Karen Lowen | Steve Birch | Claire Davies

Malvern Speakers

Toastmaster 13^th November 2018 

‘The Chill of Winter Approaches’ was the theme for the evening and a number of members, plus one visitor, spoke for between one and two minutes on a variety of Winter topics set by Kenny Kayani. We were taken skiing and sledging by Sarah McCarten Williams and visitor David Dutton respectively, back to a Romanian childhood with Andrei Rezmerita, and then Steph Bilton’s description of a baked potato and sweet chestnuts had our mouths watering. The winner for the evening was Karen Lowen with a humorous account of her climbing adventure in the Peak District as a teenager.

The prepared speeches were of an incredibly high standard with Clare Davis taking home the blue ribbon for Best Speaker with her Ice Breaker speech entitled All in a Days Work. Clare gave an account of 3 trips to very different parts of the World in her capacity as a Primary school teacher and she concluded with a call to action that we should all open our minds so that we can educate ourselves along with teaching others

Dogs were a connection with the two other prepared speeches. Hilary Benoit with a speech ‘Now is not for ever’ had all the pet owners in the audience very emotional as she told the story of her Father’s childhood wish for a dog finally being realised after his own children had grown up and  then the sadness of Kipper the dog’s passing. 

Tom Elliston tried to persuade us to agree with his viewpoint that Jesus was a dog. This was done in a clever and funny comparison of Diogenes with Jesus both of whom advocated living without ‘tat’.

Jackie Baker in her thoughtful evaluation of Hilary’s speech reminded us that Hilary has now achieved her Competent Communicator Gold award which was presented at the end of the meeting by President Geoff Richardson. Graham Sterry gave an excellent evaluation of Tom’s speech but it was experienced Toastmaster, Steve Birch, who took the Best Evaluator ribbon for the evening, despite Will Dutton having 6 Table Topics to report on earlier in the proceedings.

Isaac Baker, one of our youngest members excelled as Timekeeper with very creative reminders of the subject for each speech, Yuri Douse gave us a very warm and friendly count of those who used um and ah too much, and we were led very ably through the entire evening by experienced Toastmaster Roger Granville.

Malvern Speakers meet on the 2^nd and 4^th Tuesday of each month and the next meeting is on Tuesday 27^th November at the Great Malvern Hotel . Visitors are very welcome.

Tom Elliston ably and amiably kept the evening rolling at a good pace as Toastmaster for the evening. There was a buzz in the air at Tuesday’s meeting with first time timekeeper Sarah McCarten Williams doing a sterling job, keeping us all on our toes with the timing lights!

Sarah Williams as Table Topics Master employed a technique that she picked up whilst visiting a New York Toastmaster Club earlier this year; she relied on volunteers for two-minute impromptu speeches, rather than choosing people. There was not a moment of hesitation as people faced their fears and rose to her challenge. Particularly impressive were brand new members Daisy Davies speaking about her "life mottos" whilst Isaac Baker spoke with ease and poise about the fortunes or misfortunes of his football team but it was Bethany Barnes’ animated sharing of the best, or perhaps, most memorable piece of advice from her father which won her the Best Table Topic of the evening.

In the first of four prepared speeches Geoff Richardson; ‘The Bad, The Bad and The Ugly’ recounted three examples of negative experiences in his life that were both personal and touching. However, as always with Geoff, he highlighted what he had learned from each experience and how he has used the lessons throughout his life. Delivered clearly, in a measured and inclusive manner, this speech was voted the best of the evening, the lessons certainly hit home but still being valid and valuable for each audience member.

After a chatty network break with a plethora of home-made cakes, Elaine Watt spoke sincerely about the pressing issue of plastic pollution. ‘Plastic Population’ was laden with figures but in bite sized chunks whilst still avoiding a feeling of doom and drowning in plastic, Elaine kept a  positive tone by suggesting simple things that every audience member could implement immediately to be a part of the solution rather than the problem.

In another fact finding report entitled ‘Adding It All Up’, Mike Snoswell used slides of colourful pie charts to illustrate and explore discrepancies of donations to different sensory charities, such as Guide Dogs for the Blind and the National Deaf Children’s Society. Mike championed the silent and underrepresented charities dear to him and his hearing dog Alvin. He urged people to follow and support his upcoming sponsored cycle ride up Mount Tiede, the world’s third tallest volcano. Good luck Mike! As his speech evaluator Claire Davies noted, the club looks forward to further presentations about that adventure! Claire was positive and analytical in her excellent evaluation and was justly voted Best Evaluator of the evening.

The fourth and fascinating speech, from Roger Granville, called ‘In Praise of Sleep’, began with the old rhyme ‘Wee Willy Winky’ and was full of interesting facts about the history and science of sleep. There were one or two yawns in the audience, not from boredom but possibly from autosuggestion! Roger ended by suggesting we throw away fit bits and sleep monitors and simply keep a regular routine and exercise effectively to promote a sound night’s sleep.

Thus ended a packed programme, ‘with lots of personalities bubbling away’, as visitor John noted.

The next meeting will be on November 13^th at the Great Malvern Hotel at 7.30pm, all are welcome. Good luck to Karen Lowen who will be representing the club at the District Humorous Speech Contest in Didcot this Sunday 28^th October.