May started with an entertaining and fun-filled evening with members and guests getting involved and having a great time.
Keith Oliver opened the meeting before handing over to the Toastmaster for the evening, Wendy Benson. Wendy set out the protocols of handshaking and clapping and announced her theme for the evening which was journeys. She then asked Ray Adams to explain the intricacies of time keeping, and Chris Ellis to explain his role as Grammarian. Chris set out what he would be looking for in our speeches and introduced the word of the evening “Serendipity”, meaning fortuitous happenstance and even gave its antonym – zemblanity.
Ros Bristow now took the lectern to get us started with a warm-up asking those present to describe their life as a journey – some chose their Toastmasters journey, others likened it to a climb up a mountain, some wanted to slow down while one was a puppy fascinated by everything around them.
Wendy now called upon our three prepared speeches, ably given by Sheryl Andrews with her speech No 2 entitled “Natural Talker”, Sue Windell asking us her No 9 speech - “Commit to the Competent Leadership Programme,aided by her grocery shopping,and finally Michael John Smithson giving an acceptance speech for his recent enrolment in the Guild of International Professional Toastmasters, red jacket and all.
We now stopped to draw breath and a deserved network break, before returning for the evaluations given by Robin Chawner, Keith Oliver and Chris Ellis. After some good feedback and ideas for improvement it was time for Table Topics, hosted by Michael John Smithson.
Michael John had brought an eclectic range of items found around his home, ranging from ornaments, tools and curios and asked participants to explain how he, or they, might use them. This produced much hilarity in the room as those selected gave their venerable thoughts on each item.
As the audience settled down Chris Ellis gave the Grammarian's report before Robin Clarke evaluated the Table Topics speakers.
Brent Crouch had the role of evaluating the evaluators and everything else that had not been evaluated, before handing back to the Toastmaster. Wendy concluded her role by reporting n her attendance at the District Conference in Dublin and drew attention to the first District 91 Conference to be held in Brighton at the beginning of November.
Keith Oliver gave a shot slot on Club Business indicating the Charter Dinner and our summer social “the Speech on the Beach”, leaving Michael John to hand out the awards and conclude the evening.
Best Speaker – Sheryl Andrews
Best Evaluator – Chris Ellis
Best Table Topics- Robin Chawner