Sometime ago Michael John mentioned there was another Spinnaker club in the Toastmasters family - albeit on the other side of the world.
We made contact and here are the initial replies. It is a friendship we hope to sustain.
If you visit New Zealand at any time please look up our friends in Porirua, I am sure you will be given a very warm welcome.
Well hello there to Spinnaker Speakers in Portsmouth.
The New Zealand Spinnaker Toastmasters Club has its own website which I manage, www.spinnakertoastmasters.org.nz which has the background on our club, and our latest news, along with resources.
Until recently I was also the District Webmaster for New Zealand.
Our club is struggling for members at the moment, after being a highly successful club for over 20 years. Something has happened to the fabric of our society here, and we find it hard to get sustainable members. A lot of people work long hours, part time hours, work out of town, travel a lot, or change jobs with higher responsibilities often, and we lose our good members as they move on. We have several retired members who are not interested in competent leadership and who travel a lot also.
Our Speechcraft courses in the past have been highly successful, but the last couple of years, while we get the numbers, people simply don’t stay and convert into regular members, and although a lot of young people have visited, we just don’t seem to retain them.
On the positive side, the members we have got are committed and passionate, and love attending our meetings.
We have a major publicity campaign out at the moment hoping to net more new members.
I sure hope you manage to charter your club soon, so do let me know and I will send you a message from your “sister club” in New Zealand.
Regards
Dale Hartle DTM
Secretary/Treasurer
Spinnaker Toastmasters Club 7868/72
Porirua New Zealand
I'm pleased to hear that there is another Spinnaker Toastmasters club. We meet in an Anglican church parish centre in Plimmerton, which is a suburb about 25km from Wellington City. There is water just about everywhere with Cook Strait to the west and Porirua (Po [as in sorry] -ree-roo-ahh) Harbour to the south and Pauatahanui (Pa-wa-ta-ha-noo-ee) Inlet to the east. So there are plenty of boats, although Cook Strait is not for the faint hearted as the weather can change very quickly.
Our biggest focus is also attracting (and retaining) members. Five or six years ago we were a strong club with membership moving during the year between 20-30. Then our club model seemingly broke down. Key to this was that very few stayed on after speechcraft and no-one after 12 months.
So we are focusing on Spinnaker as recreational speaking club. This seems to be working. Interesting point you make about the associations the word 'Toastmaster' has.
Thank you for the kind invitation for us to visit your club. Likewise can I extend an invitation for your members should they be visiting Wellington to come to a club night, 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month at 7.30 pm.
regards,
Peter Drew