Top TotY

Today I’m going to continue writing about Sparkle, as I said previously, it’s a pretty big topic and so it’s going to take me more then one post to cover some of the key events of the weekend from my perspective. Sparkle takes place in and around Canal Street on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday normally in July. While there are things happening on all three days, the biggest events take place on the Saturday, and the most popular of these is the Tranny of the Year competition.

I understand that in the early years of Sparkle (the event only began in 2004) the competition had been known as the ‘Miss Sparkle’ pagent but somewhere along the line someone decided to rebrand the event. Personally I feel that Miss Sparkle is a better name than Tranny of the Year however I must admit that ‘TotY’ is a useful acronym. I do feel however that it might blur the edges of who the competition is for as some people might not like to refer to themselves as a ‘tranny’ while others feel that the name implies it should be limited to transvestites. I was chatting to someone after the event who told me that they did not feel it was fair as transsexuals were allowed to enter. From my own perspective I did not mind but I can see where they were coming from.

When I attended Sparkle last year I bumped into my friend Jessica, a girl I knew from chix who had entered the competition. It seemed like a lot of fun and a great way to meet new people (not to mention get a little attention) and so I thought that it would be fun to enter.

I sent in my application a couple of months before the event and swapped some emails with Leah True, tgirl extrodanair and one of the organisers of Sparkle. I received some instructions on things to consider when being marked during the pagent and an invitation to pick up my competition sash from AXM, the bar in Manchester which was hosting the launch party.

I arrived by myself on the Friday evening a flittered about as I usually seem to do at these events before catching Leah’s eye and introducing myself. Leah is a lovely person, very friendly and welcoming and we sat down as I registered and received my competition sash. In previous years the sashs had had the entrants name written on them, and I must admit this was one of the attractions of entering, so I was a little sad to see that the sashs were generic, with the name of the sponsor and event as well as an individual number. Leah explained that they had been short of entrants up until quite late and so did not have the two weeks needed in advance to send them to the printers. Also, the cost were a little expensive and it was one expense they perhaps didn’t need. (I should point out that there is no entrance fee for Sparkle or the contest and while I don’t know where they get the money from, the organisers manage to do a fantastic job.

After receiving my sash I had a new key card to use for getting into conversations which after all, was one of the main reasons why I had entered. I met several other girls who were competing and some of them I feel I clicked with very well especially two girls from Birmingham called AyCee and Cyndie. It was also easier to talk to other people and I met a very nice girl from Scotland called Cat and was able to catch up with another few friend who I had not been able to meet before including another Jess, this time from Leeds. Jess was a very cool chick and I had spoken to her off and on for a couple of years so to finally meet her was a high point for my weekend.

For the rest of the night I hung around with Cat, AyCee and Cyndie as well as meeting up with another friend Aleks who I had also been talking to for a couple of years and had met at the previous Indulgence, the BDSM club night in my home town. I was having a really good evening until I discovered that my clutch handbag had popped open and half of the contents had fallen out! someone on the street very kindly tapped me on the shoulder to point it out and I managed to scramble all of the bits lying at my feet back in. It was only later that I realised I had not gathered everything…

One of the great things about Canal Street is that its is the LGBTG heart of Manchester and also a place where many people go on hen and stag nights. Many people there are gay or bi but far from everyone and tgirls are a common site so abuse or negative comments are rare and often outweighed by the positive. I remember being accosted by a girl who was out with her gaggle of girl friends who wanted to pose with me and take photos which I took to be a compliment.

It was about 2am when I next opened my purse to check the contents and realised that I was missing something. Fortunately my money and card were still there but somewhere in Canal Street I had lost my room key! The key was a card that fitted into the door of my room and was pretty generic, but with it I had lost a small card that had come with it which had contained my room number and the name of the hotel. Fearing that some randomer might have found them and was now sleeping in my bed I decided, reluctantly, that I should return to my room.

As no one else was staying in my direction I had a long, lonely walk back but I made it to the hotel unscathed and the nigh porter let me in. I told him I lost my key and he checked my name off the list and issued me with a room key. I asked if I needed to pay anything but he waved me away implying that it was a common occurence. I went back to my room and found it in the same state I had left it a few hours earlier and felt relief but I was also a bit annoyed that my airheadedness had curtailed a good night. Still, it was only Friday and tomorrow was another day.

Another Night of Indulgence

About 12 months ago, the organisers of my local munch decided that they were going to set up a club night, so that people from my little city and the surrounding area can get their local fetish fix. Having been overseas for much of the last year, I missed the first couple of events but heard that they were very well attended and successful. I managed to make it to the last one and covered it in a previous blog and last Saturday I made to to my second Club Indulgence.

