Northern Concord the UK TV/TS Support Groups Background Information Page

	A Great Loss
	It is with deep regret that I have to inform you of the death of Joanne, Northern Concord member No.3. She died on the 27th December 2007 after a 3 month illness. Joanne has always been a great supporter of Concord and will be sadly missed.

Every successful organisation has at its centre a few dedicated people who do the hard work. Northern Concord has people like Jenny Baker, who also puts together the magazine and has created the web site and a few Founder Members such as Bev (NC-6) and myself who do their little bit behind the scenes to keep “the show on the road”. But the real strength of Northern Concord lies in its membership. That means you – all of you, not just the fortunate few who are able to take advantage of our weekly meetings in Manchester.

A couple of years ago, we passed a milestone with the enrolment of member number 1000 and I’m sure you will share with us a great sense of achievement. But what is of even greater significance is the geographical spread of Northern Concord membership which is now truly international, 5% being based overseas. We know that you all have one thing in common – you are either TV or TS. As for the rest, you are as different as any other group of individuals. Ask the proverbial “man in the street” to guess at the wide range of activities (other than dressing) practiced by TVs, and he would get it totally wrong. You’ve told me some amazing stories. Having said that, I’m reminded of a comment by Donna (NC-805), herself a professional writer who said “If you decide to tell, you cannot later retract”. This serves as a warning to all and is a philosophy I hold dear when compiling your profiles.

Annie (NC-826) told of her experiences motor bikes and on one occasion, traveling at well over 100 mph, lost her gear box oil sump. She left the rest to my imagination, which I can tell you, ran riot. Others such as Kay (NC-578) use the motor cycle as a beauty prop. (There was a picture in Cross Talk 29 of Kay draped all over her motor bike. She looked fantastic.) Sue’s (NC-4) view of her bike was simple in the extreme – “as a form of transport, fine but it does terrible things to the hair”, she said. (That’s the Sue we know and love). On the other hand, Susan (NC-894) is into Sky Diving. “Everybody’s done it now”, she said, as if leaping out of aeroplanes and allowing yourself to free fall ‘n’ thousand feet before opening your parachute was something we all do before breakfast every morning. “Someone’s even done it dressed”, she added. Angela (NC-946) from the Netherlands is interested in classic cars but her principle interest is in scuba diving the reefs of the Maldives and the Caribbean - studying sharks! “Respect their lifestyle and they’re no trouble at all”, she told me. (Believe me, they can have as much respect as they want! You won’t get me anywhere near them.) Patricia’s (NC-871) experience was similar to that of Annie’s except that in her case she was flying a single engine light aircraft. As she approached the airfield to land, she developed an oil leak. “There was no way I could go round again - somehow I just had to get it down. That was interesting”, she added with a grin. as a professional cyclist. She also raced

Jinny (NC-863) is an avid rock climber. “It’s not necessarily the height of the rock face that’s important but the degree of difficulty – how vertical it is”, she said. This is just one end of the scale, the other being addressed by Anne-Marie (NC-320), a mountaineering instructor in Snowdonia. (For one who suffers from vertigo merely by standing on a step ladder, I’m full of admiration for the two of them.) Having said that, just as some people enjoy the pure mountain air, there are others who are more at home in the claustrophobic atmosphere of pot holes and underground caves. Renée (NC-139), a Northern Concord member for many years talked of her experiences underground. Had she ever been in difficulties? She most certainly had but “if you get stuck crawling along an underground passage, the secret is not to panic”, she said. “I remember one occasion when we emerged into a large underground cavern. In front of us was a cliff face which we had to climb so we strung together a rope ladder. When it was my turn and I was half way up, the man at the top dropped my safety line. If ever there was a time for panic, that was certainly it”.

Whereas some of you love excitement, at times bordering on danger in your sports, others are keen to stretch their bodies to the limit. Rachel (NC-958) who flew over from Virginia Beach in the USA has been backpacking in the Appalachian Mountains, the 1800 mile chain stretching south from Newfoundland to central Alabama. If boredom sets in, she flies up to Alaska for low glacier hiking. The skiing is almost a relaxation. Coming closer to home, Lindsay (NC-693) gets her fun by walking the West Highland Way, 90 miles across country from Glasgow to Fort William.

So many of you told stories of potential disaster when out dressed - you know, the day the roof fell in! Supremely confident Michelle (NC-525) is a theatre and ballet buff and what a baptism of fire she had. Relaxing with a friend in what they thought were their seats in the Palace theatre, Manchester, she was suddenly accosted by an attendant and two irate theatre goers who demanded to see her tickets. You’ve guessed it. Not only were they in the wrong seats, they were also in the wrong part of the theatre. Just for good measure, she couldn’t immediately find the tickets and the curtain was about to go up. Talking of fire, Diane (NC-318) was looking after the caravan site at a craft fair just outside London when her earth fell out of orbit. Here was the opportunity to dress for a few hours in the quiet seclusion of her own caravan. The cry of “fire” over her radio demanded immediate action on her part. She had no time to change, would have a quick look and then decide what to do. Sadly, she was half way there when the fire brigade arrived – some kind soul had dialed 999 and these guys don’t hang around. Cheryl (NC-177) had managed to get her hands on a double decker bus to collect a party of TVs from Blackpool before going on to a special lunch. The bus was parked for a couple of nights in a local bus depot. Unfortunately, there was the very mother and father of a frost that weekend and the gearbox froze solid. Dressed up to the eyeballs, Cheryl tried to move the bus accompanied by the ribald comments of seemingly every bus driver on the planet. Finally, making smoke as they used to say on board ship, they eased out into the one way system at a not so steady 15mph. Needless to say, the lunch did not happen.

