Season 2023 - 2024
Members & guests of our club - come and join us
Worried about having to give a speech at a wedding, a presentation to work colleagues or speaking confidently at an important interview? Then Loughborough Speakers' Club is where you will find the answer. Our Club offers a friendly supportive atmosphere to help you improve your confidence and develop your speaking skills. At each meeting you can enjoy an evening of prepared and impromptu speeches, full of humour, interest and information.
When and where do we meet? Normally in the pleasant environment of John Storer House, 7.15pm for a 7.30pm start on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month.
We look forward to meeting you there again soon!
When and where do we meet? Normally in the pleasant environment of John Storer House, 7.15pm for a 7.30pm start on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month.
We look forward to meeting you there again soon!
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Recent Club trophy winners - Andy, Lidia & Ursula
Gala Dinner October 2022
Members and Guests at their Gala Dinner
Great event with lots of great speeches enjoyed by all
25th January 2022
Plenty of variety at this evening's meeting as we had three very different speeches delivered.
The chair was Peter Minshall who lead us smoothly through the proceedings.
Christine Callaway was first to the lectern with a very intriguing speech on the growth of the Mafia and the chilling control they had on gambling and the re-invention of Las Vegas.
Christine's speech was evaluated by Ben Jervis.
Next was James Gibson with a speech about 'Tips' and told us how much they were part of life particularly in the restaurant trade over in America.
The third speech of the evening was given by Nick Ajinka entitled 'Oblivion' who cleverly used the length of Saron's arms and fingers to show the relationship of vast armounts of time in an intriguing and informative way.
After a training session by Vince Jupp which he titled 'Calming the Sympathetic Nervous System' Sue York lead us through a very entertaining Topics Session where she asked members to choose an item from a bag and then 'sell' it to us. Lidia Lupes had us in stitches of laughter selling us a strawberry but Martin Cox won the Golden Gavel with his humorous endeavour selling us a bag of cannelloni.
The chair was Peter Minshall who lead us smoothly through the proceedings.
Christine Callaway was first to the lectern with a very intriguing speech on the growth of the Mafia and the chilling control they had on gambling and the re-invention of Las Vegas.
Christine's speech was evaluated by Ben Jervis.
Next was James Gibson with a speech about 'Tips' and told us how much they were part of life particularly in the restaurant trade over in America.
The third speech of the evening was given by Nick Ajinka entitled 'Oblivion' who cleverly used the length of Saron's arms and fingers to show the relationship of vast armounts of time in an intriguing and informative way.
After a training session by Vince Jupp which he titled 'Calming the Sympathetic Nervous System' Sue York lead us through a very entertaining Topics Session where she asked members to choose an item from a bag and then 'sell' it to us. Lidia Lupes had us in stitches of laughter selling us a strawberry but Martin Cox won the Golden Gavel with his humorous endeavour selling us a bag of cannelloni.
Ursula Friede presents trophy to Martin Cox
16th November 2021
Saron Bekele presents the trophy for the best topic speech of the evening to Akvile Bezuskiene.
26th October 2021
Sue York got things under way by introducing two new guests for the night, Joanne and Bipon, before then handing the meeting over to the chair for the evening, Saron Bekele, who continued with warm up speeches about “chill” because of the current weather change.
There were 3 prepared speeches planned for the evening. The first speaker, Benjamin Jervis, presented his 5th speech on “Using your voice” with the title “Breaking the Code”. He talked about the history of coding and informed us that it was Alan Turing who pioneered its use in World War 2. The speaker also talked about how Alan Turing and his team contributed to saving 2 million lives and shortening the war by two years. It was tragic to learn about Alan Turing’s untimely tragic death. James Davies evaluated Benjamin’s speech and gave him useful feedback.
Akvile Bezuskiene presented her first assignment on “Starting your journey” with her title “The story”. The speaker talked about how the people in Lithuania suffered from the war and were forced to migrate to different countries. She mentioned that her grandparents were one of the many who had to leave their home to seek safety, which was then how they met and started their family life together. The speaker then later showed us pictures of her family. Vince Jupp provided a detailed feedback for this speaker and praised her for all the qualities she had shown.
Frank Rawson gave his general speech with a title “Sinister? Perhaps not”. The speaker talked about how being left handed is not acceptable in different cultures and that it is thought of as a sin. Frank talked about how in early days parents would discourage their children from eating with their left hand, but that nowadays it is accepted by most countries. Nevertheless the speaker said that even now it is still considered evil by some Middle Eastern and Asian countries. Frank’s speech was evaluated by one of the club’s experienced speakers, James Davies, who focussed on the positive aspects of Frank’s speech delivery and gave him constructive feedback.
The training session followed the coffee interval and was organised and presented by Sue York and Vince Jupp on the subject of “Using Props”. Both of them gave tips on how and when to use props and talked about how useful they can be for gaining audience attention.
The Topic session was prepared and chaired by Ursula Frieda about ‘Music of all ages’. Each participant was given a chance to talk about “the 80’s, classic music, live music experience and big band in the 1940’s”. The session was engaging and entertaining and was subsequently evaluated by Lidia Lupes who gave feedback on each participant’s speech delivery.
Gopal Sharma gave a General evaluation on the organisation of the meeting and thanked all the members who took a role. He also evaluated the speech evaluators. The evening concluded with thanks being given by Sue York to everyone for coming and with an invitation to our guests and club members to come back for our next meeting.
There were 3 prepared speeches planned for the evening. The first speaker, Benjamin Jervis, presented his 5th speech on “Using your voice” with the title “Breaking the Code”. He talked about the history of coding and informed us that it was Alan Turing who pioneered its use in World War 2. The speaker also talked about how Alan Turing and his team contributed to saving 2 million lives and shortening the war by two years. It was tragic to learn about Alan Turing’s untimely tragic death. James Davies evaluated Benjamin’s speech and gave him useful feedback.
Akvile Bezuskiene presented her first assignment on “Starting your journey” with her title “The story”. The speaker talked about how the people in Lithuania suffered from the war and were forced to migrate to different countries. She mentioned that her grandparents were one of the many who had to leave their home to seek safety, which was then how they met and started their family life together. The speaker then later showed us pictures of her family. Vince Jupp provided a detailed feedback for this speaker and praised her for all the qualities she had shown.
Frank Rawson gave his general speech with a title “Sinister? Perhaps not”. The speaker talked about how being left handed is not acceptable in different cultures and that it is thought of as a sin. Frank talked about how in early days parents would discourage their children from eating with their left hand, but that nowadays it is accepted by most countries. Nevertheless the speaker said that even now it is still considered evil by some Middle Eastern and Asian countries. Frank’s speech was evaluated by one of the club’s experienced speakers, James Davies, who focussed on the positive aspects of Frank’s speech delivery and gave him constructive feedback.
The training session followed the coffee interval and was organised and presented by Sue York and Vince Jupp on the subject of “Using Props”. Both of them gave tips on how and when to use props and talked about how useful they can be for gaining audience attention.
The Topic session was prepared and chaired by Ursula Frieda about ‘Music of all ages’. Each participant was given a chance to talk about “the 80’s, classic music, live music experience and big band in the 1940’s”. The session was engaging and entertaining and was subsequently evaluated by Lidia Lupes who gave feedback on each participant’s speech delivery.
Gopal Sharma gave a General evaluation on the organisation of the meeting and thanked all the members who took a role. He also evaluated the speech evaluators. The evening concluded with thanks being given by Sue York to everyone for coming and with an invitation to our guests and club members to come back for our next meeting.
James tells Christine "It was a tale this long!"
10th October 2021
Club President Sue York opened the meeting at 7:30pm by welcoming six guests and asking them about what brought them to the club. She then handed over to the chair for the evening, Benjamin Jarvis, who got proceedings underway with a warm up session about “Darkness”.
This evening there were two prepared speeches and one Impromptu speech.
Firstly Gopal Sharma presented his 2nd speech on ‘constructing a speech’ with a title “Caroline Herschel – Astronomer Extraordinaire”. He talked about how Caroline Herschel moved from Germany to England to support her brother’s musical performances. Gopal then told us about how Caroline learned to play different instruments and singing but got her passion for astronomy after her brother’s career changed to astronomy. She was the first woman to be a member of Royal Astronomical Society and discovered several comets for which she was awarded the Society’s Gold Medal. Gopal’s speech was evaluated by Saron Tsegaye Bekele who commented on the effective delivery of his speech.
Vince Jupp gave a general speech with the title “Modern, Multimedia Miscommunication”. The speaker’s main objective was to create awareness about how it is important to communicate with people rather that texting them. He engaged the audience and advised them to pick up the phone and make a conversation. Vince ended his speech by saying “Be fully present” and “Show someone your interest”. Lidia Lupes evaluated Vince Jupp’s speech and focussed on the importance of communication.
Three speech titles were selected by the audience for James Davies’s Impromptu speech; the choices were “Bitcoin”, “End of the age of Dinosaurs” and “Musicals”. The speaker chose “Bitcoin” and talked about how commerce was fair and equitable in previous centuries and how there are several scams these days tricking people into giving their personal and financial details. James continued by saying “If it appears to be too good to be true, it is” and said “Bitcoin is not for the careful, but for the brave and the adventurer”.
James’s speech was evaluated by James Gibson, who commented about the speaker’s strong delivery.
After the coffee interval the training session was presented by Sue York on how to effectively deliver an Impromptu speech. She gave several tips to make your speech more natural and how to control the nerves. Some of the tips were: “Project your smile to the audience”, “Repeat the topic title to give yourself time to think”, “Use the rule of three” and “Switch the topic if you are not familiar with the topic given”. Sue ended the training session by saying “Think about your speech as a speech with a friend”.
The topic session this evening was prepared and chaired by Patricia Baker. She asked the audience to consider the £25,000,000 which was budgeted to improve Loughborough’s master plan. The participants were asked to talk about how they would allocate the money on different aspects of the project. For example - ‘Memorial’, ‘Parking facilities’, ‘What they you do with empty shops’, ‘How would they make people spend their money in Loughborough rather than the nearest cities’ and ‘What new statues would they have erected in the town’.
The topic session was evaluated by Sue York who talked about each participant’s strong points and gave them each a constructive response.
Christine Callaway gave a general evaluation of the meeting and thanked the members who took on different roles which contributed to the success of the club meeting.
Sue York invited the guests to give feedback about their experience of the evening and closed the meeting at 9:45pm.
This evening there were two prepared speeches and one Impromptu speech.
Firstly Gopal Sharma presented his 2nd speech on ‘constructing a speech’ with a title “Caroline Herschel – Astronomer Extraordinaire”. He talked about how Caroline Herschel moved from Germany to England to support her brother’s musical performances. Gopal then told us about how Caroline learned to play different instruments and singing but got her passion for astronomy after her brother’s career changed to astronomy. She was the first woman to be a member of Royal Astronomical Society and discovered several comets for which she was awarded the Society’s Gold Medal. Gopal’s speech was evaluated by Saron Tsegaye Bekele who commented on the effective delivery of his speech.
Vince Jupp gave a general speech with the title “Modern, Multimedia Miscommunication”. The speaker’s main objective was to create awareness about how it is important to communicate with people rather that texting them. He engaged the audience and advised them to pick up the phone and make a conversation. Vince ended his speech by saying “Be fully present” and “Show someone your interest”. Lidia Lupes evaluated Vince Jupp’s speech and focussed on the importance of communication.
Three speech titles were selected by the audience for James Davies’s Impromptu speech; the choices were “Bitcoin”, “End of the age of Dinosaurs” and “Musicals”. The speaker chose “Bitcoin” and talked about how commerce was fair and equitable in previous centuries and how there are several scams these days tricking people into giving their personal and financial details. James continued by saying “If it appears to be too good to be true, it is” and said “Bitcoin is not for the careful, but for the brave and the adventurer”.
James’s speech was evaluated by James Gibson, who commented about the speaker’s strong delivery.
After the coffee interval the training session was presented by Sue York on how to effectively deliver an Impromptu speech. She gave several tips to make your speech more natural and how to control the nerves. Some of the tips were: “Project your smile to the audience”, “Repeat the topic title to give yourself time to think”, “Use the rule of three” and “Switch the topic if you are not familiar with the topic given”. Sue ended the training session by saying “Think about your speech as a speech with a friend”.
The topic session this evening was prepared and chaired by Patricia Baker. She asked the audience to consider the £25,000,000 which was budgeted to improve Loughborough’s master plan. The participants were asked to talk about how they would allocate the money on different aspects of the project. For example - ‘Memorial’, ‘Parking facilities’, ‘What they you do with empty shops’, ‘How would they make people spend their money in Loughborough rather than the nearest cities’ and ‘What new statues would they have erected in the town’.
The topic session was evaluated by Sue York who talked about each participant’s strong points and gave them each a constructive response.
Christine Callaway gave a general evaluation of the meeting and thanked the members who took on different roles which contributed to the success of the club meeting.
Sue York invited the guests to give feedback about their experience of the evening and closed the meeting at 9:45pm.
Lidea Lupes receiving certificate for successfully completing her first 5 assignments
28th September 2021
Christine Callaway (Chair) listens to Nick's speech
Club President Sue York opened the meeting at 7:30pm and introduced the guest for the night, Freddie Barrington. Chairing tonight’s session was Christine Callaway who started with a warmup session with the title “Irritation” and invited different participants to talk about what irritates them.
There were 3 speeches that were scheduled for the night and firstly was Ursula Friede who presented her first assignment titled “Gossip Girl”. She began by giving different examples of negative gossips and then spoke about her personal experience in her current company. Then Ursula made a comparison between positive and negative gossips and gave examples of positive gossips. She finished her speech with a quote “Go home and spread positive gossip”. The speech was evaluated by Lidia Lupes who focussed on a positive feedback.
Speaker 2, Ben Jervis did a speech with a title “In Decision”, and started by saying that being indecisive paralyses us instead of helping us. “Throw away pros & cons”, “Listen to your guts”, “Dip your toe into the water”, and “Delegate” were some of his tips on how to stay in control and make a good decision. The evaluator, Vince Jupp listed all the great qualities this speaker demonstrated and provided him with comments for any improvements.
One of the experienced speakers of the club, Nick Ajinka gave a general speech with a title “The Riddle of the Sphinx”. He talked about different kinds of the Sphinx and focussed on the classical Greece Sphinx.
Nick also talked about the difference between man and woman and concentrated on equality and ended his speech by saying, “We all are brothers and sisters under the skin”.
His speech was evaluated by James Davies who went through all the requirements linking it to Nick’s speech.
Following the coffee break, the training session was organised and presented by Sue York and Vince Jupp on the theme “Taking the opportunity to look at famous speech”. The speech selected was Barack Obama’s final speech. The audience was presented with a 4 minute video speech and were grouped in to different teams to discuss what they like, disliked and if they found the speech persuading. The club members and guests were given a chance to give their feedback on the speech. It was an engaging experience and gave a chance for everyone to learn from each other.
