. Our Social support meeting was less well attended as this was also Sparkle Weekend in Manchester, We were represented there by some sponsorship of the Sparkle Booklet, I believe that a number of our members attended and enjoyed the event. Our evening was still a very friendly evening with visitors from a far including.

August.  This month had a lot of activity, with a large number of Face to Face support meetings and also a lot of activity in the IAG sector. Our support evening are still being fairly well attended despite the economic downturn and the high cost of road fuel.

September.  This month saw the celebration of our Fifth Birthday, since we started the Monthly social support evenings, in that time very many members of the Transgendered community have been assisted by attending our Social Support Evenings and improving their self confidence and they are now able to do their socialising at mainstream venues with the public in general. We are, of course, getting new members each month, so that we in effect have a continual rolling membership. This all goes to show the success we have achieved in helping and supporting those who wish to improve their confidence to go out and about in the public eye wearing the clothes of their choice.

Septembers also saw our Annual Community Showcase day in Central Park Boston, this year even bigger and better than previous years with about 8500 people attending this family orientated event during the day. We were there in force raising funds for the Boston Belles and passing out information about the Transgendered Community to the public in general and answering their questions.

Our work on other Organisations continues and in particular, we are one of the leading organisations involved in the forming of the Lincolnshire Equality & Human Rights Council which will be established formally, early in 2010. Thus moving forward towards our aim of having all members of the Transgendered Community valued and respected as the unique individuals that they are, and not as someone else, thinks they should be.

October. This was generally quite a quiet month, the support evening was another well enjoyed evening, a number of various committee meetings were held during the month which were attended by us. As well as the Hate Crime Scrutiny Panel, we also attended the Skegness Magistrates Court for the Criminal Justice Board’s “Inside Justice” week which is an open event to the public to show the court workings etc...

November saw us attending a number of meetings such as the AGM of the South Lincs Community and Voluntary service, Showcase de-briefing meeting, and also Belinda and Stacey gave a presentation lecture to a Class of Third year doctorate students in Clinical Psychology at Lincoln University. Since then we have had requests for talks from a number of sources and hospitals.  The Support evening was a very good evening with a great number of first timers attending, which is so nice, to see them become more at ease as the evening goes on. At the end of the month Belinda was invited to talk to a multi agency meeting at HM Prison North Sea Camp, on Diversity, Equality, Tran’s issues and re-settlement opportunities of long term inmates.

December commenced with Belinda and Joanne attending the National Conference of the Independent Advisory Groups to the Police Service hosted in Manchester, which was as usual, very educational.  Our Christmas Party Social Support Evening went off well despite the atrocious cold, damp and foggy weather, the party seemed to be enjoyed by all, there being plenty of festive fare and a great raffle with over 30 prizes, some travelled from as far a field as Leeds and Sheffield to attend The month ended with quite a number of face to face support meetings.

So we are now looking forward to a good New Year of 2010.