A Look Back at 2010

 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

We really hope you’ve had a marvellous time this Christmas and we’d like to wish you lots of happiness and fluffy stuff for the New Year ahead. I think you’ll agree it’s an excellent time to do a Citypink round-up of 2010.

 I’ve had a super-lovely Christmas with my family but I’m currently pinned to the sofa feeling a bit like one of those unfortunate geese bred to produce foie gras that have a pipe shoved down their throats and force fed. This paralysis has also given my mother the perfect opportunity to impose on me a TV marathon of the most awful TV shows in the world.  Those were two very good reasons to whip out my Mac, look back through the diary and take myself off for a truly fabulous trip down memory lane. 

So all-in-all we managed to deliver over 35 events to you in 2010 and this seems like a good opportunity to say a big thank you to all of you who loyally support us and make running Citypink such a pleasure.  The big ticket items which caused Anna and I to go prematurely grey (OK, OK our hair was already grey) but were hugely successful were European Gay Ski week in March and of course, The Dame Dallow Tennis Tournament at the end of July. It makes it all sound very sporty spice but let’s be honest, Citypink girls like to party and party they did. 

The Dame Dallow tournie was my personal favourite with 64 players taking part, over 50 spectators and how those winning girls were rewarded with the most amazing prizes you can imagine. Over 300 of you enjoyed the remarkable talents of the sexy Parisian DJ’s courtesy of Primanotte for what was a stompingly good party. 

And what a week we had in Tignes in March, European Gay Ski Week was such a blast; great skiing, multiple injuries, proper pumping parties and even a smattering of romance (hard to believe with all those sunburnt faces and goggle marks, I know).

The monthly networking drinks at Adam Street private members club continue to be hugely popular, seven years on and the near deafening cocophony of womens voices tells us how much you enjoy this monthly treat. 

Littlepink, our network for same sex parents and their children,  has gone from strength to strength this year. It’s been lovely to get all the kids together at Notting Hill Club every month for tennis coaching and swimming. We’ve enjoyed getting to know lots of new families at picnics and various events. I’m not sure who enjoyed the Christmas Panto more, the parents or the children but I suspect it was the former. 

Citypink partnered the Alternative Families Show and we were incredibly proud to deliver a groundbreaking show along with Square Peg Media and g3 magazine which opened at The Grand Connaught Rooms in October to nearly 2000 visitors. Seminars ran throughout the day covering everything you need to know from donor conception to fostering, surrogacy, adoption and schooling. There were more exhibition stands than you could shake a rattle at and it was an incredible opportunity for would-be parents to gather all the information they could possibly dream of in one fell swoop. It was such a success that we’ll be doing another show on 17th September.  

So what a diverse raft of events we gave you in 2010 - theatre trips, art workshops, ski trips, tennis tournaments, networking events, parties, presentations, and picnics in the park. 

 

The New Year will bring some cool new events plus the launch of Connect, our new online networking service, so you can chat to members from the comfort of your own pyjamas.  To get involved all existing members have to do is activate their account and new members just sign up.

For the face to face meeting, don’t just wait for our email invitations, check out our events calendars regularly as we add new events all the time.  If you are hosting your own event feel free to advertise on our website under LGBT Events.  For the business girls, don’t forget you can advertise your business for free on the Business Directory and of course browse for pretty much anything you might need. 

All that’s left of the holidays, besides turkey leftovers and hangovers, is the memories of great times we had together last year and we very much look forward to some more fun and laughter with you in 2011, the eighth year of Citypink, the first and largest UK network for gay professional women.