Next came the Topics session which was chaired by Gopal Sharma who chose the theme “Autumn”. Participants got the chance to speak for 3 minutes on different topics ranging from making a pumpkin pie to a naughty neighbour blowing dead leaves into next door’s garden! The topic session, which as always was both entertaining and engaging, was evaluated by Sue York.
Finally Saron Tsegaye Bekele rounded off the evening with a general evaluation of the meeting.
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James Davies giving his evaluation |
Fetih Akkaya's first time at the club |
7th September 2021
First meeting of our new season and, as we were able to meet up physically once more, it was an ideal opportunity for our Past President Peter Minshall to hand over the chain of office to our new President Sue York; who then started proceedings by informing us about our new promotional video that will be posted throughout the club’s Social Media pages to attract new members. She added that training on improving public skills and mentorship for new members will be offered by the club’s more experienced members. To increase confidence of everyone Sue also mentioned the new plan of organising additional impromptu speech meetings between smaller groups via online tools. In addition regular informal gatherings between members will also be offered with an aim to increase bonding and create fun.
The warm-up session got proceedings underway with the title of “Growth” and each member was given 30 seconds to speak on their choice of the subject. Sue then introduced and welcomed two guests to the club – Graham Waller and new student member Fetih Akkaya.
For the next part of the evening there were three prepared speeches given by club members. James Gibson was the first speaker with his title “The Index…”. He explained to us the historical use of the word ‘Index’, describing that in the English language dictionary it is shown as ‘a collection of information stored on a computer or on a set of cards', and has since evolved to mean the use of notes and how accessible they are now.
Vince Jupp gave some constructive feedback whilst focussing on James’s strong points.
Frank Rawson gave a speech about “The Rewards of Innovation” and he talked about his first career in the Research Department at the British Shoe Machinery Factory in Leicester. He described how his team saw a problem with ladies fashion for ever increasing the height of high heeled shoes which often then snapped off and how they experimented with many different ideas. He told us how they made 100,000 pairs of shoes before eventually coming up with a solution. He brought some of the tools of the trade with him which were passed around for the members to inspect.
Benjamin Jervis evaluated Frank’s speech and gave him a few recommendations.
Christine Callaway was the third speaker for the night and her speech was about “The Gas Giants”. She took us on a trip of the solar system and spoke about the different planets and their individual uniquenesses. Christine clearly knew her subject well and gave us lots of fascinating information.
She was evaluated by James Davies who focussed on her many strong sides whilst giving Christine constructive feedback.
The training session was about “Handling Nerves” which most of the members agreed that they had at some stage been affected by. The trainers for the session, Sue and Vince, arranged members in to smaller groups and gave each of them a topic on how our nerves affect us. Each group was asked to discuss their thoughts and elect a member of the group to give a summary. Finally Sue provided a solution on how we can all use some tools to overcome or control our nerves.
After the coffee interval, the topic session was chaired by Lidia Lupes on a theme of being a “drama queen or drama king”. She gave a topic to participants on how they would react on certain conditions and it created a fun and entertaining atmosphere.
The topic session was then evaluated by Saron T. Bekele.
The meeting drew to a close with Arthur D. Murray’s general evaluation of the whole evening’s proceedings.
The warm-up session got proceedings underway with the title of “Growth” and each member was given 30 seconds to speak on their choice of the subject. Sue then introduced and welcomed two guests to the club – Graham Waller and new student member Fetih Akkaya.
For the next part of the evening there were three prepared speeches given by club members. James Gibson was the first speaker with his title “The Index…”. He explained to us the historical use of the word ‘Index’, describing that in the English language dictionary it is shown as ‘a collection of information stored on a computer or on a set of cards', and has since evolved to mean the use of notes and how accessible they are now.
Vince Jupp gave some constructive feedback whilst focussing on James’s strong points.
Frank Rawson gave a speech about “The Rewards of Innovation” and he talked about his first career in the Research Department at the British Shoe Machinery Factory in Leicester. He described how his team saw a problem with ladies fashion for ever increasing the height of high heeled shoes which often then snapped off and how they experimented with many different ideas. He told us how they made 100,000 pairs of shoes before eventually coming up with a solution. He brought some of the tools of the trade with him which were passed around for the members to inspect.
Benjamin Jervis evaluated Frank’s speech and gave him a few recommendations.
Christine Callaway was the third speaker for the night and her speech was about “The Gas Giants”. She took us on a trip of the solar system and spoke about the different planets and their individual uniquenesses. Christine clearly knew her subject well and gave us lots of fascinating information.
She was evaluated by James Davies who focussed on her many strong sides whilst giving Christine constructive feedback.
The training session was about “Handling Nerves” which most of the members agreed that they had at some stage been affected by. The trainers for the session, Sue and Vince, arranged members in to smaller groups and gave each of them a topic on how our nerves affect us. Each group was asked to discuss their thoughts and elect a member of the group to give a summary. Finally Sue provided a solution on how we can all use some tools to overcome or control our nerves.
After the coffee interval, the topic session was chaired by Lidia Lupes on a theme of being a “drama queen or drama king”. She gave a topic to participants on how they would react on certain conditions and it created a fun and entertaining atmosphere.
The topic session was then evaluated by Saron T. Bekele.
The meeting drew to a close with Arthur D. Murray’s general evaluation of the whole evening’s proceedings.
Past President Peter Minshall handing over the chain of office to
our new President Sue York
8th June 2021
Club President Sue York opened the last meeting of the season at 19:30pm and introduced the chair for the evening, James Gibson who then started the session with a warm-up impromptu for 30 seconds with the topic, “Why would you like to be...” which was engaging and humorous and encouraged everyone’s participation.
The first from the two speeches planned for the evening was by Frank Rawson with the title, 'Mediterranean Storm'. He talked about his personal experience of travelling in the Mediterranean and how they struggled and finally made it safely. Frank’s speech was evaluated by a new member of the club, Saron Tsegaye Bekele.
Lidia Lupes gave a humorous speech with a title, “The only man in the house.” Her speech was about “Mr. Noodle”, she talked about how demanding he is, how he doesn’t contribute and how she has to do everything for him. She made the audience believed that she was talking about a man rather than her cat till the last minute.
Vince Jupp was the evaluator for Lidia’s speech. He congratulated Lidia for making a great speech and commented how she covered all the requirements for the specific assignment.
After the interval, the training session was delivered by Vince Jupp, the club’s Vice President, about “Descriptive language and using your voice.” Participants were grouped in to 4 sets maintaining social distancing. Each group were given a plain paragraph and was asked to use descriptive language to make it more interesting. Each group came up with different descriptive language which transformed the story in to romance and thriller.
The topic session was interview themed, the participants were given different topics about being a world record holder, giving and receiving a gift and convincing the audience of being innocent of a crime. The session required each person to interview, engage and convince the audience. This created fun and engagement from all of the participants.
The first from the two speeches planned for the evening was by Frank Rawson with the title, 'Mediterranean Storm'. He talked about his personal experience of travelling in the Mediterranean and how they struggled and finally made it safely. Frank’s speech was evaluated by a new member of the club, Saron Tsegaye Bekele.
Lidia Lupes gave a humorous speech with a title, “The only man in the house.” Her speech was about “Mr. Noodle”, she talked about how demanding he is, how he doesn’t contribute and how she has to do everything for him. She made the audience believed that she was talking about a man rather than her cat till the last minute.
Vince Jupp was the evaluator for Lidia’s speech. He congratulated Lidia for making a great speech and commented how she covered all the requirements for the specific assignment.
After the interval, the training session was delivered by Vince Jupp, the club’s Vice President, about “Descriptive language and using your voice.” Participants were grouped in to 4 sets maintaining social distancing. Each group were given a plain paragraph and was asked to use descriptive language to make it more interesting. Each group came up with different descriptive language which transformed the story in to romance and thriller.
The topic session was interview themed, the participants were given different topics about being a world record holder, giving and receiving a gift and convincing the audience of being innocent of a crime. The session required each person to interview, engage and convince the audience. This created fun and engagement from all of the participants.
Christine Callaway receiving her Certificate of Achievement from Club President Sue York.
24th May 2021
This was our first meeting back at John Storer House after nearly a year on Zoom!
Chair for this evening’s meeting was Frank Rawson who started with an impromptu warm-up session engaging everyone to say something about what we look forward now that lockdown is being eased.
Sue York gave the first of the 3 speeches planned for the evening with the title “Jump”. She used a personal story about her experience of the fear of swimming and how she overcame her fear by jumping into the water. She also explained what fear is like, how our body reacts to it and what we should do to overcome it. Her speech was evaluated by Arthur D. Murray.
Vince Jupp made a speech about his experience working as a therapist with the title “The Therapeutic Hour.” He talked about how he helped his clients by listening and gave us different examples. He spoke about how important it is for people to feel loved, secured and listened to and left us with the phrase, “listen, believe and attend.” James Gibson gave a brief evaluation on Vince’s speech.
The third speech for the night was by Andy Kowalski who talked about his life’s journey from the Polish camps to Loughborough. He used a Powerpoint presentation to aid his speech. Sue York followed by giving a constructive feedback to Andy’s speech.
The training session was given by Vince Jupp about the “Use of Voice”, he engaged the audience and gave some tips on how to manage nerves and use our voice to deliver a great speech.
Following the tea break we had a Topics Session chaired by Gopal Sharma who is one of our newest members. He themed his topics around Bank Holidays. All members present participated, James Gibson gave us a rather tongue in cheek view of how he avoids Bank Holidays as he considers them only for the ‘hoi polloi’ who look to the weather before deciding what to do. Sandy Leong informed us that Malaysia has the second most Bank Holidays in the world as they include the many religious festivals in the country. Arthur Murray gave us a humourous account of the many barbecues on Bank Holidays in his neighbourhood and that being a vegetarian he tries to avoid them and that he never has one in his garden.
The Topics Session was evaluated by Peter Minshall who awarded the Golden Gavel to Arthur Murray.
Chair for this evening’s meeting was Frank Rawson who started with an impromptu warm-up session engaging everyone to say something about what we look forward now that lockdown is being eased.
Sue York gave the first of the 3 speeches planned for the evening with the title “Jump”. She used a personal story about her experience of the fear of swimming and how she overcame her fear by jumping into the water. She also explained what fear is like, how our body reacts to it and what we should do to overcome it. Her speech was evaluated by Arthur D. Murray.
Vince Jupp made a speech about his experience working as a therapist with the title “The Therapeutic Hour.” He talked about how he helped his clients by listening and gave us different examples. He spoke about how important it is for people to feel loved, secured and listened to and left us with the phrase, “listen, believe and attend.” James Gibson gave a brief evaluation on Vince’s speech.
The third speech for the night was by Andy Kowalski who talked about his life’s journey from the Polish camps to Loughborough. He used a Powerpoint presentation to aid his speech. Sue York followed by giving a constructive feedback to Andy’s speech.
The training session was given by Vince Jupp about the “Use of Voice”, he engaged the audience and gave some tips on how to manage nerves and use our voice to deliver a great speech.
Following the tea break we had a Topics Session chaired by Gopal Sharma who is one of our newest members. He themed his topics around Bank Holidays. All members present participated, James Gibson gave us a rather tongue in cheek view of how he avoids Bank Holidays as he considers them only for the ‘hoi polloi’ who look to the weather before deciding what to do. Sandy Leong informed us that Malaysia has the second most Bank Holidays in the world as they include the many religious festivals in the country. Arthur Murray gave us a humourous account of the many barbecues on Bank Holidays in his neighbourhood and that being a vegetarian he tries to avoid them and that he never has one in his garden.
The Topics Session was evaluated by Peter Minshall who awarded the Golden Gavel to Arthur Murray.
Peter Minshall awarding the Golden Gavel Trophy to Arthur D. Murray for best topic speech of the evening.
8th May 2021
Our meeting this evening was hopefully our last on zoom as we intend having our next meeting back at John Storer House if Covid restrictions are relaxed.
There were three speeches given including this humorous speech by Peter Minshall.
There were three speeches given including this humorous speech by Peter Minshall.
23rd March 2021
This evening we hosted the North Midlands Area Adams Apple Contest which you can view here now. It's over an hour long but certainly worth watching!
23rd February 2021
We were all extremely saddened over the recent passing of our good friend Eric Baker who will always be remembered for his tremendous contribution to our club and indeed throughout the ASC. The following video is a tribute to Eric.
8th December 2020
We held our Christmas meeting this evening with speeches given by Arthur Murray with the subject being 'Life Choices', James Gibson gave a speech titled 'The Treacle Paradox' and Peter Minshall gave an illustrated speech titled 'Big White Bird'. His speech can be viewed below this report. After the interval Vince & Sue held a Special Christmas Topics Session which was enjoyed by all.
24th November 2020
We held our meeting once more on line and were treated to speeches from Vince Jupp with 'Foot Fondling or Fantastic Ferapy', Saron Bekele with 'Change Who?' and Frank Rawson with 'Let's Go Down to the Sea Again.'
Later we had a great Topics session from Christine Callaway.
Later we had a great Topics session from Christine Callaway.
9th June 2020
Clearly in his element with ZOOM technology Peter Minshall chaired our last club meeting of the season as President of the club. With holidays in mind, Peter presented himself in a colourful floral shirt against a background of swaying palm trees and rolling surf lapping golden sands.
The last meeting of the season is an opportunity for a formal dinner or a social evening which gives the opportunity to present an after dinner speech and toasts to the club and guests with the relevant replies.
Peter had made sure we had lots of guests attending including those who had been former members who had moved away or had taken a break from the club meetings. Especially welcome was Andy Rush, Editor of the Loughborough Echo, who gamely took part in our Topics session.
Incoming President Sue York gave the first speech on “Becoming President”. Sue outlined her plans for the club which she says she “has a passion for”. This was evident in her enthusiasm for its future development and wanted the club to have something for everybody. Their aim is to educate, inform and inspire confidence in public speaking. “I’m fired up” said Sue. “Let’s have a great year together”.
Kay Light then took us on a holiday she hoped we would all accompany her on. Starting her journey in Gibraltar, describing the main High Street where you can sit over drinks and watch the people go by. Then going up to the Rock where you will find the Barbary Apes who were wondering where all the tourists had got to with their snacks.
Kay explained that ‘gibberish’ is the Language / dialect result of the struggle for the inhabitants of the Rock to say they are British and not Spanish so they mixed the two languages and hence the term "gibberish" because those only speaking one of the two languages would not understand the half of it! Also that the Rock is a unique place to visit. Returning to the border crossing she made her way along the Spanish Coast line to Marbella to watch the rich and famous, on to the magnificent Rhonda Valley and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. She advised us that the petrol stations were the best places to eat whilst travelling on to Granada, Seville and Malaga.
