February saw another good turnout, with Gavin Meikle taking the lectern as Toastmaster - he set the theme as courage. Sophie took on the role of timekeeper, and in keeping with Valentine's week reminded us "The best use of time is love, the best gift of love is time and the best time for love is now." Michael John was Grammarian and set the word of the evening, as suggested by Toastmasters, as 'Shamus', American slang for a policeman or detective.
We had three speakers - Zoe Hoy, gave her second speech "Is your business prepared", advising all to have contingency plans in place, Jenny Winfield, from Solent Speakers, gave her Icebreaker "To France and back" explaining how an accident on a skiing holiday in France led her to Toastmasters, and finally Wendy Benson gave her No 10 speech "Talking is easy..speaking is hard".
After the break Brent led the Table Topics calling on volunteers to tell the tale of a Valentine's night date.
After the evaluations Gavin gave out the awards - Best Speaker Wendy Benson, Best Evaluator Robin Chawner and Best Table Topics Gavin.
Keith Oliver reported on club business including the need to ensure more guests came through the door before closing the meeting