- I appreciate that the following is quite lengthy/detailed, however it is imperative for all applicants to read ahead of deciding whether they wish to join the group, and if the group and the way the group is run suits their own personal preference.

- PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU READ ALL OF IT VS 'SKIM READ' THE INFORMATION, AS CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS HAVE CLAIMED TO DO SO , YET HAVE UNFORTUNATELY LATER BEEN DELETED FROM THE GROUP VERY SHORTLY AFER JOINING THE GROUP, AS IT HAS BECOME APPARENT THAT THEY DID NOT READ/TAKE ON BOARD THE GROUP’S RULES.

WEST LONDON LADIES

- This group provides ladies aged between 21 and 34 the opportunity to make fabulous new friends and lasting friendships and attend fun exclusive parties and events.

- This is a perfect group for ladies that like to try out new things, meet new people, perhaps those that are newly single or single, or ladies in relationships that are keen to have an active and varied social life outside of the relationship.
However, this is not a social group for ladies that attend the socials once or twice a year when their boyfriends are busy and is also not a group for promoters.

- The group provides members with the opportunity to try out exciting new activities such as nights out to exclusive clubs, bars and parties, Mahiki at Henley- www.mahiki.com/henley/, www.bacanal.co.uk/ and welovebrunch.com/ daytime parties, high end boat parties and quirky daytime boat rides, arts and crafts activities, literary festivals, science exhibitions, attending burlesque shows and taking part in burlesque classes, cocktail mixology classes, comedy nights, day trips outside of London and international weekend breaks, trips to the theatre, the Proms and much more - have a look at our upcoming events!).

- I also host socials in a luxury, private cinema every now and then, that is hired out JUST for the groups ladies (which doesn't costs more than £25 per person and includes a meal in a stunning Michelin starred restaurant AND watching a film of our choice) - do have a look at our past socials for the full details once your membership is accepted.

- There are always plenty of clubbing socials - so those that love partying until 3am are very much encouraged to join!

- The majority of the events will take place in West London and some of the socials will take place in venues outside of West London - HOWEVER you are welcome to join regardless of where you live (as long as you are female!).

-         New members often ask me how/why entry to the exclusive venues that we visit is free and why the drinks are also often gratis.

-         To answer their (and your potential query) - I worked in Fashion for a luxury brand's head office for eight years and now currently own my own business within the industry.

- So consequently, a lot of my friends work within Fashion, PR and events and for luxury fashion and lifestyle brands and high end venues - hence why I am able to get myself and the group's members that attend the events into 'impossible to get into' bars and clubs such as Home House, Shoreditch House, The Brompton Club, The Box, Jalouse, No 3 Cromwell House aka The Dorsia, Le Baron, the Cuckoo Club, Mortons Club in Mayfair, Maddox Club, The Arts Club, Tramp, Annabels, Novikov and I am also able to obtain complimentary tables for my guests at The Sanderson and St Martin's Lane and many others.

- And no (before you ask) - I am not a promoter of any sort, I run this group solely for the benefit of widening my already existing social circle and enabling the group's members to make new friends.

- N.B: Members only venues such as Shoreditch House and the Arts club aren't nightclubs and are impossible to obtain entry to without being a member or knowing one , and therefore don't require promotion of any sort.

- We also don't tend to visit the same venues over and over again, which is usually the case of Meetup groups that promote certain venues (as they are actually promoters vs legitimate organisers).

- I make the effort to get to know each and every member that attends my events on a personal level and to make everyone feel comfortable at each event.

- The group's calender is always very busy, as I double the events up with my own personal diary.

- Therefore, this means that my personal non meetup girlfriends are often in attendance at the events, and occasionally some male friends attend the events.

HOUSE RULES

- Please note that the group has a zero tolerance policy in regards to 'no shows'.

- If you fail to change your RSVP to 'no' or voluntarily contact me to advise me that you cannot make it without a reasonable amount of notice, then I'm afraid that you will be deleted from the group.

- Also, if you repeatedly RSVP 'Yes' to events and then change your RSVP status to 'No' at the last minute/very close to the date of the event - then I will have no choice but to delete you from the group if you do this on more than 2 occasions, as this sort of conduct isn't fair on those that are on the waitlist/are keen to attend the events (and are therefore deserving of a decent amount of notice).

HOUSE RULES AND COMMUNICATION:

- I will have to re consider your membership in the event that you do not have the time/inclination to respond to personally addressed messages relating to events accompanied with cancelling close to the event (i.e. on the same day of the event).

