Stourbridge Circle BARE ALL for Channel 4
Embarrassing Bodies
Breast Cancer programme
When Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies asked us to get involved with the filming of their breast cancer awareness special we thought ‘why not?’
30 Circlers, Tangent & friends gathered for a ‘Think Pink’ night hosted by the rather gorgeous ‘Dr Christian’.
Circle badges & t-shirts everywhere, we started with a breast cancer quiz – standing on the ‘real’ or ‘falsie’ boobies on the floor depending on our answers.
Then came the hard bit! The TV company had mentioned that they would like to film us learning how to examine our boobs – without our tops on! The caveat being this was going to be done ‘calendar girl’ style (well I had to insist!!).
To our amazement Mandy agreed to be examined on camera by Christian then a dozen other girls volunteered to bare all, BUT hidden behind cake stands & gerberas!
It was a somewhat surreal experience – stood with my circling friends, boobies out, while the cameras did their thing!
This was a great opportunity to raise the awareness of breast cancer.
Watch out for us on Friday (26th Feb) at 9pm for our TV debut!
Latest News – January 2010
WOW Stourbridge had a busy end to 2009.
In November we held decided to celebrate our 2nd birthday with a ‘proper’ birthday party. We were joined by National President Niki Stocken and welcomed our newest honorary member, Niki’s partner Mark!! After a couple of party games (it wouldn’t be the same without pass the parcel), we were entertained by the fab magician, Dave Jones.
Next off to Birmingham and a tour round the BBC studios at the Mailbox. Unfortunately George Clooney wasn’t their on the evening to show us around but the BBC staff were very informative!
Christmas was approaching fast and Lichfield Circle invited us to their Christmas wreath making night. There were some really great efforts – assisted in the creative process by the mulled wine I’m sure!!
Stourbridge finished off the year with our Christmas party night – a themed Abba Night. Great food, company and music – of course!
Ghostly Goings-On In Stourbridge
A ghost hunting trip – great, it’s Halloween – how appropriate, in the underground canal tunnels under Dudley Castle – GULP!
The intrepid Stourbridge Circlers set off on a canal barge to hunt down the spirits of the men, women and children killed in the underground mines of the old Earl of Dudley. These tunnels literally stretch for miles and open out into massive caverns where the lime stone has been taken away.
Although there were no actual sightings, Catherine’s camera stopped working which apparently is a usual occurrence in these tunnels and there were some odd people on the boat!
Trip over, the Stourbridge girls decamped to the pub to calm their nerves!
Latest News – September 2009
The Stourbridge girls have been busy have fun locally and nationally!
June saw a visit from the Ladies Circle National President, Niki Stocken. The French Hen did us proud with fine food, wine and of course we supplied the company! July saw us pottery painting (great try Sharon) and a night out with our sister organisation Tangent. August – always a quiet one – was the annual summer BBQ and this gave us chance to catch our breath for the forthcoming Autumn months!
September kicked off with a trip to Laser Quest. Playing ‘shoot em up’ with the girls was great fun, but not so great when a bunch of boys joined our second game and trounced the lot of us. To make up for it we headed across the road for a much deserved Chinese.
The next day, Vicky took the plunge and went onto Bridge Radio to talk about what a fab organisation circle is.
Our September planning meeting was a great chance to catch up on all of the social and fundraising exploits we’ve been up to and get some more dates in the book. We also welcomed three new members, Faye, Sally & Emily.
Then Sharon, Jill, Julie, Becky & Vicky headed off to Middlesborough for the National Gathering and President’s Ball. CRUK is the national charity of Circle and the council meeting saw the organisation ‘Join the Fight for Women’s Survival’ – the new CRUK campaign. Resplendent in pink a great meeting was had discussing national circle business. 
Business over and off to the President’s Masked Ball! The girls partied the night away to ‘Re Take That’ a band that truly sounded like the real thing – but looked better!!
Having organised the last regional lunch Sharon, Adele, Faye & Vicky decided to head to the North East to join their Regional Lunch. The ‘Art of Friendship’ was the theme and great fun was had drawing our live model Paul! The guest speaker was the slightly wacky professional artist, Beryl Maile who had travelled up from Oxford and I quote “in her shag wag” with her “little Fanny and black Willie”. She had come dressed for the occasion in an amazing red hat which was actually a toilet seat cover!
She kept us entertained with her stories and original innuendos. Beryl made painting look so easy and her completed picture was auctioned, making a staggering £380 for National President Niki Stockens’ charity – The Meningitis Trust.
Latest News – Stourbridge Ladies Circle do lunch – in STYLE! – June 2009
Stourbridge Ladies Circle hosted the annual Midlands and Wales regional lunch at the Copthorne hotel, Merry Hill at the weekend. 110 girls from around the country dressed up in their best frocks and hats and came out to party as only Circlers know how.
Whilst enjoying pre luncheon cocktails, shrieks of laughter filed the room as our ‘butlers in the buff’ walked through the reception area. What pert bottoms they were displaying!!!
The ‘Navy Boys’ then joined us for lunch and despite what everyone thought they were NOT strippers! They were our dinner escorts!!