Following a short break to recharge our glasses, Eric Baker took on the Chair for the Topics session. This was based on what the topics takers had experienced during the Lockdown. What they had missed, how it had changed their lives and what had given most pleasure were some of the subjects.
Past President Arthur Murray, long term Treasurer and responsible for all the colourful posters he produces in his constant efforts to publicise the club and recruit new members gave a Toast to the Guests. This was followed by a reply on behalf of the Guests. Carol Abbott who had been a member of the club for twenty five years, only leaving to move to the south coast to be nearer to her daughter and her family, thanked the club for the years she had spent with them, her love of Loughborough and her new life in Southend on Sea. Although Carol had not joined a Speakers Club when relocating, she had lost none of her skills in producing and entertaining and informative speech.
Bringing the evening to a close Peter invited the guests who had not had chance to comment due to time constraints to say a few words. It was good to see familiar faces like Sesha, Russ and Sandra who are missed and the good news that Eva who came here from China with her family then moved to Guildford but still looks after our social media have all become British Citizens.
The new season will start in September with Sue York at its helm.
The last meeting of the season is an opportunity for a formal dinner or a social evening which gives the opportunity to present an after dinner speech and toasts to the club and guests with the relevant replies.
Peter had made sure we had lots of guests attending including those who had been former members who had moved away or had taken a break from the club meetings. Especially welcome was Andy Rush, Editor of the Loughborough Echo, who gamely took part in our Topics session.
Incoming President Sue York gave the first speech on “Becoming President”. Sue outlined her plans for the club which she says she “has a passion for”. This was evident in her enthusiasm for its future development and wanted the club to have something for everybody. Their aim is to educate, inform and inspire confidence in public speaking. “I’m fired up” said Sue. “Let’s have a great year together”.
Kay Light then took us on a holiday she hoped we would all accompany her on. Starting her journey in Gibraltar, describing the main High Street where you can sit over drinks and watch the people go by. Then going up to the Rock where you will find the Barbary Apes who were wondering where all the tourists had got to with their snacks.
Kay explained that ‘gibberish’ is the Language / dialect result of the struggle for the inhabitants of the Rock to say they are British and not Spanish so they mixed the two languages and hence the term "gibberish" because those only speaking one of the two languages would not understand the half of it! Also that the Rock is a unique place to visit. Returning to the border crossing she made her way along the Spanish Coast line to Marbella to watch the rich and famous, on to the magnificent Rhonda Valley and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. She advised us that the petrol stations were the best places to eat whilst travelling on to Granada, Seville and Malaga.
Following a short break to recharge our glasses, Eric Baker took on the Chair for the Topics session. This was based on what the topics takers had experienced during the Lockdown. What they had missed, how it had changed their lives and what had given most pleasure were some of the subjects.
Past President Arthur Murray, long term Treasurer and responsible for all the colourful posters he produces in his constant efforts to publicise the club and recruit new members gave a Toast to the Guests. This was followed by a reply on behalf of the Guests. Carol Abbott who had been a member of the club for twenty five years, only leaving to move to the south coast to be nearer to her daughter and her family, thanked the club for the years she had spent with them, her love of Loughborough and her new life in Southend on Sea. Although Carol had not joined a Speakers Club when relocating, she had lost none of her skills in producing and entertaining and informative speech.
Bringing the evening to a close Peter invited the guests who had not had chance to comment due to time constraints to say a few words. It was good to see familiar faces like Sesha, Russ and Sandra who are missed and the good news that Eva who came here from China with her family then moved to Guildford but still looks after our social media have all become British Citizens.
The new season will start in September with Sue York at its helm.
Club members past & present + guests at our last club meeting of the season
26th May 2020
We are fortunate to have a few club members who are IT competent and can take us into ZOOM meetings to keep us all “in the loop” during this time of lockdown.
Not without teething troubles on this occasion, we seemed to be mixed up in another ASC meeting in Glasgow which disconnected us all. It was down to Club President Peter Minshall, who was hosting the meeting, to organise his personal account so the meeting could continue.
We lost a few participants during this changeover but 16 people managed to join in and enjoy an evening of prepared speeches and Topics.
Vince Jupp was inspired by this period of self isolation and distancing to refer to the war years and Winston Churchill’s message to never give up and never surrender. He was reminded that it is the 80th Anniversary year of D Day and spoke of the terrible plight of the soldiers stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk. The heroism of the men who went out in their hundreds to save as many as they could is the subject of many films.
Winston Churchill was not always supported by his Government but he never doubted himself and made tough decisions. In 1941 he negotiated a loan of billions of dollars with President Roosevelt which was called “Lease Lend”. This took over 60 years to repay and the country withstood hardship for many years. Churchill was determined to see it through and had the courage to continue the fight to the end. Many memorable sayings of his remain with us to this day which remind us to “Never Surrender” to the virus and never give up. We will win in the end.
Lidia Lupes then presented a clever speech about snowmen. Lidia comes from Romania so English is not her first language but she has shown enormous improvement since joining the club. Her range of vocabulary is impressive and the amount of research which she did regarding the snowman showed an innovative approach to the subject. First mentioned in the 14th century, snowmen were found in Italy and Japan and of course it has been a fun and free source of entertainment here for many centuries. Lidia covered this subject in three parts. Firstly, critical thinking, historic facts then climate change which as we know has affected the shortage of snow.
Lidia concluded that snowmen were now an endangered species. This was a novel approach to something we probably all take for granted without thinking about the interesting history of the snowman’s origins.
Nick Adjinkya was due to give a speech entitled “On the Stocks” but again, inspired by Vince Jupp and the situation we are all facing he did an about turn and delivered an unprepared talk about not surrendering.
Nick’s knowledge of so many subjects is amazing. He gave us a history lesson of battles ranging from the Greeks in 490 BC, the battle of the 300 Spartans and Hannibal and finished with a story about a more common battle these days, that of bullying in schools.
After a short break, Christine Callaway presented her Topics session. She wanted us to examine feelings. Caring and kindness, being soft, skills usually the role of women in the main with engineering, management and the professions being the role of men.
Nowadays these jobs are taken by both sexes and very successfully. Men are becoming nurses and women are running board meetings! Equality is on its way.
Sue York, who will be taking over as Club President at the start of the next season, was given the topic “How would you feel being extremely joyful”
Arthur Murray “Living the Dream” Eric Baker “How does it feel to be totally free” and a new visitor to the meeting Lauren Earle “How would it feel to became blind”. This was a challenging subject and Lauren handled this with sensitivity and care.
Deafness, being truly loved and being misunderstood were some of the other feelings that were explored.
The evening’s theme became the subject of never giving up or surrendering starting with the technical difficulties and the uplifting speeches of our three speech makers. There is often a surprise to be had which you may never expect and this was certainly an evening which reflected our current situation. We can look back at how people have managed during turbulent times and know that one day we will prevail even if our way of life is different it will become “The new Normal”.
Not without teething troubles on this occasion, we seemed to be mixed up in another ASC meeting in Glasgow which disconnected us all. It was down to Club President Peter Minshall, who was hosting the meeting, to organise his personal account so the meeting could continue.
We lost a few participants during this changeover but 16 people managed to join in and enjoy an evening of prepared speeches and Topics.
Vince Jupp was inspired by this period of self isolation and distancing to refer to the war years and Winston Churchill’s message to never give up and never surrender. He was reminded that it is the 80th Anniversary year of D Day and spoke of the terrible plight of the soldiers stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk. The heroism of the men who went out in their hundreds to save as many as they could is the subject of many films.
Winston Churchill was not always supported by his Government but he never doubted himself and made tough decisions. In 1941 he negotiated a loan of billions of dollars with President Roosevelt which was called “Lease Lend”. This took over 60 years to repay and the country withstood hardship for many years. Churchill was determined to see it through and had the courage to continue the fight to the end. Many memorable sayings of his remain with us to this day which remind us to “Never Surrender” to the virus and never give up. We will win in the end.
Lidia Lupes then presented a clever speech about snowmen. Lidia comes from Romania so English is not her first language but she has shown enormous improvement since joining the club. Her range of vocabulary is impressive and the amount of research which she did regarding the snowman showed an innovative approach to the subject. First mentioned in the 14th century, snowmen were found in Italy and Japan and of course it has been a fun and free source of entertainment here for many centuries. Lidia covered this subject in three parts. Firstly, critical thinking, historic facts then climate change which as we know has affected the shortage of snow.
Lidia concluded that snowmen were now an endangered species. This was a novel approach to something we probably all take for granted without thinking about the interesting history of the snowman’s origins.
Nick Adjinkya was due to give a speech entitled “On the Stocks” but again, inspired by Vince Jupp and the situation we are all facing he did an about turn and delivered an unprepared talk about not surrendering.
Nick’s knowledge of so many subjects is amazing. He gave us a history lesson of battles ranging from the Greeks in 490 BC, the battle of the 300 Spartans and Hannibal and finished with a story about a more common battle these days, that of bullying in schools.
After a short break, Christine Callaway presented her Topics session. She wanted us to examine feelings. Caring and kindness, being soft, skills usually the role of women in the main with engineering, management and the professions being the role of men.
Nowadays these jobs are taken by both sexes and very successfully. Men are becoming nurses and women are running board meetings! Equality is on its way.
Sue York, who will be taking over as Club President at the start of the next season, was given the topic “How would you feel being extremely joyful”
Arthur Murray “Living the Dream” Eric Baker “How does it feel to be totally free” and a new visitor to the meeting Lauren Earle “How would it feel to became blind”. This was a challenging subject and Lauren handled this with sensitivity and care.
Deafness, being truly loved and being misunderstood were some of the other feelings that were explored.
The evening’s theme became the subject of never giving up or surrendering starting with the technical difficulties and the uplifting speeches of our three speech makers. There is often a surprise to be had which you may never expect and this was certainly an evening which reflected our current situation. We can look back at how people have managed during turbulent times and know that one day we will prevail even if our way of life is different it will become “The new Normal”.
Members & guest at our virtual meeting
12th May 2020
We continue to keep in touch via our ZOOM meetings and had fun in the Topics session which was organised by Nick Ajinkya. He had a list of famous names numbered 1 to 12 and asked each speaker to pick a number. They were then asked to entertain the person to an evening at home with Nick. The only problem being that he does not like to cook so went out to fetch fish and chips whilst leaving you alone with his guest. There was James Bond, Marilyn Monroe, Superman, Count Dracula, Lady Gaga and many others.
It was also the time of year for the AGM. Plans were discussed for the next season which hopefully will start again in September. The election of officers took place with the current President Peter Minshall standing down after three years in office and Sue York was unanimously voted in as the next Club President. Nick Ajinkya was nominated and accepted as Education Officer and with his long experience in communication will be an asset to new members learning to speak to an audience. The other officers all agreed to remain for a further year.
The club usually have a stall outside John Storer House where they meet on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month to recruit new people to join them and also a stall on the market on one Saturday. It is hoped they will be able to continue this recruitment when lockdown has eased. Members learn several ways of preparing and performing short speeches to the club which both entertain members and help speakers gain confidence in a friendly atmosphere.
It was also the time of year for the AGM. Plans were discussed for the next season which hopefully will start again in September. The election of officers took place with the current President Peter Minshall standing down after three years in office and Sue York was unanimously voted in as the next Club President. Nick Ajinkya was nominated and accepted as Education Officer and with his long experience in communication will be an asset to new members learning to speak to an audience. The other officers all agreed to remain for a further year.
The club usually have a stall outside John Storer House where they meet on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month to recruit new people to join them and also a stall on the market on one Saturday. It is hoped they will be able to continue this recruitment when lockdown has eased. Members learn several ways of preparing and performing short speeches to the club which both entertain members and help speakers gain confidence in a friendly atmosphere.
Members at our zoom meeting
28th April 2020
A few more people joined in the ZOOM meeting this evening as more members became familiar with the technology.
Serpil and her husband Süleyman, who you may recognise from their Baked Potato van in the town centre, were able to explain more about Ramadan as they would be leaving the meeting early for their evening meal.
Serpil explained that Fasting took place between Dawn and Dusk for 30 days. The Islamic calendar is based on the lunar cycle so the dates will vary each year. This year it began on April 23rd. They will have a hearty breakfast to see them through the day before sunrise with a welcome evening meal at sunset. No water is allowed during the Fast either.
It’s a time to devote themselves to prayer and reflection. A testing time to consider the approach to God’s discipline, being aware of family, friends and neighbours and how they can help others especially at this difficult time of self isolation.
Süleyman said that it also gives the bodies organs a time to rest and recuperate. It was also worth noting that depending where on the planet one lived; Fasting could be for a much shorter time especially where daylight hours are much shorter.
At the end of the 30 days they would celebrate with family and friends at the feast of Eid Al-Fitr.
It is always a pleasure to hear about the lives and customs of members who bring diversity to our country.
Technology was the subject of Saron’s second speech to the club. She took us on a journey from Students to Housewives on how technology has helped whilst being confined to the home. From arranging school lessons to exercising on line, catching up on cookery classes and playing on line games. Keeping in touch with family and friends through WhatsApp and attending church services on line. She questioned how this different way of life will change things in the future and what effect technology will have on the planet.
Eva Weng, who looks after our social media even though she now lives in Guildford, continues to be an honorary member and it is a special treat for us that she can be included now in our on line meetings.
Eva and her family, who come from China, has always amazed us with her ability to memorise her speeches which she researches so well on a variety of subjects.
Entitled “All Life has a Place” she asked us first if we had ever seen a Japanese Honshu Wolf, a Toolache Wallaby, a Baiji Dolphin or a Caspian Tiger. Of course not, they have all become extinct within the last 40 years! Our planet is home to millions of species of plants and animals, half of which have become extinct over the millions of years we have been on earth, many of them due to human intervention and inventions.
Do they matter she questioned? Well of course they do! Without bees to pollinate our plants and trees to cleanse our atmosphere we would not survive. We can all do our bit by reducing waste, recycling more and eating less meat.
We were shown pictures of these animals at the end of the speech with some humour thrown in for good measure as an illustration of the Caspian Tiger who looked very much like the story of The Tiger who came to Tea. The real illustration looked a lot fiercer. It was a very detailed speech about the wonder of nature.
After a break Vince Jupp presented his Topics session. He called it Random Questions which they certainly were. Keeping with Eva’s theme the first topic, which is a three minute mini speech without preparation, was what kind of animal would you be if you were extinct? To which Jo chose to describe being a Dragon. The gift of Invisibility followed. Imagine you were a box of Rye crackers on a supermarket shelf! What might you put on your gravestone giving the example of Spike Milligan who wrote “I told you I was ill”, to which Eric replied “Mind where you’re treading”.
Vince managed to come up with ten such random type questions which the Topics Takers made a brave attempt to cover. Topics such as these are certainly a test of thinking on your feet. ZOOM meetings are a good way to keep in touch but we shall all be glad to get back to meeting in person.