- I would ask that you treat the events as no different to meeting up with your personal non meet up friends. I.e. you wouldn't for example not bother to turn up to an event without giving your personal contacts/friends that you are meeting prior notice of such or dismiss their comments/queries relating to the meeting, yet still expect anyone treated in this manner to be interested in meeting with you in the future - the same applies in regards to provisions you will need to take to ensure that you retain your membership.

- As you will see from the content and layout of the event listing and as mentioned in numerous group reviews written by existing, long term members - I put a great deal of time and effort in planning the group's events - therefore I do expect you to in turn treat me with the due courtesy that honours the time and effort that we put into running the group and hosting enjoyable and carefully thought out events for the members.

HOUSE RULES AND MANDATORY CONDUCT:

-  I'm afraid that those that do not attend any events within a 3 month period will also be deleted from the group, as this is a group that is exclusively for those with active memberships. This policy contributes towards ensuring that new members are guaranteed to meet fully participating existing members (and vice versa).
These provisions are set for the benefit of ensuring that the group's members (that are retained) are committed to creating and contributing towards an active offline community.

- This is also the reason why the group isn't as large as most of the other groups on Meetup ... you would be surprised at the large number of people that join the group with no intention of ever attending the events (over 250 deleted members to date) and have dormant accounts for months on end (i.e. 6 months or more).

- As mentioned earlier, I'm afraid that these individuals are removed from the group after 3 months of inactivity as I don't think that having a largely inactive number of members would appeal to/attract new members or contribute towards the success of the events (in any respect).

- Please kindly ensure that your profile photo is of yourself - this is for the benefit of creating a sense of familiarity (online and offline) within the West London Ladies community. I will explain the reason why I no longer have a photo up of myself when we meet.

- In accordance to the typical nature of any Meet-up group - any individual that joins this group must be open to meeting ladies from all sorts of different walks of life, and ladies with a variety of interests. I have for example experienced comments from (now deleted ex members) stating that they only wanted to attend socials that I hosted that exclusively invited women that sat within a 2 year age range to their own age or that they wanted to meet women of a specific ethnicity – please do NOT join if your expectations/attitude is in any way similar to this. I am also afraid that I am not a ‘service’ (in any capacity) and cannot and will not tolerate any comment/ attitude such as the above at any point. Thank you

- So put quite bluntly - I'm afraid that if you have a very set/niche idea of the sort of person that you would like to meet, then this group/the group's totally inclusive policy isn't for you.

- All are most welcome, but to reiterate ... do ensure that your attitude towards myself and the other members is consistently courteous, friendly, polite, respectful and approachable.

OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO NOTE AHEAD OF ISSUING AN APPLICATION TO JOIN THE GROUP:

- My experiences of meeting new people on Meetup via the group have been a total mixed bag.
I have met some absolutely lovely girls that have become great friends of mine, and I have received feedback from others stating that they have also met some great new friends via the group.

- Unfortunately, I have also had a number of negative experiences that nearly resulted my considering closing the group down, and I sincerely hope that history doesn't repeat itself.

- I ask that members that choose to join this group are fully respectful of the fact that I run this group out of good will and use a significant amount of my time, energy and resources to do so - this is not a paid job for me.
Therefore, I would appreciate it if new (and all members) remain mindful of this and do not engage in any sort of 'entitled' or unpleasant attitude at any point.

- I will explain this comment in greater detail ....unfortunately in the past, I have been treated as though I am an employee/ there to be at their service by certain members whose attitude has inferred that they are for some reason 'entitled' to the unique perks that this group offers as though they are paying for such and/or paying me to deliver the group's unique benefits to them (i.e. complimentary entry and accompanying free drinks etc to exclusive venues that usually only admit individuals prepared to pay fees ranging from £2k-25K per annum for their membership) - and have displayed a dismissive/discourteous/unpleasant attitude in the event that the perks have not been immediately available to them - vs being patient and waiting for me to resolve any delay in my party's receipt of the above/failing to view the above as very difficult to get hold of benefits that are issued purely out of my generosity.

- These incidents have taken place on more than one occasion, and have been witnessed by existing members of whom were also appalled - therefore I am not just quoting/referring to my own personal point of view regarding what is unacceptable and what is not.

- I have also experienced various unacceptable and bizarre behaviours i.e. receipt of racist comments/slurs and other poor conduct related to these incidents from the friends/supporters of certain prejudiced and obnoxiously behaved individuals, in addition to separate other incidents of poor treatment from members - once again owing to issues relating to race. Obviously, these members have since been deleted from the group.