The main entertainment for the afternoon was the drag queen, Daisy Chainsaw! Daisy got the room on its feet (or the chairs!) singing along to our diva favourites. She had better legs than some of us!
The afternoon was rounded off with our DJ playing top tunes to dance what was left of the afternoon away.
In the midst of all this we also signed up a new member Marion!
Great food, wine, entertainment and company meant this really was the ‘Ultimate Girls Night Out – in the middle of the afternoon!’
Stourbridge Ladies Circle Rowing Team
Four intrepid Stourbridge Circlers decided to field a novice rowing team at the Bewdley Regatta and Fun day on Saturday 30th May.
Jill, Lesley, Becky & Mandy set about weeks of intensive training both in the gym and on the water – none of them ever having rowed before. Duncan the ‘cox’ assured the girls they were good and a potential podium finish was in the offing.
A week before the regatta disaster struck when Mandy ‘caught a crab’. This is the technical term for getting your oar stuck in the water and not being able to move it whilst the boat carries on and you get caught by the oar. Two cracked ribs later, Mandy’s hopes of rowing were dashed and the girls were left without their ‘Bow’ woman.
A last minute replacement was found but the team just couldn’t compete having lost their valuable team member and having to get used to rowing in different positions.
Jill said “I was gutted that we got knocked out in the heats, even thought the other team were awesome. We will be back next year stronger and faster than ever, we’ll give those girls a run for their money”.
Watch this space.
Latest News – May 2009
Sharon our new chair for 2009/10 has big plans for fun and fundraising this year. She led her first business meeting on 12 May and welcomed a further new member; Theresa. The meeting was a great success and resulted in a packed diary of events for the rest of the year – have a look at our diary page to see what we have planned. Why not join us?
News – April 2009
What a start to the new calendar year but the end of the circle year!!
After kick starting the year with a planning meeting we got down to having some serious fun!!
The girls joined Stourbridge Round Table as they celebrated their 80th birthday with a fabulous ball at the Copthorne, Merry Hill. They were joined by Tablers from all over THE WORLD!! What a night!
Then off to ten bowling for the Area Trophy Challenge. Despite fielding the biggest team our bowling skills weren’t quite up to scratch. Well done to the winners, Bilston!
Mand, Cath, Vicky, Jill & Julie headed off to Solihull for the National get together weekend where Julie ‘officially’ joined us. These weekends are a brill way of getting to know Circlers from round the country.
We also joined Halesowen Tangent to celebrate their 40th birthday, had a fab Chinese buffet.
Onto AGM!! Jo has had a great year as Stourbridge Chairman and this was certainly her night. We had a fab meal at the Four Stones, Clent, enjoyed reviewing the year and welcomed three more new members!!
Jo handed over the reigns to Sharon who not only takes on Stourbridge Chair, but will be looking after the West Midlands area too. Her charity for the year is Dream Flight, www.dreamflight.org a fantastic organisation whose purpose is to take seriously ill and disabled children on their ‘Holiday of a Lifetime’ to the theme parks of Central Florida.
Stourbridge LC is now over 20 girls meeting on a regular basis to have fun, try new experiences and make new friends. Why don’t you join us??
News – December 2008
Where has 2008 gone? A Candle Party, CRUK Think Pink Night in Telford, a trip to see Blood Brothers at the Theatre, the Area get together @ Four Stones Clent, an Indonesian meal & of course the crimbo party!!
Lots of great food eaten, fine wine drunk, new friends made and tons of fun. Roll on 2009…
The Stourbridge Ladies Alternative Slumber Party!!!
Stourbridge Ladies Circle joined others from around the country to enjoy a fabulous ‘girls night in’.
Stourbridge however opted for a slumber party with a difference. The girls donned their pyjama’s on Friday and settled down for the evening in the shop windows of Kashoff Beds in Stourbridge.
Thirteen ladies enjoyed wine, pop corn & chick flicks whilst waving at the traffic on the Hagley Road. They were supported by the chaps from Round Table who stood in the cold collecting money for Mary Stevens Hospice. A fantastic £200 was raised from the event.
What a great night!!!
News – August 2008
The summer months have flown by and despite the weather we still managed to have a BBQ, play croquet at Himley and go canoeing!!
Further afield, Jill ventured off to Bromsgrove for a Scalextric night and upheld the honour of Stourbridge with a podium finish of second and a medal. She then hot-footed it to Bicester for an ‘Aunt Sally’ competition, having met the girls at the 1st birthday bash.
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A crowd of us went to the annual regional luncheon, this year hosted by Wales in Chepstow. Ascot has got nothing on our crowd!! We were entertained by ‘Dean Martin’ and had a really great afternoon.
The highlight of the month must be the trip to Ladies Circle International. Every year Circlers from around the world gather in exotic places such as India, Estonia……. this year Aberdeen for a right good party. The Scottish girls did us proud and we had a ‘Highland Fling’. The four day gathering includes a welcome party, gala dinner, home parties and last but definitely not least, the parade. Aberdeen was amazed by 600 circlers in national dress parading through the town centre. We’re Circlers and proud of it!!!