Let’s beat this virus so we can all get back together again.
Serpil and her husband Süleyman, who you may recognise from their Baked Potato van in the town centre, were able to explain more about Ramadan as they would be leaving the meeting early for their evening meal.
Serpil explained that Fasting took place between Dawn and Dusk for 30 days. The Islamic calendar is based on the lunar cycle so the dates will vary each year. This year it began on April 23rd. They will have a hearty breakfast to see them through the day before sunrise with a welcome evening meal at sunset. No water is allowed during the Fast either.
It’s a time to devote themselves to prayer and reflection. A testing time to consider the approach to God’s discipline, being aware of family, friends and neighbours and how they can help others especially at this difficult time of self isolation.
Süleyman said that it also gives the bodies organs a time to rest and recuperate. It was also worth noting that depending where on the planet one lived; Fasting could be for a much shorter time especially where daylight hours are much shorter.
At the end of the 30 days they would celebrate with family and friends at the feast of Eid Al-Fitr.
It is always a pleasure to hear about the lives and customs of members who bring diversity to our country.
Technology was the subject of Saron’s second speech to the club. She took us on a journey from Students to Housewives on how technology has helped whilst being confined to the home. From arranging school lessons to exercising on line, catching up on cookery classes and playing on line games. Keeping in touch with family and friends through WhatsApp and attending church services on line. She questioned how this different way of life will change things in the future and what effect technology will have on the planet.
Eva Weng, who looks after our social media even though she now lives in Guildford, continues to be an honorary member and it is a special treat for us that she can be included now in our on line meetings.
Eva and her family, who come from China, has always amazed us with her ability to memorise her speeches which she researches so well on a variety of subjects.
Entitled “All Life has a Place” she asked us first if we had ever seen a Japanese Honshu Wolf, a Toolache Wallaby, a Baiji Dolphin or a Caspian Tiger. Of course not, they have all become extinct within the last 40 years! Our planet is home to millions of species of plants and animals, half of which have become extinct over the millions of years we have been on earth, many of them due to human intervention and inventions.
Do they matter she questioned? Well of course they do! Without bees to pollinate our plants and trees to cleanse our atmosphere we would not survive. We can all do our bit by reducing waste, recycling more and eating less meat.
We were shown pictures of these animals at the end of the speech with some humour thrown in for good measure as an illustration of the Caspian Tiger who looked very much like the story of The Tiger who came to Tea. The real illustration looked a lot fiercer. It was a very detailed speech about the wonder of nature.
After a break Vince Jupp presented his Topics session. He called it Random Questions which they certainly were. Keeping with Eva’s theme the first topic, which is a three minute mini speech without preparation, was what kind of animal would you be if you were extinct? To which Jo chose to describe being a Dragon. The gift of Invisibility followed. Imagine you were a box of Rye crackers on a supermarket shelf! What might you put on your gravestone giving the example of Spike Milligan who wrote “I told you I was ill”, to which Eric replied “Mind where you’re treading”.
Vince managed to come up with ten such random type questions which the Topics Takers made a brave attempt to cover. Topics such as these are certainly a test of thinking on your feet. ZOOM meetings are a good way to keep in touch but we shall all be glad to get back to meeting in person.
Let’s beat this virus so we can all get back together again.
Our second Zoom meeting
7th April 2020
Undaunted in these times of cancelled activities, President of our club Peter Minshall worked hard to organise a ZOOM meeting of club members on our club night. The ASC is part of a National Association and they have funded the project of which the Loughborough club was one of the first to take part. President of the Dorking club Marina Roberts is heading the help force to aid the technology of everyone getting on line. For some members this is like falling off a log but for others not so techno savvy, it is fraught with difficulties. However, she managed to get everyone communicating with sound and visuals and the meeting went ahead.
There was a speech by Christine Calloway to assignment 5 “Using the voice effectively”. Christine explained how the game of Bridge was imported from 15th century France to Britain. During the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 a game of cards was played on a bridge separating the two armies, rather like the truce on Christmas Day during WW1 when the German and British soldiers met to have a game of football. Hence it was given the name of Bridge. This was ably evaluated by Sue York.
Lidia Lupes who was recovering from the Corona virus was to be applauded for putting together her speech when still feeling exhausted from the effects of the illness. Her speech was called “Stay Safe”. It gave us a firsthand account of an invisible killer of which we are all vulnerable. Lidia explained that being so ill was a time of reflection and introspection in her life with thoughts about how she could make her life more meaningful. This was a personal experience we were privileged to share.
This Zoom meeting gave us all a chance to meet up again with our friend Eva Weng who although has moved away continues to support the club with her technical skills keeping the website and Facebook up to date. Eva evaluated Lidia’s speech and showed she had lost none of the skills she had learned at the Speakers Club.
We were also sorry to hear that another of our members, James Davies was also recovering from the virus and unable to join in. We wish him well.
Kay Light introduced the “Topics” session. This was going to be about emotions. An appropriate subject for the times we are in. However there was an audible gasp of surprise when the debonair James Gibson was given the emotion of Lust which he handled very well from the comfort of his study, glass of wine in hand.Pity, Happiness, Fear, Kindness, Envy and Anger were some of the emotions tackled by other members present.
Quite a different experience from speaking at a club meeting to an on line version, it was for a first attempt very successful and enjoyable and it is further planned to take place on our usual meeting dates of the second and fourth Tuesday in the month.
There was a speech by Christine Calloway to assignment 5 “Using the voice effectively”. Christine explained how the game of Bridge was imported from 15th century France to Britain. During the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 a game of cards was played on a bridge separating the two armies, rather like the truce on Christmas Day during WW1 when the German and British soldiers met to have a game of football. Hence it was given the name of Bridge. This was ably evaluated by Sue York.
Lidia Lupes who was recovering from the Corona virus was to be applauded for putting together her speech when still feeling exhausted from the effects of the illness. Her speech was called “Stay Safe”. It gave us a firsthand account of an invisible killer of which we are all vulnerable. Lidia explained that being so ill was a time of reflection and introspection in her life with thoughts about how she could make her life more meaningful. This was a personal experience we were privileged to share.
This Zoom meeting gave us all a chance to meet up again with our friend Eva Weng who although has moved away continues to support the club with her technical skills keeping the website and Facebook up to date. Eva evaluated Lidia’s speech and showed she had lost none of the skills she had learned at the Speakers Club.
We were also sorry to hear that another of our members, James Davies was also recovering from the virus and unable to join in. We wish him well.
Kay Light introduced the “Topics” session. This was going to be about emotions. An appropriate subject for the times we are in. However there was an audible gasp of surprise when the debonair James Gibson was given the emotion of Lust which he handled very well from the comfort of his study, glass of wine in hand.Pity, Happiness, Fear, Kindness, Envy and Anger were some of the emotions tackled by other members present.
Quite a different experience from speaking at a club meeting to an on line version, it was for a first attempt very successful and enjoyable and it is further planned to take place on our usual meeting dates of the second and fourth Tuesday in the month.
Club members enjoying our first virtual meeting
10th March 2020
We had great pleasure in welcoming the Rt Hon Nicky Morgan to take part in our club meeting this evening. Nicky Morgan, now ‘The Rt Hon The Baroness Morgan of Cotes’ since her move to the House of Lords, gave an interesting talk about her life in Westminster. Conscious of the fact that we don’t include talks or speeches on the subjects of Sex, Politics or Religion we were given a glimpse into her experiences of people’s attitudes and media coverage since joining the conservative party 30 years ago.
Originally joining the Conservative party in London she moved to Loughborough as the selected party candidate and was elected as our local MP in 2004. She was a familiar figure at local events and often featured in the Loughborough Echo newspaper.
It was particularly interesting to hear how careful one must be before having a photograph taken or making comments as in this age of instant media coverage and camera phones one never knows how far these will travel or how the public and journalists will react.
When answering one of those well known questions when meeting people you don’t know “What do you do for a living?” this might pose some difficulty. Rather like the occupations of Tax Inspectors, Vicars or Doctors it’s often better to generalise and be somewhat vague as there is always an assumption that you are a particular type of person and will instantly cure your ailments or give you advice.
Life in politics has proved to be an amazing experience notwithstanding some of the threats politicians now receive and a terrific platform to initiate change and to serve the constituents.
As a member of the House of Lords Baroness Morgan has chosen to highlight mental health issues and is also a Trustee of the Emporium cafe in Wards End, Loughborough. This cafe and gift shop supports the Loughborough Wellbeing Cafe Project which gives a safe and welcoming place for adults with mental health problems to meet.
This visit was certainly a highlight for our members and it is hoped she will visit again whenever she has the time, maybe as a judge in one of our competitions!
Originally joining the Conservative party in London she moved to Loughborough as the selected party candidate and was elected as our local MP in 2004. She was a familiar figure at local events and often featured in the Loughborough Echo newspaper.
It was particularly interesting to hear how careful one must be before having a photograph taken or making comments as in this age of instant media coverage and camera phones one never knows how far these will travel or how the public and journalists will react.
When answering one of those well known questions when meeting people you don’t know “What do you do for a living?” this might pose some difficulty. Rather like the occupations of Tax Inspectors, Vicars or Doctors it’s often better to generalise and be somewhat vague as there is always an assumption that you are a particular type of person and will instantly cure your ailments or give you advice.
Life in politics has proved to be an amazing experience notwithstanding some of the threats politicians now receive and a terrific platform to initiate change and to serve the constituents.
As a member of the House of Lords Baroness Morgan has chosen to highlight mental health issues and is also a Trustee of the Emporium cafe in Wards End, Loughborough. This cafe and gift shop supports the Loughborough Wellbeing Cafe Project which gives a safe and welcoming place for adults with mental health problems to meet.
This visit was certainly a highlight for our members and it is hoped she will visit again whenever she has the time, maybe as a judge in one of our competitions!
Club President Peter Minshall welcomes the Rt Hon Nicky Morgan.
25th February 2020
It is particularly satisfying for the club to see the progress of our newer members, especially when English is not their first language. From faltering steps when taking part in three minute topics, Serpil Akkaya has now completed five speech assignments from the training manual and is seen here collecting her Interim award. Her language skills have improved beyond measure and her speech at this meeting was to demonstrate “Using the voice effectively”.
Serpil told us a story about hard work, patience and not giving up when things go wrong in life. She illustrated this by explaining how long it takes for a bamboo tree in China to germinate and grow. Not in the first year or the second but in the fifth year the bamboo flourishes at an amazing speed and grows to 27 metres height in just 6 weeks. All through that time the seed is nourished and cared for and Serpil asked us if we thought it would have grown without the care and attention lavished on it.
So if things go wrong, don’t be too hasty, the road to success is not always immediate but achieved with hard work and patience.
Serpil moved with her husband Suleyman and family from their home near Izmir in the west side of Turkey just over three years ago as Suleyman wanted to complete his Phd here at the University. Both were working as teachers back in Turkey and it is Serpil's ambition to get back into teaching again here. In the meantime you will find them selling delicious jacket potatoes in Churchgate, Loughborough.
The rest of the programme included a fascinating journey to the Underworld from the fourth speech in our training manual covering gestures and body language. Christine Callaway used her imagination to the full describing this journey through woodlands, tunnels and caves full of bats and spiders webs to a distant lake where a vision of your ancestors could be seen to offer you a gift of the future. This was intended as a preparation for relaxation before embarking on an important project or presentation.
Kay Light gave a speech to the sixth assignment which covers vocabulary and word pictures. Kay chose to describe the incredible BBC TV series “Spy in the Wild” with all the animatronic animals that were used to get closer to many of the wild creatures Nature has to offer. The incredible love, empathy and respect some of the wild animals show their dead companions is awe inspiring and Kay thought that series alone was well worth her TV licence.
Following the interval Patricia Baker chaired the Topics session on the theme of Randomness. Choosing some obscure and testing topics like “Upsetting the Applecart”, “Personality Types”, “Lucky Mistakes” or “The Next 100 Years”. Guest Bill Taylor was chosen as the best topics taker with his topic “News Sensationalism” by the Topics Evaluator James Gibson.
Vince Jupp and Nick Ajinkya both entertained with encouraging presentations on how to succeed as a speaker and how the evening went as a whole. There is always an opportunity to learn something whether taking part or observing. There are printed readings for the newer people so they gain confidence in standing in front of an audience which can be quite daunting without practice.
Everyone who attended the club had an opportunity to speak in some form whether it was as a Chair person, a Topics taker or an evaluator.
Serpil told us a story about hard work, patience and not giving up when things go wrong in life. She illustrated this by explaining how long it takes for a bamboo tree in China to germinate and grow. Not in the first year or the second but in the fifth year the bamboo flourishes at an amazing speed and grows to 27 metres height in just 6 weeks. All through that time the seed is nourished and cared for and Serpil asked us if we thought it would have grown without the care and attention lavished on it.
So if things go wrong, don’t be too hasty, the road to success is not always immediate but achieved with hard work and patience.
Serpil moved with her husband Suleyman and family from their home near Izmir in the west side of Turkey just over three years ago as Suleyman wanted to complete his Phd here at the University. Both were working as teachers back in Turkey and it is Serpil's ambition to get back into teaching again here. In the meantime you will find them selling delicious jacket potatoes in Churchgate, Loughborough.
The rest of the programme included a fascinating journey to the Underworld from the fourth speech in our training manual covering gestures and body language. Christine Callaway used her imagination to the full describing this journey through woodlands, tunnels and caves full of bats and spiders webs to a distant lake where a vision of your ancestors could be seen to offer you a gift of the future. This was intended as a preparation for relaxation before embarking on an important project or presentation.
Kay Light gave a speech to the sixth assignment which covers vocabulary and word pictures. Kay chose to describe the incredible BBC TV series “Spy in the Wild” with all the animatronic animals that were used to get closer to many of the wild creatures Nature has to offer. The incredible love, empathy and respect some of the wild animals show their dead companions is awe inspiring and Kay thought that series alone was well worth her TV licence.
Following the interval Patricia Baker chaired the Topics session on the theme of Randomness. Choosing some obscure and testing topics like “Upsetting the Applecart”, “Personality Types”, “Lucky Mistakes” or “The Next 100 Years”. Guest Bill Taylor was chosen as the best topics taker with his topic “News Sensationalism” by the Topics Evaluator James Gibson.
Vince Jupp and Nick Ajinkya both entertained with encouraging presentations on how to succeed as a speaker and how the evening went as a whole. There is always an opportunity to learn something whether taking part or observing. There are printed readings for the newer people so they gain confidence in standing in front of an audience which can be quite daunting without practice.
Everyone who attended the club had an opportunity to speak in some form whether it was as a Chair person, a Topics taker or an evaluator.