- I have made detailed mention of these past 'mishaps', as a number of new members have told me that they have been a bit taken aback/intimidated by the content of the 'About Us' info and that the group's policies seem unnecessarily stringent/militant/uptight - however they have been fully understanding of the reason for the lengthy policy when I have advised them of the above incidents - hence my explicit mention of the incidents here. And I have also found that a better calibre of member has joined since I updated the 'About Us' blurb to be exhaustive.

- And by 'better calibre', I mean sincere, courteous, genuine and transparent, polite, friendly, reasonable, respectful to all, fun loving and down to earth individuals, and the group's existing 'long term' members also noticed this positive change.

- I can't stress it enough in that I'd really appreciate it if members would ensure that their attitude is empathetic should any event experiences any slight 'hiccup'.

- If you value the effort that I make and the group, then I'd ask that you honour all of the above at all times and to be honest, this should be implicit.

- Thankfully, 80% of those that have joined the group have been delightful personalities, and it has been an absolute pleasure for myself and the existing members to meet them - hence why I decided to to continue running this group.

- N.B: I pay the monthly fee that Meetup.com charges me to run this group out of my own pocket (it costs £200 a year to run the group).

- To date I have received dues from two members totaling £5.00 in 9 months of running this group, which is fine and each individual's personal choice, but it is something that makes me expect to be treated with utmost respect and courtesy given that the large majority of the group's memberships are complimentary.

- So, in a nutshell - do ensure that your attitude towards myself and the other members is consistently courteous, friendly, polite, respectful and approachable and that you are an individual with moral values.

- This probably sounds as though I am pointing out the obvious to normal people - however sadly my negative experiences of 20% of members that have joined to date have resulted in my need to explicitly state that behaviours such as the above are mandatory for members to engage in.

AND FINALLY ...

- To clarify, the reason that I have set the 21-34 age range for this group is owing to the fact that a number of you have advised me that you tend to have more in common with people within an age range that is not too far from your own - which does contribute towards the aims/values of the group (in there being a higher likelihood that members will meet and bond with people they have more/a lot in common with).
I sit within this age group, hence why I have selected it over any other - this isn't owing to any sort of prejudice on my part. I do feel it important to make this point very clear.

- Finally, none of the events are intended to price anyone out. However, West London is London's most solvent area - therefore a lot of the activities associated prices (i.e for meals, drinks at bars etc) are reflective of this. However, as mentioned earlier, I am able to obtain gratis entry to most venues (bars and clubs) owing to friends' kind favours - so payment for entry to such venues will be very rare (if ever).

- One other thing to note about the events is that I do have a penchant for beautiful/unique venues in addition to planning quirky events and activities, so the group is 'boutique' in that respect.

- Put bluntly - the socials are more likely to be hosted in venues such as the Sanderson vs a Weatherspoons or Tiger Tiger.

- It is worth noting that those that are interested in creative activities (in the widest possible sense i.e creative writing, the arts, crafts etc) will definitley enjoy the socials that the West London Ladies group has to offer. I co organise another very popular group on Meetup for arts and crafts junkies: http://www.meetup.com/createlondon/

- Dues are paid at the members' discretion.

WE ARE PROUDLY SPONSORED BY ...

- The brands that we are partnered  with have a synergy with the group's values and persona - and offer the group’s members hefty discounts on their luxury products. They are as following:

- An exclusive Chelsea hair salon - www.harissalon.com

- A luxury global private chaffeur service that offers our members a one off free ride - https://www.uber.com/

- A high end women's occasionwear brand - www.thehamptons.biz/shop

- A fabulous Champagne brand - www.romeojuliette.com/

- http://www.jimmiemartin.com/is a luxury brand based in London since 2004. The brand works with private, commercial and high profile clients.
Jimmie Martin Provides an eclectic showcase of one-off pieces of furniture combining the decadent and quirky with the nostalgic and urban.

Jimmie's pieces are individually finished off to either the customer’s personal taste,
or to the ideas of the founders, Jimmie and Martin.

The designs offer a rare consistency of sophisticated pieces combined with a sexy, modern design element.

SO IN SUMMARY ...

- Please do think (thoroughly) think through whether everything mentioned above suits your personal preferences etc ahead of deciding whether you wish to apply for membership to this group - given that this group is run in a manner that is very different to every other group on meetup/has certain mandatory/'non negotiable' expectations of the group's members.

- Thank you for taking the time to read the above, as again I do appreciate that it is lengthy/exhaustive.

We look forward to meeting you!

S x

P.S - The black and white wallpaper on the main page is my fashion brand's logo (a lot of people ask me to clarify this!) - and the dresses featured on the page's photographic slideshow are also from my brand.