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If you would like to see more of what we are up to Stourbridge Ladies Circle is now on face book. Sign up and take a look.
News – June 2008 – MILESTONES!
WOW, its been a busy few months for S&D. We’ve reached many milestones.
1st Birthday – We celebrated our 1st birthday in style by having a party! We were joined by 40 circlers, past circlers and friends from all over the country. The French Hen in Clent as always surpassed themselves with great grub and we were entertained by Janice Boswell – an ex Circler herself and now a Bromsgrove District Councillor. Janice had us in stitches. A circle night wouldn’t be right without a bit of fund raising so we held a raffle in support of The Edwards Trust in Edgbaston. We raised £120 on the night so a huge thanks to everyone that donated raffle prizes and bought tickets. That leads us nicely onto milestone 2...
Charity – S&D has broken the £1000 mark in monies raised to date. We’ve not only broken the grand but we’ve smashed it. Take a look at the charity pages for more info but a quick breakdown is as follows:
| Race for Life/CRUK | £700 | |
| 1st Birthday Bash/The Edwards Trust | £120 | |
| Area Challenge Night/British Heart Foundation | £120 | |
| Quiz Night/Paul McCann Fund for Needy Children | £570 | |
| GRAND TOTAL | £1510 | |
Milestone 3...
Newbies – As previously mentioned we’ve welcomed 7 newbies throughout the year, but with special guests etc we have doubled the numbers getting involved and having a great time. Not bad for our first year out of the starting blocks.
News – April 2008
April has come and gone and we’ve had a great month.
AGM season is upon us and Stourbridge Circle enjoyed the culinary delights of the Bell & Cross in Clent. Jo took over the Chair for the forthcoming year and we welcomed four new members to join us.
The new group has not only survived this year but we have thrived.
Also this month a few of us decided to go and get involved in Trinny & Susannah’s Great British Body experiment.
The fun started at the Birmingham Town Hall where we were all weighed, measured and got to explore what we liked and didn’t like about our bodies. Trinny & Susanna were great and looked as good in the flesh as they do on TV. There were all sizes and shapes at the event including the current Miss England competitors and a troup of Morris Dancers (!?!?!?!). Watch out for us on the forthcoming TV series!
Unfortunately we only managed to get a picture with the cardboard Trinny & Susannah but as you can see a great day was had by all and well worth making the effort to spend the day in Birmingham.
The month wrapped up with the West Midlands Area AGM in Wolverhampton. These get togethers are great for catching up with old mates from other groups and making new ones too! Sharon & Cath have stepped up again to help run area this year. Well done girls.
Well that’s the first year over for the NEW Stourbridge & District Circle. We look forward to many more great nights out and of course our 1st birthday bash in June.
News – 31st March 2008
What a busy start to the year!!
We’ve raised lots of money for charity, lost lots of money at the dogs and gained some more new members.
We started off the year with a meal at the finest curry house known to man – Karma in Wollaston. You really can’t beat their chicken tikka masala.
Then of course at the end of Jan we hosted a charity quiz night in aide of the Paul McCann fund for needy children. A big thanks to Chris Perry for organising the quiz side of things for free – but can we have easier questions if we do it again please?!?!?! Never the less everyone was fed by Teresa’s fine chilli and over £500 was raised in the evening. What a result!
Feb saw us win the Area Challenge night, but I do feel however the phrase ‘strength in numbers’ was appropriate as we fielded the biggest team.
Some of us also attended the national circle get together – fortunately in Birmingham this time – and donned our glad rags for the Round Table Valentines Ball.
Then off to the dogs at Monmore Green Greyhound Racing track.
Not quite flat caps and wellies, we enjoyed a three course meal and viewed the racing from the comfort of the restaurant. Bets were made on the basis of dog names, colours and who relieved themselves before racing and of course on that basis winners were few and far between, but Sharon had a cheeky earner on an accumulator type bet. £50 secured the drinks for the evening.
The end of March saw Stourbridge keeping up the alcoholic traditions of the group with a tour round the Sadler’s Brewery in Lye and a great meal at the Windsor Pub afterwards.
This cheeky jewel in the crown of Lye gave us great beer, fabulous food and a buzzing atmosphere. There were also one or two hangovers the next day!!
NEW Stourbridge Circle – Alive and Kicking!! 31st January 2008
The new Stourbridge Circle is now eight months old and we are going strong.
During this time we have welcomed three new members to take our number to eleven and hopefully will be welcoming four more very shortly.
We have eaten many a fine meal, drank lots of good wine, been ten pin bowling, endured a summer BBQ in the rain, took a tour around Halfpenny Green Vineyard, ventured to Cardiff to luncheon with a hundred other Circlers from the region, mixed with high society and celebs at the National Presidents Ball and partied with a ‘wanna be’ Robbie Williams at Christmas.
Circle is all about making new friends, trying new experiences and getting some me time. Fun, friendship and fundraising is what it is all about.
If you are female, aged 18-45, why not try us out. New members are always welcome. We meet twice a month and get involved in all manner of social and fundraising activities.