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Serpil with her certificate
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James & Bill share the moment |
11th February 2020
“Thoughtfull” with two LL’s was the theme of a speech by Benjamin Jervis at tonight's meeting. Full of thoughts he explained. “Exploring thoughts of understanding, thought control and thoughts that might influence others. I might say thought provoking”; it certainly gave us food for thought. This was Ben’s second speech demonstrating speech construction which was passed as successful. It’s a formula which can be used in future speeches when demonstrating other skills such as use of voice, gestures or rapport with an audience.
Nick Ajinkya gave a speech to a general evaluation. Nick is an experienced speaker and is able to speak on many subjects with ease and confidence. He wanted us to embrace the English language more than we do. He encouraged us to expand our vocabulary and use more descriptive words to embroider our conversation whilst also taking us through some history of the styles of speech say in Georgian times or the language of Jane Austin or the style of American English across the Atlantic.
Frank Rawson has been working very hard on completing the ten speeches in the Speakers Guide and prepared an unusual speech taking on the persona of a board in a medieval hall. Where did all those words we now use come from? Describing the hall at a feast where people sat on benches around the board that we now know as a table, Frank told us about the hierarchy surrounding who sat where, who ate the finest food and who was allowed the expensive luxury of salt.
“Treading the boards” came from the Minstrels who entertained the diners after their feast. Card games were played “across the board” and became board games. Playing games “above the board” to avoid cheating!
The Lord of the Manor would sit at the head of the board to administer his estate and that became the board room of companies. The board takes “on board” the ideas of the board. We board a train, plane or ship and enjoy “Full or Half Board” on holidays. Don’t fall “Overboard”.
This was an interesting journey on the origins of a word we often take for granted or use without wondering where it came from.
After an interval for refreshments Sue York took over as Topics Chair with the theme of winter weather activities since we have experienced snow, hail, winds, and driving rain in the past days and weeks.
Christine Callaway was awarded the prize for the best topic on her description of “Winter Skiing”.
District President Catherine Williamson, who had been invited to judge Frank’s speech, made the presentation to Christine and gave a very good evaluation and summing up of the evening.
Nick Ajinkya gave a speech to a general evaluation. Nick is an experienced speaker and is able to speak on many subjects with ease and confidence. He wanted us to embrace the English language more than we do. He encouraged us to expand our vocabulary and use more descriptive words to embroider our conversation whilst also taking us through some history of the styles of speech say in Georgian times or the language of Jane Austin or the style of American English across the Atlantic.
Frank Rawson has been working very hard on completing the ten speeches in the Speakers Guide and prepared an unusual speech taking on the persona of a board in a medieval hall. Where did all those words we now use come from? Describing the hall at a feast where people sat on benches around the board that we now know as a table, Frank told us about the hierarchy surrounding who sat where, who ate the finest food and who was allowed the expensive luxury of salt.
“Treading the boards” came from the Minstrels who entertained the diners after their feast. Card games were played “across the board” and became board games. Playing games “above the board” to avoid cheating!
The Lord of the Manor would sit at the head of the board to administer his estate and that became the board room of companies. The board takes “on board” the ideas of the board. We board a train, plane or ship and enjoy “Full or Half Board” on holidays. Don’t fall “Overboard”.
This was an interesting journey on the origins of a word we often take for granted or use without wondering where it came from.
After an interval for refreshments Sue York took over as Topics Chair with the theme of winter weather activities since we have experienced snow, hail, winds, and driving rain in the past days and weeks.
Christine Callaway was awarded the prize for the best topic on her description of “Winter Skiing”.
District President Catherine Williamson, who had been invited to judge Frank’s speech, made the presentation to Christine and gave a very good evaluation and summing up of the evening.
Catherine Williamson (District President) with Christine Callaway
28th January 2020
Humour was evident this evening with two prepared speeches from the eighth section of the speaking guide. This is often thought to be one of the most difficult as humour does not come easily to some people.
However both Sue York and Vince Jupp passed the assignment with flying colours.
Sue’s speech, “Music, Memories and Misheard Lyrics” was something we could all relate to. How often have you hummed a tune or sung a song with a misheard lyric only to find out much later what the word or phrase actually was.
We heard “Feel the beat of the Tangerine” from an ABBA song which should have been Tambourine!
“Poppadom Peach” instead of” Poppa don’t Preach” from Madonna. “Take a piece of meat with you” instead of “Take a piece of me”
Sue told us that hearing music links us to memories and in particular, an amusing story about being on holiday in France when an unfortunate incidence occurred with a Frenchman and his dog. The song “Walking on Sunshine “always reminds her of this.
Vince Jupp was equally entertaining with his speech “Laughter, not a bad medicine”. Vince began with a joke which made everyone laugh.” Laughter is good for you” he said, and described the different types of humour that can be used. From playing “Peek a Boo” with babies which gives pleasure from a very early age and is an early lesson in feeling safe when Mum disappears but then comes back. It’s a joy to see them laughing.
He told us about Gallows Humour, Superiority Humour, Slapstick Humour and Relief Humour.
Who hasn’t laughed at themselves when walking into a lamp post or laughed instead of cried with relief.
We had a first speech from new member Seron Tsegaye Bekele who told us about growing up in Ethiopia with some surprising facts.
Christine Calloway chaired the meeting for the first time. Everyone gets the opportunity to take part in the various roles within the club when they feel ready.
Frank Rawson chaired the Topics session with his subject of “Light Refreshments” and Nick Aginkya as Topics Advisor chose Martin Cox as the best Topics taker.
We had a welcome visit from a former member of the club when it was Men Only! Andy Jervis who belonged to the club way back in the early seventies had found the original framed Certificate of Charter as members of the ASC (The Association of Speakers Clubs). It was dated 15th April 1972.
The Men’s club began in 1971 and the Ladies club began in 1979 but they were not allowed to become official members until eight years later. They were admitted as Affiliate members but could not enter into competitions until they became a Chartered club. Nowadays most clubs have a mixed and varied membership with people from different countries and cultures.
We still meet in John Storer House after all these years and continue to welcome new faces as others leave for different paths in life.
However both Sue York and Vince Jupp passed the assignment with flying colours.
Sue’s speech, “Music, Memories and Misheard Lyrics” was something we could all relate to. How often have you hummed a tune or sung a song with a misheard lyric only to find out much later what the word or phrase actually was.
We heard “Feel the beat of the Tangerine” from an ABBA song which should have been Tambourine!
“Poppadom Peach” instead of” Poppa don’t Preach” from Madonna. “Take a piece of meat with you” instead of “Take a piece of me”
Sue told us that hearing music links us to memories and in particular, an amusing story about being on holiday in France when an unfortunate incidence occurred with a Frenchman and his dog. The song “Walking on Sunshine “always reminds her of this.
Vince Jupp was equally entertaining with his speech “Laughter, not a bad medicine”. Vince began with a joke which made everyone laugh.” Laughter is good for you” he said, and described the different types of humour that can be used. From playing “Peek a Boo” with babies which gives pleasure from a very early age and is an early lesson in feeling safe when Mum disappears but then comes back. It’s a joy to see them laughing.
He told us about Gallows Humour, Superiority Humour, Slapstick Humour and Relief Humour.
Who hasn’t laughed at themselves when walking into a lamp post or laughed instead of cried with relief.
We had a first speech from new member Seron Tsegaye Bekele who told us about growing up in Ethiopia with some surprising facts.
Christine Calloway chaired the meeting for the first time. Everyone gets the opportunity to take part in the various roles within the club when they feel ready.
Frank Rawson chaired the Topics session with his subject of “Light Refreshments” and Nick Aginkya as Topics Advisor chose Martin Cox as the best Topics taker.
We had a welcome visit from a former member of the club when it was Men Only! Andy Jervis who belonged to the club way back in the early seventies had found the original framed Certificate of Charter as members of the ASC (The Association of Speakers Clubs). It was dated 15th April 1972.
The Men’s club began in 1971 and the Ladies club began in 1979 but they were not allowed to become official members until eight years later. They were admitted as Affiliate members but could not enter into competitions until they became a Chartered club. Nowadays most clubs have a mixed and varied membership with people from different countries and cultures.
We still meet in John Storer House after all these years and continue to welcome new faces as others leave for different paths in life.
Club President Peter Minshall accepts the Original Charter from Andy Jervis
10th December 2019
This was our last meeting of the year which had a definite Christmas feel whilst also looking forward to a successful New Year ahead. The meeting was ably managed by the superb chairmanship of Vince Jupp, who after a warm welcome to both visitors and members, introduced an impromptu warm-up on the theme of ‘Best Christmas’ which included present, party and experience, to name but a few.
Some newly joined members have expressed a desire on having basic training disciplines and techniques in the art of ‘Speaking in Public’ included as a regular feature in our meetings. So this evening the first of these was given by Past National President Eric Baker on ‘How to construct and deliver your first speech.’ Advice was given on how to manage the challenging prospect of standing up for the first time to deliver a speech; how it is important to learn the first few lines of the introduction and also the conclusion of your speech by heart. This proven technique then enables you to have good eye contact with the audience and is a good way of building your confidence. This first speech should ideally be about something you are familiar with, for example a personal experience which could be a brief summary of your life so that your audience have an opportunity to get to know you better. Other good techniques include the importance of the “Power of Three”, good use of vocabulary involving word pictures, and how to use pauses to good effect.
After the interval, which also had a Christmas flavour, complete with wine and mince pies, the evening continued with the ‘Impromptu Topic’ session. This was chaired by James T. Davies, and again had a Christmas theme. Each topic was written on a Christmas card laid out on the table and each of the 13 participants selected one. Subjects like ‘Christmas Party’ came up which Sue York covered well by telling us “It’s getting people together, everyone enjoying themselves and lots fun and laughter”. Club President Peter Minshall’s subject was ‘Christmas Crackers’ which he ably described how they are constructed, the various variety of small toys usually included and the humorous mottos often with silly questions. However Topic adviser for the meeting Nick Ajinkya, judged that the best speech and thereby winner of the Golden Gavel award had been given by Calum Mackenzie. His speech was on the subject of ‘Christmas in General’ and Calum gave several amusing anecdotes of his life way back at Primary School including time spent with his young girl-friend who was dressed as a Nun.
The New Year 2020 is the start of a new decade so come along to Loughborough Speakers’ Club and have fun and in the process learn to ‘Speak before an audience’. The club allows you to have 2 visits without any obligation so you can decide if it is the right decision for you. Our next meeting is on the 14th January 2020 followed by the 28th January.
Some newly joined members have expressed a desire on having basic training disciplines and techniques in the art of ‘Speaking in Public’ included as a regular feature in our meetings. So this evening the first of these was given by Past National President Eric Baker on ‘How to construct and deliver your first speech.’ Advice was given on how to manage the challenging prospect of standing up for the first time to deliver a speech; how it is important to learn the first few lines of the introduction and also the conclusion of your speech by heart. This proven technique then enables you to have good eye contact with the audience and is a good way of building your confidence. This first speech should ideally be about something you are familiar with, for example a personal experience which could be a brief summary of your life so that your audience have an opportunity to get to know you better. Other good techniques include the importance of the “Power of Three”, good use of vocabulary involving word pictures, and how to use pauses to good effect.
After the interval, which also had a Christmas flavour, complete with wine and mince pies, the evening continued with the ‘Impromptu Topic’ session. This was chaired by James T. Davies, and again had a Christmas theme. Each topic was written on a Christmas card laid out on the table and each of the 13 participants selected one. Subjects like ‘Christmas Party’ came up which Sue York covered well by telling us “It’s getting people together, everyone enjoying themselves and lots fun and laughter”. Club President Peter Minshall’s subject was ‘Christmas Crackers’ which he ably described how they are constructed, the various variety of small toys usually included and the humorous mottos often with silly questions. However Topic adviser for the meeting Nick Ajinkya, judged that the best speech and thereby winner of the Golden Gavel award had been given by Calum Mackenzie. His speech was on the subject of ‘Christmas in General’ and Calum gave several amusing anecdotes of his life way back at Primary School including time spent with his young girl-friend who was dressed as a Nun.
The New Year 2020 is the start of a new decade so come along to Loughborough Speakers’ Club and have fun and in the process learn to ‘Speak before an audience’. The club allows you to have 2 visits without any obligation so you can decide if it is the right decision for you. Our next meeting is on the 14th January 2020 followed by the 28th January.
Calum Mackenzie receiving Best Topic trophy from Nick Ajinkya
26th November 2019
This evening our annual Speech and Evaluation contest took place with five contestants taking part in each contest including two new members, Calum Mackenzie and Ben Jervis. They should be congratulated for stepping up against more experienced members and both did extremely well.
However Vince Jupp took the accolade of first place in both contests and will go forward to the area contests in the New Year.
His speech of between six and eight minutes was entitled “Moving Right Along”. This was a humorous account of moving house nine times in as many years. The stress involved and the desire for a more minimalist lifestyle was evident but hard to achieve in such a materialistic society.
Eric Baker gave a scientific look at the value water and its many uses. A substance no one can live without.
Frank Rawson described some of the difficulties of being left handed, especially if dining next to a right handed person.
Calum's speech, “I Just Sell Trees”, was an insight into his job. Although working here in England the company grow trees in Ghana. A fascinating insight into a subject not considered by many of us.
Ben Jervis enthralled us with another “green” topic based on the many uses of Bamboo.
After a well earned interval, Callum Young from the Nottingham Speakers' Club gave the target speech for the Evaluation Contest entitled “The Greatest Gift that I Possess”. Share your positivity, smile and people will smile back was the theme of his speech.
Members follow a manual of ten speeches to gain a certificate of achievement and each speech is evaluated to give the speaker advice on certain aspects. To encourage what they do well or what might need improvement so the skill of evaluation is important which is why it is included in the contest.
Our congratulations go to all the contestants and we wish Vince Jupp every success as he represents us in the next heat.
However Vince Jupp took the accolade of first place in both contests and will go forward to the area contests in the New Year.
His speech of between six and eight minutes was entitled “Moving Right Along”. This was a humorous account of moving house nine times in as many years. The stress involved and the desire for a more minimalist lifestyle was evident but hard to achieve in such a materialistic society.
Eric Baker gave a scientific look at the value water and its many uses. A substance no one can live without.
Frank Rawson described some of the difficulties of being left handed, especially if dining next to a right handed person.
Calum's speech, “I Just Sell Trees”, was an insight into his job. Although working here in England the company grow trees in Ghana. A fascinating insight into a subject not considered by many of us.
Ben Jervis enthralled us with another “green” topic based on the many uses of Bamboo.
After a well earned interval, Callum Young from the Nottingham Speakers' Club gave the target speech for the Evaluation Contest entitled “The Greatest Gift that I Possess”. Share your positivity, smile and people will smile back was the theme of his speech.
Members follow a manual of ten speeches to gain a certificate of achievement and each speech is evaluated to give the speaker advice on certain aspects. To encourage what they do well or what might need improvement so the skill of evaluation is important which is why it is included in the contest.