Previous events had had some great numbers but perhaps had not been as well organised as the group might have hoped. To tighten things up we got together a five-person committee to take responsibility for different things and somehow I ended up being the fifth member. Not that I had too much responsibilities to worry about and, to be honest I didn't actually make any of the pre-event meetings, but it did mean that I was able to wear a shiny badge on the night that told everyone I was a Team Member.

In my case being a team member consisted of pestering everyone to buy raffle tickets, making sure that no one was sitting around on their own like a lemon and test driving any of the equipment that others thought wasn't getting the attention it deserved. All this was quite fun although I did feel a little bad pestering people to buy raffle tickets but most people bought a fivers worth and we made a fair amount of money which was split between an equipment fund and a chosen charity. In this case it was for a domestic violence supporting group which was a very worthy cause.

For the night we kindly had some equipment loaned by the local barn that I have blogged about previously, including the frame that had been put together at the scrap yard challenge the other week. In addition to this there was a flogging bench, a netted frame and a very small cage which I got locked in for a small chunk of the night. The cage seemed tiny and I had to back in but I was quite pleased at how long I was able to remain in it without feeling too uncomfortable.

Having my 'Team Member' and being forced to sell raffle tickets meant that I was able to talk to everyone who came to the club night. We only had abut 30-35 people which was less then normal but it was a good enough number that people didn't feel over crowded and could talk to each other and use the different pieces of equipment.

The night finished at about two and I stayed to help tidy up at the end. Everything ran really smoothly and I'm looking forward to the next one which will be in September.

Indulgence

I feel very lucky that there is such a good munch going on in my town. I'm not quite sure what I would do with myself if I didn't have this outlet readily available. As well as a chance to get out, sit in a pub and talk about kink; it is sometimes the one oppertunity I have a month to get out dressed. I was very happy to hear then that not only did I have a munch to go to this month, but also that there would be a club night taking place in the same bar for me to go to.

This was infact the third or fouth kinky club night that had been organised by the nice people from the local munch, but my overseas galavanting of the last year has meant that I unfortunatly missed the previous ones. So this was my chance to see how things panned out in my own little berg.

I must admit that I am not especially experienced when it comes to organised club nights. I had been to a few t-focused ones, one in Leeds and BNO down in MK; and to a couple that were more kinky such as Lash and the club night after BBB. I think these are often smaller scale events where people come for the night as opposed to just a drink like you would get from a regular bar. Compared to these limited experience the night stood up very favorable.

I'm not sure what the final head count was but there was excess of thirty people when I arrived, most of which I didn't know. There was still a good number of the munch crowed however that I felt like I knew the majority of people. The club, like the munch, takes place in the first floor of one of the local bars, an old building with charecter (which i like) but sadly needs some work to keeping out the freezing cold! The main area is devided into three sections by wooden partitions, the central area being used for seating and the two side wings were filled with an assortment of bondage apparatus kindly brought from Nemesis in Manchester.

The aparatus however wasn't getting much use, I guess you need to have a certain amount of confidence and know a few people to strap yourself into a set of stocks and present your behind. Still, there organisers had thought of everything it seemed.

Forms were handed out to put forward yourself into the slave auction. I am not sure if funds were being raised for charity to cover event cost/ provide goodies for the future, i'll have to ask. Its an interesting idea but one I'm not necessarily sure about as it seems to me Dom/mes are more likely to bid then subbies meaning half of the people there were almost expected to pay while the other half where less likely. I certainly didn't put any bids in although I did fill out a form.

I'm not sure how much I went for or if there were more then one bid put in for me. Everyone was 'sold' it seemed which certainly implies that perhaps sympathy bids existed. I know that the lady who ended up 'winning' me certainly bidded for three other people. Still, it took nothing away from my enjoyment as I was led to the stocks and told to strip to my panties.

The Mistress took out a violet want and used a number of seperat attachement to tease my body. I wasn't sure how to react however as actually it just felt quite nice for the most part. The only exception being when she ran it over my nipple with just make me squirm a little bit. Later I saw her using it on somone else who was wriggling all over the place. Not sure if that means I have a higher pain threshold or just that the Mistress had found a higher setting on the dial.

The evening, and in fact the whole day (which was the same day as the pony play meet) seemed to go very quickly sadly unfortunatly and I wish I had had the oppertunity to talk to a few more people (and indeed try out a few more of the toys) but it was very enjoyable catching up with alot of people and I look forward to the next event.