The first 18 - 35s munch will be held on Tuesday 28th October from 7pm. The intention is to run it as a regular monthly munch meeting always on the last Tuesday of the month.

The venue for the munch is the Kings Arms, Chesil Street, Winchester, which is the same venue that is used for the 'Power Exchange' monthly fetish/BDSM night.

We are very lucky in that the landlady is of the pub has offered us the sole use of the smaller bar for the munch and is aware and understanding of our interests.

Why an under 35s munch? Winchester has a progressive local scene which now includes an established regular munch and monthly fetish night. I joined the local scene about a year and a half ago at the age of 22 and quickly noticed that I was in a minority being both young and female.

The existing munch organisers were occasionally approached by younger people interested in the scene and thought it could be useful to have someone available in their age group to go to for advice and information and so wpe_under_35 was born.

The yahoo group was set up around a year ago and has since aided many nervous, confident, newbie and experienced young people to find friendship, information, peer support, their first steps in to the scene and even set up their own group.

If you would like to join (please take note of the profile conditions for membership), the address is:

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/wpe_under_35/

There is also a group specific to people in the midlands and although it doesn't have structured meetings people do get together at various events:

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/midlands_under_35/

I often talk to members of the group that have not managed to sum up the courage to go to a scene event because of various concerns. Are they going to be able to mix with people of all ages? Will they be swamped by domineering women/men? Will they 'stick out'? Will people take them seriously because of their age/lack of experience?

The small size of the group and the age restrictions will hopefully open a door on the scene for these younger people. The fact it is run by a female may also help scene curious young women out there to get involved.

The under 35s munch is there to provide a stepping stone to those interested in the scene yet for whatever reason do not feel able to attend the open to all ages events. It is also about having fun, finding friends and getting the most of out your BDSM/fetish interests safely.

If anyone has any comments or questions please feel free to send me an email to ailsa80@yahoo.com

ailsa x