Our congratulations go to all the contestants and we wish Vince Jupp every success as he represents us in the next heat.
Anne Eldridge presenting trophy to Vince Jupp with fellow contestants
12th November 2019
Since meeting Nick Ajinkya at a recruitment stand in Loughborough Market Place Nick has become an invaluable member of the club bringing with him an abundance of interesting information and amusing stories.
Nick forcefully led the meeting for the first time as Chair of the last meeting with humour and strictness. He ensured a friendly start to the meeting and easily put people in a relaxed and happy mood.
It was a busy programme with two speeches, a discussion on Training objectives and a lively Topics session which visitors are invited to take part.
Shapour Padidar gave his first speech to the club based on his knowledge of Pollution.
James Gibson colourfully described his visit to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela and the dramatic swinging of the botafumerio. This incense burner is the largest in the world and fills the Cathedral with aromatic smoke as it swings perilously from side to side under the magnificent dome.
After a break for refreshments James Davies chaired the Topics session. He had brought a covered box of objects which people were invited to choose an unseen object to talk about. Several objects that James had found around his house included a ruler, a light bulb, a potato peeler, a spanner, a ball of string, a peg and a paintbrush. These items were chosen at random by the feel of them and gave some tricky moments as people thought about what to say in the two minutes they had.
Several new visitors came to the club and took part and Claire Harriman was chosen as giving the best topic on a travel adapter. There was time for fourteen topics takers so all the people at the meeting, both visitors and members had an opportunity to speak in some way. Members take turns in chairing both the meeting and the topics, time keeping using a clock and coloured lights or evaluating so experience is gained in many aspects.
Members follow a guide which enables them to learn how to construct a speech, use gestures, word pictures, use of notes and the voice effectively through ten speeches after which a certificate of achievement is awarded.
This can be a very useful skill in many situations and a plus for any ones CV when going for an interview.
Nick forcefully led the meeting for the first time as Chair of the last meeting with humour and strictness. He ensured a friendly start to the meeting and easily put people in a relaxed and happy mood.
It was a busy programme with two speeches, a discussion on Training objectives and a lively Topics session which visitors are invited to take part.
Shapour Padidar gave his first speech to the club based on his knowledge of Pollution.
James Gibson colourfully described his visit to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela and the dramatic swinging of the botafumerio. This incense burner is the largest in the world and fills the Cathedral with aromatic smoke as it swings perilously from side to side under the magnificent dome.
After a break for refreshments James Davies chaired the Topics session. He had brought a covered box of objects which people were invited to choose an unseen object to talk about. Several objects that James had found around his house included a ruler, a light bulb, a potato peeler, a spanner, a ball of string, a peg and a paintbrush. These items were chosen at random by the feel of them and gave some tricky moments as people thought about what to say in the two minutes they had.
Several new visitors came to the club and took part and Claire Harriman was chosen as giving the best topic on a travel adapter. There was time for fourteen topics takers so all the people at the meeting, both visitors and members had an opportunity to speak in some way. Members take turns in chairing both the meeting and the topics, time keeping using a clock and coloured lights or evaluating so experience is gained in many aspects.
Members follow a guide which enables them to learn how to construct a speech, use gestures, word pictures, use of notes and the voice effectively through ten speeches after which a certificate of achievement is awarded.
This can be a very useful skill in many situations and a plus for any ones CV when going for an interview.
Claire Harriman receiving trophy from James Davies
26th October 2019
October is the time for the National President's Dinner and Team Speaking contest which was held in Market Harborough this year.
Six teams entered from around the country including our own team. The competition is based on three words which are chosen by the National President and this year posed quite a challenge. The three words being “Years, From, Now”. The team consists of three speakers plus a Chairperson who introduces the speakers, links them all and closes the performance. Each speaker must speak on one word in turn but can have a theme running through.
Loughborough’s team chose “A Journey from Loughborough to St Pancras by Train” past, present and future.
Sally Dyson who chaired, took a Harry Potter style approach referring to Platform 2 & 3/4 as she introduced Frank Rawson who took us all to the year 2069 as he spoke on the word YEARS. 50 years had passed since 2019 and he was on a high speed train hurtling towards St Pancras arriving ten minutes later. He described life as it might be in 2069 living under the hole in the ozone layer, retiring at 85, only working 10 hours a week and travelling in personal Hover pads which could connect with docking platforms for longer journeys.
Moving to the year 2049 Vince Jupp spoke on the word FROM. From his seat he was travelling on a crystal tube train having scanned his ticket from a hand implant. HS2 had been scrapped in favour of crystal tubes. They were fast, fun and friction free. His journey took 30 minutes.
Sue York brought us back to the present speaking on the word NOW. Sue described a train journey of today. Her journey took 1 ¼ hours owing to delays. She described her frustration at searching for a seat which all had reservation tickets and when at last finding hers it was occupied!
The presentations last for fifteen minutes so it’s difficult to portray the humour and the innovation of ideas in such a short description and the team presented a well prepared, well rehearsed and entertaining vignette.
It’s interesting to see the ideas that come from the other teams, all individual and different.
On a theme of Letters, there was a Christmas round robin letter, a letter from an American pen friend and the modern use of words on social media rather than by letter.
There was different forms of spying and espionage over the years and travelling from the Stone Age to time travel in the future.
There was a history of James Bond by various characters’ from the films and the winning team came from a team of teachers who were celebrating the retirement of the school cook. The Chairperson took the role of Headmistress. She introduced a Home Economics teacher; an IT teacher and finally a member of the kitchen team. It was a very humorous presentation and humour is particularly difficult to achieve although all the teams did manage to raise several smiles. All in all it was a very entertaining afternoon and good to catch up with people from other clubs around the country.
Six teams entered from around the country including our own team. The competition is based on three words which are chosen by the National President and this year posed quite a challenge. The three words being “Years, From, Now”. The team consists of three speakers plus a Chairperson who introduces the speakers, links them all and closes the performance. Each speaker must speak on one word in turn but can have a theme running through.
Loughborough’s team chose “A Journey from Loughborough to St Pancras by Train” past, present and future.
Sally Dyson who chaired, took a Harry Potter style approach referring to Platform 2 & 3/4 as she introduced Frank Rawson who took us all to the year 2069 as he spoke on the word YEARS. 50 years had passed since 2019 and he was on a high speed train hurtling towards St Pancras arriving ten minutes later. He described life as it might be in 2069 living under the hole in the ozone layer, retiring at 85, only working 10 hours a week and travelling in personal Hover pads which could connect with docking platforms for longer journeys.
Moving to the year 2049 Vince Jupp spoke on the word FROM. From his seat he was travelling on a crystal tube train having scanned his ticket from a hand implant. HS2 had been scrapped in favour of crystal tubes. They were fast, fun and friction free. His journey took 30 minutes.
Sue York brought us back to the present speaking on the word NOW. Sue described a train journey of today. Her journey took 1 ¼ hours owing to delays. She described her frustration at searching for a seat which all had reservation tickets and when at last finding hers it was occupied!
The presentations last for fifteen minutes so it’s difficult to portray the humour and the innovation of ideas in such a short description and the team presented a well prepared, well rehearsed and entertaining vignette.
It’s interesting to see the ideas that come from the other teams, all individual and different.
On a theme of Letters, there was a Christmas round robin letter, a letter from an American pen friend and the modern use of words on social media rather than by letter.
There was different forms of spying and espionage over the years and travelling from the Stone Age to time travel in the future.
There was a history of James Bond by various characters’ from the films and the winning team came from a team of teachers who were celebrating the retirement of the school cook. The Chairperson took the role of Headmistress. She introduced a Home Economics teacher; an IT teacher and finally a member of the kitchen team. It was a very humorous presentation and humour is particularly difficult to achieve although all the teams did manage to raise several smiles. All in all it was a very entertaining afternoon and good to catch up with people from other clubs around the country.
Charnwood Chatterers - Vince, Sue, Frank & Sally
22nd October 2019
Impromptu speaking can cause butterflies in the stomach and you never know when you might be asked to say a few words in front of an audience, maybe at work for a presentation or a celebration or at a wedding or a church service.
Our Topics sessions can prepare you for this by giving speakers a subject to speak about for two or three minutes without any preparation. This is a skill that can be learned and practised to good effect.
Kay Light chaired her first Topics session at the last meeting and her subject was “A Day in the Life of?” She began by giving one of our most experienced and talented topics speakers, Nick Ajinkya, “A Day in the Life of Beelzebub”. Nick took on the role of a Tourist Adviser saying “Hell needed tourists!” He continued to astound and amuse us with his witty comments on the attractions of a holiday in Hell including the 275,000 paragraphs of T’s & C’s saying “The Devil is in the Detail”. Peter Minshall, who evaluated the session, chose Nick as a clear winner of the best Topic of the evening.
We heard a first speech from two new members. This is usually a speech which tells us something about the speaker so should be an easy subject to start their speaking journey with us.
Calum Mackenzie told us about his time in the Army driving land rovers which hadn’t been particularly well maintained. He had obviously taken note from previous visits about the rule of three, which tends to make a more memorable account. Calum described three occasions when he almost died in Land Rover missions. Let’s hope he has more than nine lives.
Benjamin Jervis started his speech with humour telling us his birthday on May 4th often elicits references to Star Wars Day and “May the Force or Fourth be with you”. Clearly very clever, he built his first computer at the age of thirteen and started his own company at the age of seventeen. Now twenty five he is certainly a name to watch. He loves IT and after visiting Bletchley Park and learning about Alan Turin and cryptology he could be the next super hero in the field of technology.
Serpil Akkaya took us on a magical journey from Queens Park in Loughborough to the delights of Istanbul with lovely word pictures in her fourth speech, which requires the use of appropriate gestures. This was done very successfully and there was no doubt she had passed this assignment.
The evening was chaired by the ebullient and enthusiastic skills of James Gibson who kept us all in order and on time with his usual flair.
Our Topics sessions can prepare you for this by giving speakers a subject to speak about for two or three minutes without any preparation. This is a skill that can be learned and practised to good effect.
Kay Light chaired her first Topics session at the last meeting and her subject was “A Day in the Life of?” She began by giving one of our most experienced and talented topics speakers, Nick Ajinkya, “A Day in the Life of Beelzebub”. Nick took on the role of a Tourist Adviser saying “Hell needed tourists!” He continued to astound and amuse us with his witty comments on the attractions of a holiday in Hell including the 275,000 paragraphs of T’s & C’s saying “The Devil is in the Detail”. Peter Minshall, who evaluated the session, chose Nick as a clear winner of the best Topic of the evening.
We heard a first speech from two new members. This is usually a speech which tells us something about the speaker so should be an easy subject to start their speaking journey with us.
Calum Mackenzie told us about his time in the Army driving land rovers which hadn’t been particularly well maintained. He had obviously taken note from previous visits about the rule of three, which tends to make a more memorable account. Calum described three occasions when he almost died in Land Rover missions. Let’s hope he has more than nine lives.
Benjamin Jervis started his speech with humour telling us his birthday on May 4th often elicits references to Star Wars Day and “May the Force or Fourth be with you”. Clearly very clever, he built his first computer at the age of thirteen and started his own company at the age of seventeen. Now twenty five he is certainly a name to watch. He loves IT and after visiting Bletchley Park and learning about Alan Turin and cryptology he could be the next super hero in the field of technology.
Serpil Akkaya took us on a magical journey from Queens Park in Loughborough to the delights of Istanbul with lovely word pictures in her fourth speech, which requires the use of appropriate gestures. This was done very successfully and there was no doubt she had passed this assignment.
The evening was chaired by the ebullient and enthusiastic skills of James Gibson who kept us all in order and on time with his usual flair.
Nick Ajinkya receiving trophy from Club President Peter Minshall
8th October 2019
I think it’s fair to say the club was buzzing tonight. More new faces, lots of laughter which gave a party feel to the evening. Interesting prepared speeches from members and guests taking part in the Topics session.
Nick Aginkya gave a thought provoking speech which examined what he considered more important factors than the current Extinction Rebellion. Global Warming is a factor which most European countries are tackling when China for instance is using even more fossil fuels. He asked us to consider six more pressing concerns. The danger of computer intelligence shutting off everything we rely on, antibiotic resistance, asteroid impact, the population explosion, war and the rise in sea levels due to melting glaciers. All could have devastating results on life as we know it.
Eric Baker kept us spellbound with his story of the race to get the news of the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Nelson to the Admiralty in London. We hear a lot about the ship HMS Victory and the battle but little about the story of Lt. La Penotiere’s journey over land to be the first man to break the news. La Penotiere landed in Falmouth from his ship HMS Pickle and his journey of 271 miles took two weeks. Meanwhile, another officer from a different ship, Commander John Sykes, had disobeyed orders to try and be the first to arrive in London and claim the accolade. Whoever won this race would be a hero and handsomely rewarded. John Sykes landed closer in Plymouth and was in the lead for some time but somehow got delayed leaving La Penotiere to be first at the Admiralty.
Sally Dyson asked “Have we reached saturation point with our possessions?” Apparently we have over 300,000 items in our homes. The average ten year old has 238 toys but only plays with 12.
Society and marketing make people want more and more. Are they a marker of success? Having a bigger house, a better more expensive car or having the latest gadgets. Things don’t last like they used to and need to be replaced more often. Only keeping items that spark joy is the new mantra offered by writers of books to help you clear out unwanted items, but imagine how long it would take you to hold each of those 300,000 items to ask if they sparked joy.
After an interval for refreshments, Vince Jupp chaired the Topics session. This is the opportunity to speak on a subject for two or three minutes without any notice. Daunting for some but practice makes it easier. Vince asked the first speaker the question “If you were a flower, what would it be and why”? Followed by a favourite song, a film star, a colour, a piece of furniture, a vegetable or a piece of art to name a few.
Shapoor Padidar who won the best topic on his first visit as a guest was chosen again for his topic, a favourite fruit, by Sue York who evaluated all the speakers. He chose a strawberry because you can have them all year round. They are the colour red which is symbolic of love and 25 tons of them are enjoyed each year at Wimbledon. Shapoor has a delightful way with words that come straight from the heart.
Nick Aginkya gave a thought provoking speech which examined what he considered more important factors than the current Extinction Rebellion. Global Warming is a factor which most European countries are tackling when China for instance is using even more fossil fuels. He asked us to consider six more pressing concerns. The danger of computer intelligence shutting off everything we rely on, antibiotic resistance, asteroid impact, the population explosion, war and the rise in sea levels due to melting glaciers. All could have devastating results on life as we know it.
Eric Baker kept us spellbound with his story of the race to get the news of the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Nelson to the Admiralty in London. We hear a lot about the ship HMS Victory and the battle but little about the story of Lt. La Penotiere’s journey over land to be the first man to break the news. La Penotiere landed in Falmouth from his ship HMS Pickle and his journey of 271 miles took two weeks. Meanwhile, another officer from a different ship, Commander John Sykes, had disobeyed orders to try and be the first to arrive in London and claim the accolade. Whoever won this race would be a hero and handsomely rewarded. John Sykes landed closer in Plymouth and was in the lead for some time but somehow got delayed leaving La Penotiere to be first at the Admiralty.