We’re well aware of the problems faced by those of you who, for whatever reason, can never leave the sanctuary of your own four walls. We know, because you’ve told us, that the arrival of Cross Talk, with its wide ranging content, is a focal point of your TV existence. If we have been able to brighten your lives, then we view this as both a pleasure and a privilege. One person who has developed the four wall concept into an art form is Belinda (NC-153) from Cornwall. She has a room lovingly referred to as Belinda’s Boudoir attached to her house. This is five star luxury and I had the pleasure of seeing it about 12 years ago. I seem to recall vast fitted wardrobes, settees, comfortable lounge chairs, television and a mass of filming equipment – in fact, you name it – she’d got it. Anyone traveling to Cornwall was welcome and she was kindness personified.

Arrive in Manchester most Wednesday evenings and you will meet Lee (NC-537) who is TS – with a difference. Lee is female to male and you would be amazed how many people are undertaking this complex form of gender reassignment. And you think you’ve got problems?

Being a TV or a TS is difficult enough without having to face the added burden of physical problems. The absence of beautiful hair can be overcome by visiting someone such as Krystyna an Associate of Northern Concord who has advised women with hair loss problems over a number of years. Tricia Green, another Associate advises on the removal of facial hair but absolutely nothing can be done for those with problems of size. Solange (NC-833), a real fun character with a bubbling personality who regularly writes for Cross Talk, is 6’6” tall – without heels. Thankfully she is very philosophical about it. We have also had visitors who have been confined to wheelchairs. Phyllis (NC-569) lives on pain killers after an accident which moved three disks in her spine. She can walk only with the aid of a stick but laughingly told of her appearance on the television programme ‘The Time and the Place’. “That didn’t bother me one scrap”, she said. “What terrified me was when I left my hotel room and stood by the lift. When the doors opened, there must have been six or seven people in there and every eye seemed to be directly focused on me. I was mortified”.

As you know, Northern Concord holds functions throughout the year, in addition to its usual Wednesday soirées. The major event being the Bollington weekend in February and of course the Christmas party. Members travel from far and wide to attend – money no object – that’s what friendship is all about, isn’t it? Mary (NC-19) is a past president of the Friends of Eon. She and others from the Dublin group frequently come over. Adele (NC-714) flies BA from the north of Scotland. Ruth (NC191), Chair of Cross Lynx, travels down from Glasgow whereas my old friend Gillian (NC-57) with lovely wife Nora makes the journey from Bristol. Magenta (NC-526) and wife Amanda join us from the Birmingham area. Many others travel considerable distances to be with us and hopefully they will understand that space alone prevents my mentioning them by name. It is truly wonderful to see them all.

A number of our members like to holiday “en femme”. I’ve already mentioned Mary from Dublin. She has traveled extensively across the continent of Africa and the western states of America. Katie Bradford (NC-129), on the other hand, went one stage further and decided to move permanently to Brittany in France. There she set up facilities for TVs and TSs to relax away from the prying gaze of people on their own doorsteps and several of you have taken advantage of this. Jenny (NC-585) and others now regularly attend the Mardi Gras in France every February. Dawn (NC-2) and another group fly down to Benidorm in Spain or alternatively across to Amsterdam to paint the proverbial town red.

There is one thing, however, which is of fundamental importance to us at Northern Concord and that is the considerable involvement of so many wives and partners, some of whom I have mentioned in previous paragraphs. We owe them all a huge debt of gratitude for their tolerance and forbearance. Liz, sees at first hand the countless hours devoted to Northern Concord by husband Jenny Baker. Christine and husband Raymond (Shirley NC-1 – who ran the original Manchester group “when Adam was a lad”) have devoted half a lifetime to the support of TVs and TSs. Indeed, for a number of years Chris ran a help line for wives and partners having difficulty in coming to terms with the TV condition. Not so Carol who, having been told by Sharon (NC-32) that she was a TV before their marriage, promptly decided they should spend their honeymoon at the Philbeach in London. Two very dear personal friends and a wonderful couple are Kirsty (NC-442) and wife June. “June is my ‘reject’ stamp”, said Kirsty. “If I don’t look right, we don’t go out”. Gwen (NC-724) and Linda are always together and told of one frightening experience when dressed on an outing to the Lake District. Some of the lanes are little more than tracks. Rounding a bend, as they traveled through Hard Knott Pass, they discovered the road in front of them was full of van. The disconsolate driver visibly brightened as he caught sight of them and headed straight in their direction. “We did the fastest, tightest and best three point turn we’ve ever done”, said Linda “and beat a hasty retreat”. Who said the days of chivalry are past? Finally, we were most grateful to Eileen, wife of Christine (NC-365), who wrote her husband’s profile herself with the comment “she doesn’t know I’m writing this – I hope it will be a pleasant surprise”. I’m quite sure that it was Eileen.

If you wish to contact me, just email Jenny Baker and she will forward your emails onto me.