Sally Dyson asked “Have we reached saturation point with our possessions?” Apparently we have over 300,000 items in our homes. The average ten year old has 238 toys but only plays with 12.
Society and marketing make people want more and more. Are they a marker of success? Having a bigger house, a better more expensive car or having the latest gadgets. Things don’t last like they used to and need to be replaced more often. Only keeping items that spark joy is the new mantra offered by writers of books to help you clear out unwanted items, but imagine how long it would take you to hold each of those 300,000 items to ask if they sparked joy.
After an interval for refreshments, Vince Jupp chaired the Topics session. This is the opportunity to speak on a subject for two or three minutes without any notice. Daunting for some but practice makes it easier. Vince asked the first speaker the question “If you were a flower, what would it be and why”? Followed by a favourite song, a film star, a colour, a piece of furniture, a vegetable or a piece of art to name a few.
Shapoor Padidar who won the best topic on his first visit as a guest was chosen again for his topic, a favourite fruit, by Sue York who evaluated all the speakers. He chose a strawberry because you can have them all year round. They are the colour red which is symbolic of love and 25 tons of them are enjoyed each year at Wimbledon. Shapoor has a delightful way with words that come straight from the heart.
Shapoor Padidar receiving trophy from Sue York
24th September 2019
We were pleased to see our visitors from the last meeting return to the club plus two more new faces who had checked out our website.
We were entertained with three speeches from Vince Jupp, Christine Callaway and Sue York who are all at different stages of their assignments.
Vince gave what might be called an educational speech on Anaphora or the Rule of Three. A useful method in devising a presentation or a speech. Remember Winston Churchill with his “Blood, Sweat and Tears” speech? Powerful speech making that makes an impact.
We see threes in nature. Earth, Sea and Skies. Mind, Body and Soul for example.
On TV, programmes like “Location, Location, Location” or in politics, “Education, Education, Education”. In stories like "The three little Pigs" and "Goldilocks and the three Bears."
We also learned about Chiasmus, a reversal in the order of words. “Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you!” “Do I love you because you are beautiful or are you beautiful because I love you?” “Nice to see you, to see you nice”, as I’m sure many remember from one of entertainments favourite personalities. All useful tips to practice.
This was followed by Christine telling us about her experiences of terror when doing her first parachute jump and scuba diving out at sea. What did we think was the most scary, dropping from an aeroplane a thousand feet in the sky or plunging deep into the ocean and coming face to face with sharks? Parachuting got the vote!
Sue then told us of the important role Beaumanor Hall played during the war. It was a hive of activity; outbuildings were disguised to fool any enemy aircraft passing overhead as 1,300 wireless operators listened to coded messages which were then sent to Bletchley Park via Morse code.
After the interval Patricia Baker chaired the Topics session which was based on a series of lifestyle questions posed by her daughter through a book idea which was given as a Christmas present and would be printed by an online company at the end of a year.
Questions such as “How did you rebel as a child?” “What were you like as a teenager?” “What advice did you get from your parents?” were bravely tackled by all our newcomers.
Martin Cox, who is an experienced speaker and long time member of the Speakers Association, gave a careful evaluation of both the chairperson and all the topics takers and chose Christina, who had made her first visit to the club, as the best Topics giver of the evening. She was presented with the golden gavel which can be kept until the next meeting.
Every person at the meeting had the opportunity to speak, whether it was making a speech, giving an evaluation, chairing or giving a topic. As a visitor one can observe or take part in the topics. As a member of the club there is the opportunity to learn and practice different speaking skills in front of a friendly audience.
We were entertained with three speeches from Vince Jupp, Christine Callaway and Sue York who are all at different stages of their assignments.
Vince gave what might be called an educational speech on Anaphora or the Rule of Three. A useful method in devising a presentation or a speech. Remember Winston Churchill with his “Blood, Sweat and Tears” speech? Powerful speech making that makes an impact.
We see threes in nature. Earth, Sea and Skies. Mind, Body and Soul for example.
On TV, programmes like “Location, Location, Location” or in politics, “Education, Education, Education”. In stories like "The three little Pigs" and "Goldilocks and the three Bears."
We also learned about Chiasmus, a reversal in the order of words. “Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you!” “Do I love you because you are beautiful or are you beautiful because I love you?” “Nice to see you, to see you nice”, as I’m sure many remember from one of entertainments favourite personalities. All useful tips to practice.
This was followed by Christine telling us about her experiences of terror when doing her first parachute jump and scuba diving out at sea. What did we think was the most scary, dropping from an aeroplane a thousand feet in the sky or plunging deep into the ocean and coming face to face with sharks? Parachuting got the vote!
Sue then told us of the important role Beaumanor Hall played during the war. It was a hive of activity; outbuildings were disguised to fool any enemy aircraft passing overhead as 1,300 wireless operators listened to coded messages which were then sent to Bletchley Park via Morse code.
After the interval Patricia Baker chaired the Topics session which was based on a series of lifestyle questions posed by her daughter through a book idea which was given as a Christmas present and would be printed by an online company at the end of a year.
Questions such as “How did you rebel as a child?” “What were you like as a teenager?” “What advice did you get from your parents?” were bravely tackled by all our newcomers.
Martin Cox, who is an experienced speaker and long time member of the Speakers Association, gave a careful evaluation of both the chairperson and all the topics takers and chose Christina, who had made her first visit to the club, as the best Topics giver of the evening. She was presented with the golden gavel which can be kept until the next meeting.
Every person at the meeting had the opportunity to speak, whether it was making a speech, giving an evaluation, chairing or giving a topic. As a visitor one can observe or take part in the topics. As a member of the club there is the opportunity to learn and practice different speaking skills in front of a friendly audience.
Cristina D'Angeli receiving trophy from Martin Cox
10th September 2019
What a great start to the new season of Speakers' Clubs. It was great to catch up with our long standing speakers' club friends and to welcome six visitors who took part in the Topics session and who we hope are keen to become members and we will see them again at the next meeting.
It was especially good to welcome Eva Weng who was a competition winner in our club before she moved to Guildford. Fortunately for us she remains an honorary member and still looks after most of our media coverage which is vital in this day and age where on line communication is the most popular method of recruiting new members and sharing information.
Eva took on the task of evaluating the Topics Session and hopefully we will see her again when she is next visiting the area.
Our president Peter Minshall chaired the meeting and we had the usual one minute warm up session to begin the evening, talking on the subject of weather followed by three prepared speeches.
Kay Light told us a fascinating story about Gary Bevan who as a student of art wanted to re create a similar work of art which he’d seen in the Sistine Chapel in Rome in the English Martyrs Church in Goring, Sussex. It took him five and a half years to complete but now the work is so amazing that they see 15,000 visitors a year.
Frank Rawson began his speech on Salt with a reminiscence of the little blue bag of salt we found in a packet of crisps, now sadly lost to those of us who remember that it made eating a packet of crisps more special. He went on to tell us about all the properties of salt, many beneficial but over use can be fatal. In Roman times Salt was so valuable that some things were paid for in salt and it determined the rank and status of certain people in the way salt was served. It begged the question “Am I worth my Salt?”.
James Gibson titled his speech “Fraud - The Lighter Side”. We hear a lot about fraud these days; it can affect even the most confidant and street wise and we need to be on constant guard against clever scammers who can relieve us of our life savings. However James had stories to tell of American fraudster, Kylon Ponzi, later calling himself Charles Ponzi from the 1800’s who managed to defraud people of billions, yes billions of dollars.
Fraud was not just the prerogative of the male sex. Back in 1666 a lady by the name of Polly Becket saw an opportunity of making money during the Great Fire of London by offering to collect and care for children saying she was taking them to a substantial house on a hill and by the way “do you have anything valuable you would like me to save for you?”. Having left the children with someone else she took the valuables to her accomplice where he filled his cart before they both scarpered.
Another clever lady, Sally Howe invented the Ladies Savings Company, for unmarried ladies. She offered a high interest payment but then used newer investors to pay the interest to the original “savers” until she was found out and sent to prison. This did not deter her from doing it again on her release but the ladies who fell for this scam were too embarrassed to report it and she got away Scot free. So bear in mind we were urged “If it sounds too good to be true, it most probably is”.
After a well earned tea break Sue York led the Topics session giving people various subjects around holidays. One of our visitors, Shapoor Padidar, was chosen to have given the best topic. He was asked to describe a flight he’d had in an aeroplane. When he was a bit younger than now, he flew to China for a teaching and research job. The beautiful and smartly dressed air hostess asked him how old he was which is apparently quite normal in Chinese culture. He replied “When I look at you I feel 21”. He became known as Mr 21 but sadly on his return the steward was not a beautiful young woman but a more surly man with a large moustache who told him gruffly to “Sit there!” so he thought he had better do as he was told. His tale caused us all to chuckle with delight.
It was especially good to welcome Eva Weng who was a competition winner in our club before she moved to Guildford. Fortunately for us she remains an honorary member and still looks after most of our media coverage which is vital in this day and age where on line communication is the most popular method of recruiting new members and sharing information.
Eva took on the task of evaluating the Topics Session and hopefully we will see her again when she is next visiting the area.
Our president Peter Minshall chaired the meeting and we had the usual one minute warm up session to begin the evening, talking on the subject of weather followed by three prepared speeches.
Kay Light told us a fascinating story about Gary Bevan who as a student of art wanted to re create a similar work of art which he’d seen in the Sistine Chapel in Rome in the English Martyrs Church in Goring, Sussex. It took him five and a half years to complete but now the work is so amazing that they see 15,000 visitors a year.
Frank Rawson began his speech on Salt with a reminiscence of the little blue bag of salt we found in a packet of crisps, now sadly lost to those of us who remember that it made eating a packet of crisps more special. He went on to tell us about all the properties of salt, many beneficial but over use can be fatal. In Roman times Salt was so valuable that some things were paid for in salt and it determined the rank and status of certain people in the way salt was served. It begged the question “Am I worth my Salt?”.
James Gibson titled his speech “Fraud - The Lighter Side”. We hear a lot about fraud these days; it can affect even the most confidant and street wise and we need to be on constant guard against clever scammers who can relieve us of our life savings. However James had stories to tell of American fraudster, Kylon Ponzi, later calling himself Charles Ponzi from the 1800’s who managed to defraud people of billions, yes billions of dollars.
Fraud was not just the prerogative of the male sex. Back in 1666 a lady by the name of Polly Becket saw an opportunity of making money during the Great Fire of London by offering to collect and care for children saying she was taking them to a substantial house on a hill and by the way “do you have anything valuable you would like me to save for you?”. Having left the children with someone else she took the valuables to her accomplice where he filled his cart before they both scarpered.
Another clever lady, Sally Howe invented the Ladies Savings Company, for unmarried ladies. She offered a high interest payment but then used newer investors to pay the interest to the original “savers” until she was found out and sent to prison. This did not deter her from doing it again on her release but the ladies who fell for this scam were too embarrassed to report it and she got away Scot free. So bear in mind we were urged “If it sounds too good to be true, it most probably is”.
After a well earned tea break Sue York led the Topics session giving people various subjects around holidays. One of our visitors, Shapoor Padidar, was chosen to have given the best topic. He was asked to describe a flight he’d had in an aeroplane. When he was a bit younger than now, he flew to China for a teaching and research job. The beautiful and smartly dressed air hostess asked him how old he was which is apparently quite normal in Chinese culture. He replied “When I look at you I feel 21”. He became known as Mr 21 but sadly on his return the steward was not a beautiful young woman but a more surly man with a large moustache who told him gruffly to “Sit there!” so he thought he had better do as he was told. His tale caused us all to chuckle with delight.
Eva Weng presenting trophy to Shapoor Padidar
4th June 2019
It was a fitting end to this season’s meetings with Sue York being presented with the Most Improved Speaker Trophy plus interim certificates to Frank Rawson, Vince Jupp and Jo Zhou Zhenghong.
James Gibson achieved his Masterpiece speech and gained his Certificate of Achievement and will now go on to the advanced course which will include an outside assignment and the use of a microphone.
As it was our Summer Party, drinks and tempting snacks and nibbles were served in the interval before an intriguing Topics session organised by our President Peter Minshall.
Peter had collected several items, some of which were unknown to some of us, and each person spoke about the object for up to three minutes.
Frank Rawson who had worked in the shoe industry was given a tool which only he was familiar with. It was viewed with interest but no correct guesses before Frank explained they were pliers which pulled the leather over the shoe last when handmade shoes were produced and the small attached hammer head used to hammer in the nails or tacks which held the leather to the sole.
James Davis had a good tale to tell about the miners' Davy lamp and Jo explained the history of chopsticks.
Peter had chosen items he knew would be appropriate for each speaker so Kay who has spent time in Spain was given a miniature sherry bottle. Christine from the prison service had a padlock and musician Sally had a broken cord.
There were many more but Nathan Truesdale won the best topic with his inspired talk on the light bulb moment.
James Gibson achieved his Masterpiece speech and gained his Certificate of Achievement and will now go on to the advanced course which will include an outside assignment and the use of a microphone.
As it was our Summer Party, drinks and tempting snacks and nibbles were served in the interval before an intriguing Topics session organised by our President Peter Minshall.
Peter had collected several items, some of which were unknown to some of us, and each person spoke about the object for up to three minutes.
Frank Rawson who had worked in the shoe industry was given a tool which only he was familiar with. It was viewed with interest but no correct guesses before Frank explained they were pliers which pulled the leather over the shoe last when handmade shoes were produced and the small attached hammer head used to hammer in the nails or tacks which held the leather to the sole.
James Davis had a good tale to tell about the miners' Davy lamp and Jo explained the history of chopsticks.
Peter had chosen items he knew would be appropriate for each speaker so Kay who has spent time in Spain was given a miniature sherry bottle. Christine from the prison service had a padlock and musician Sally had a broken cord.
There were many more but Nathan Truesdale won the best topic with his inspired talk on the light bulb moment.
Sue York receiving the 'Most Improved Speaker of the Year' award from Club President Peter Minshall. Also included are Jo Zheng Hong & Frank Rawson with their Interim certificates.
7th May 2019
Sue York took us for a fascinating virtual walk around Loughborough in a speech based on an assignment in the Speakers guide - 'Vocabulary and Words Pictures'. Describing the town through the four seasons of the year Sue began her walk at the statue of the Sock man in the Market Place, a controversial issue at the time of its inception but now warmly accepted by most people. Summer time brought Loughborough by the Sea with ice creams and fun in the sand. Autumn with misty days and evenings and the excitement of the fair and its flashing lights, rides and hot-dogs. Winter, being wrapped up warmly against the snow, leading us neatly into the Christmas season with holly, mistletoe and gifts. Springs brings the joy of new beginnings with snowdrops, daffodils, Mothers’ Day and Easter eggs. A sunny day but still with a nip in the air brought the journey back to the Heart of the Town and the Market Place.
This was a very colourful and well presented speech showing how much Sue has progressed within the clubs environment.
Christine Callaway continued her story of working in the Prison service. Having gained a degree in Criminology she applied for a more senior position. Describing her move to Lindholme Prison which was in a remote area of the North near Doncaster, compared to Holloway in London and being in a supervisory position in a male environment. She remarked on the differences between working in a women’s prison compared to a men’s prison. The crimes were different as were the attitudes of the men. Women were allowed to wear their own clothes and there were no gangs or violent crimes. Men had to wear uniforms and the crimes were mostly domestic assault or murder plus the use of weapons. There was a ghost story too, about Lindholme Willy who crashed in a Bomber aeroplane during the war. Christine then produced a modern cosh which we were fascinated to handle.
This was Christine’s second assignment based on constructing a speech which she passed with flying colours.
Vince Jupp ably chaired the evening and passed the baton to Frank Rawson who chaired the Topics session for the second half.
Frank chose modes of transport for his theme and members spoke without any preparation for up to three minutes on a variety of methods including Hot Air Balloons, Shank’s Pony, Scooters, Canoes and Canal boats. James Gibson won the best Topic of the evening with his talk on Trams.
This was a very colourful and well presented speech showing how much Sue has progressed within the clubs environment.
Christine Callaway continued her story of working in the Prison service. Having gained a degree in Criminology she applied for a more senior position. Describing her move to Lindholme Prison which was in a remote area of the North near Doncaster, compared to Holloway in London and being in a supervisory position in a male environment. She remarked on the differences between working in a women’s prison compared to a men’s prison. The crimes were different as were the attitudes of the men. Women were allowed to wear their own clothes and there were no gangs or violent crimes. Men had to wear uniforms and the crimes were mostly domestic assault or murder plus the use of weapons. There was a ghost story too, about Lindholme Willy who crashed in a Bomber aeroplane during the war. Christine then produced a modern cosh which we were fascinated to handle.
This was Christine’s second assignment based on constructing a speech which she passed with flying colours.
Vince Jupp ably chaired the evening and passed the baton to Frank Rawson who chaired the Topics session for the second half.
Frank chose modes of transport for his theme and members spoke without any preparation for up to three minutes on a variety of methods including Hot Air Balloons, Shank’s Pony, Scooters, Canoes and Canal boats. James Gibson won the best Topic of the evening with his talk on Trams.
James Gibson receives trophy from Eric Baker
30th April 2019
After the excitement of returning from the National Conference held in Edinburgh this year with three trophies for the Midlands' district we get back to a normal club night with three prepared speeches and an impromptu Topics session.
Lidea Lupes gave us her “Mean what you Say” speech entitled 'Do what you love, love what you do'.
A speech about who had inspired her throughout her life; she gave examples of her teachers in school and well known people like Martin Luther King and Mother Theresa who inspired Nations.
"Take the time to inspire your children and your friends and neighbours so you can also make a difference and love what you do."
James Gibson gave an intriguing speech with the title 'Crumpled but not Chaotic'. James always tests our intellect with his complex speeches and on this occasion involving both the Ancient Greeks and omelettes! This was performed with flair and panache and also humour.
Ahmed Alshuraimi gave his second speech to the club describing some of his best moments in life. The birth of his first child, enjoying nature, saving a spider, feeling safe after a moment of danger. Memories like these last forever and he looks forward to making many more.
After a break for refreshments Nick Ajinka chaired his first Topics session. He had chosen several words which had at least three different meanings and invited members to talk about each one.
He explained the English language has over 2 million words but we only use a fraction of them. This is often brought home to us by members whose first language is not English. Learning our language when words like train, bark, tap, fast, fine and mail can mean different things, not to mention different pronunciation like cough and bough can be very confusing. This topic session was certainly a challenge and the topics evaluator chose Mark Harrison to have given the best topic for his three minute mini speech on the word 'Stake'.
Lidea Lupes gave us her “Mean what you Say” speech entitled 'Do what you love, love what you do'.
A speech about who had inspired her throughout her life; she gave examples of her teachers in school and well known people like Martin Luther King and Mother Theresa who inspired Nations.
"Take the time to inspire your children and your friends and neighbours so you can also make a difference and love what you do."
James Gibson gave an intriguing speech with the title 'Crumpled but not Chaotic'. James always tests our intellect with his complex speeches and on this occasion involving both the Ancient Greeks and omelettes! This was performed with flair and panache and also humour.
Ahmed Alshuraimi gave his second speech to the club describing some of his best moments in life. The birth of his first child, enjoying nature, saving a spider, feeling safe after a moment of danger. Memories like these last forever and he looks forward to making many more.
After a break for refreshments Nick Ajinka chaired his first Topics session. He had chosen several words which had at least three different meanings and invited members to talk about each one.
He explained the English language has over 2 million words but we only use a fraction of them. This is often brought home to us by members whose first language is not English. Learning our language when words like train, bark, tap, fast, fine and mail can mean different things, not to mention different pronunciation like cough and bough can be very confusing. This topic session was certainly a challenge and the topics evaluator chose Mark Harrison to have given the best topic for his three minute mini speech on the word 'Stake'.
James Gibson presents trophy to Mark Harrison
28th April 2019
Eric Baker chairing the Topics Contest at the ASC National Conference in Edinburgh
9th April 2019
We were pleased to introduce another new member, Christine Callaway to the lectern to perform her first speech to an ever increasing audience.
She spoke with humour of her “Life in Prison” not as a prisoner but as a second career prison officer.
Having spent twenty two years with her soldier husband living in different towns they both applied to the prison service after retiring. Christine went to work at Holloway prison and her husband worked at Pentonville. She told us about the different women’s sections and some of the tragic consequences and as a thought provoking ending asked “Could there be a better way?”
Bibo Agidee told us about her work experiences and Jo Zhou Hong explained about the importance of financial education as children develop spending habits from the age of seven. It’s very important to learn about all kinds of finance from mortgages and loans to household management.
A lively Topics session followed the tea break. Topics Chair Patricia Baker asked people to consider their ideal guest for a meal they would prepare from three random ingredients chosen from a lucky dip bag. So that it would not be too difficult they could also use ingredients from their larder.
There were some interesting combinations. Marzipan, feta cheese and celery, wild garlic, jam and ginger biscuits, sprouts, rum and turnips to name a few.
There was much laughter as interesting recipes emerged. Kay Light won the best topic with her recipe based on peanuts, sausage and cheese that she would prepare for George Clooney hoping that he would come without Amal and the twins.
She spoke with humour of her “Life in Prison” not as a prisoner but as a second career prison officer.
Having spent twenty two years with her soldier husband living in different towns they both applied to the prison service after retiring. Christine went to work at Holloway prison and her husband worked at Pentonville. She told us about the different women’s sections and some of the tragic consequences and as a thought provoking ending asked “Could there be a better way?”
Bibo Agidee told us about her work experiences and Jo Zhou Hong explained about the importance of financial education as children develop spending habits from the age of seven. It’s very important to learn about all kinds of finance from mortgages and loans to household management.
A lively Topics session followed the tea break. Topics Chair Patricia Baker asked people to consider their ideal guest for a meal they would prepare from three random ingredients chosen from a lucky dip bag. So that it would not be too difficult they could also use ingredients from their larder.
There were some interesting combinations. Marzipan, feta cheese and celery, wild garlic, jam and ginger biscuits, sprouts, rum and turnips to name a few.
There was much laughter as interesting recipes emerged. Kay Light won the best topic with her recipe based on peanuts, sausage and cheese that she would prepare for George Clooney hoping that he would come without Amal and the twins.
Kay Light receiving Topics trophy from Club President Peter Minshall
26th March 2019
Another successful evening this time chaired by James Davis. Chairmanship is another skill we practice along with time keeping and running an impromptu Topic session.
Two of our new members made their maiden speech. This is a getting to know you speech so it would be easy to prepare as a known subject.
Ahmed Alshuraimi took us on a tour of Loughborough. He had come from Arabia to study at Loughborough University so explored different routes from his various lodgings to the Campus. He found Charnwood Water which is a delightful nature reserve and circular walk. He discovered the trail to Beaumanor Hall in Old Woodhouse and various different roads and pathways around the town where he could walk and run. Even though he needed to change his home several times due to the properties being sold, he concluded that Loughborough is a nice place to live.
Bibo Agidee told us about her life in Africa and how she overcame many obstacles to reach her goals. Her dreams of becoming an Architect did not materialise but she did realise her dream of travelling and after some years, not without tragedy, she came to England and is studying at the University here in Loughborough. Bibo felt it was an important message to never give up on your dreams.
We heard from Serpil who performed her third speech to the club. She and her husband run the baked potato stall in Loughborough so her title “A Hot Potato” led us to believe she was going to tell us all about potatoes, but no! We had a fascinating talk on the different meanings of certain actions from other cultures. In Russia you would give flowers in odd numbers because even numbers are for funerals. Shaking your head up and down can mean No and side to side mean Yes. Idioms such as you drop something like a hot potato, you let your hair down, you walk the extra mile are sayings we are familiar with but to someone from another country can be a mystery. Cleverly concluding with another reference to the hot potato, she mentioned another curious saying that someone coming to her stall “Could eat a Horse” but sadly that was not on the menu.
After a break for tea and biscuits, James Gibson chaired the Topics session which he based on best remembered stories. Most stories are based on seven basic plots and each person was invited to speak on one of these.
Arthur spoke of Tragedy, Jo of the inspiration of a TV dance programme, Nick based his on the favoured books of Arthur Ransome, tales of “Swallows and Amazons” and Mark on Thriller novels. However Martin Cox took the best Topic award with his humorous reminiscence of his child hood favourites by Enid Blyton.
Two of our new members made their maiden speech. This is a getting to know you speech so it would be easy to prepare as a known subject.
Ahmed Alshuraimi took us on a tour of Loughborough. He had come from Arabia to study at Loughborough University so explored different routes from his various lodgings to the Campus. He found Charnwood Water which is a delightful nature reserve and circular walk. He discovered the trail to Beaumanor Hall in Old Woodhouse and various different roads and pathways around the town where he could walk and run. Even though he needed to change his home several times due to the properties being sold, he concluded that Loughborough is a nice place to live.
Bibo Agidee told us about her life in Africa and how she overcame many obstacles to reach her goals. Her dreams of becoming an Architect did not materialise but she did realise her dream of travelling and after some years, not without tragedy, she came to England and is studying at the University here in Loughborough. Bibo felt it was an important message to never give up on your dreams.
We heard from Serpil who performed her third speech to the club. She and her husband run the baked potato stall in Loughborough so her title “A Hot Potato” led us to believe she was going to tell us all about potatoes, but no! We had a fascinating talk on the different meanings of certain actions from other cultures. In Russia you would give flowers in odd numbers because even numbers are for funerals. Shaking your head up and down can mean No and side to side mean Yes. Idioms such as you drop something like a hot potato, you let your hair down, you walk the extra mile are sayings we are familiar with but to someone from another country can be a mystery. Cleverly concluding with another reference to the hot potato, she mentioned another curious saying that someone coming to her stall “Could eat a Horse” but sadly that was not on the menu.
After a break for tea and biscuits, James Gibson chaired the Topics session which he based on best remembered stories. Most stories are based on seven basic plots and each person was invited to speak on one of these.
Arthur spoke of Tragedy, Jo of the inspiration of a TV dance programme, Nick based his on the favoured books of Arthur Ransome, tales of “Swallows and Amazons” and Mark on Thriller novels. However Martin Cox took the best Topic award with his humorous reminiscence of his child hood favourites by Enid Blyton.
Martin Cox receives trophy from Patricia Baker
24th March 2019
Our Club had the privilege of joining representatives of sixteen other Clubs in the lovely Foxton Village Hall for the annual district AGM and competitions. This event was a true celebration of the Association. We often forget that there are scores of other clubs around the country where hundreds of other speakers are on their journeys too. Going along to these events can give us new ideas, new inspirations, new techniques and, also, an opportunity to practice our skills and gain confidence in front of a sympathetic, but not entirely unfamiliar, crowd. We were thrilled to see so many young people there and we were also able to catch up with friends from other clubs.
The competitions for Speech, Evaluation and Topics were held after the AGM. There was a splendid lunch with lots of delicious home baked cakes for the afternoon tea, prepared by willing members of the Leamington Spa club who were hosting the event.
Having won through the club and area competitions, James Davis was our competitor in the evaluation contest. At this level the competition is high and points awarded can be very close. James was a worthy runner up this time and we were all very pleased that he had reached the District finals. Winners of all these competitions will be competing at the National Conference in Edinburgh next month.
The competitions for Speech, Evaluation and Topics were held after the AGM. There was a splendid lunch with lots of delicious home baked cakes for the afternoon tea, prepared by willing members of the Leamington Spa club who were hosting the event.
Having won through the club and area competitions, James Davis was our competitor in the evaluation contest. At this level the competition is high and points awarded can be very close. James was a worthy runner up this time and we were all very pleased that he had reached the District finals. Winners of all these competitions will be competing at the National Conference in Edinburgh next month.
James Davies giving his evaluation
13th March 2019
The North East Midlands Area held their 2019 Area Topics Contest at The Risley Park, restaurant bar in Risley. Four clubs were represented from Loughborough, Derby, Nottingham and Newark so it was decided to hire a larger venue to accommodate them all and this was easy to get to being just off the M1 motorway.
It’s always a pleasure to meet members from the other clubs and competition evenings are a perfect way to do this. Winners of the Area competitions in Speech, Evaluation and Topics go forward to the District Finals and the winners of this competition then go on to the National Final at the Annual Conference and AGM which this year will be held in Edinburgh. A splendid weekend with a Gala Dinner, competitions and speaking workshops.
Nathan Truesdale representing the Nottingham club was the winner of this competition. He is also a dual member of the Loughborough club.
Martin Cox representing the Newark club is also a dual member of the Loughborough club was Runner Up.
New member to the Loughborough club, Nick Ajinkya and Rod Repton also a new member of the Derby club both gave good performances and the judges found it a difficult choice. The mini speeches are judged on a points system so often there will only be one point between them.
They all get the same Topic to speak on for three minutes without any preparation or knowledge beforehand so learning to speak at a moment’s notice on any subject is good preparation for anyone in a work or social situation that would require that skill.
“Happiness is .....” was the topic given. Nick was the first speaker. He explained that Happiness is a state of mind and described a changing world where we all have to adapt.
Martin spoke about the Happiness he would feel if he won this competition as well as the competitions for his champion goats. He spends a great deal of time showing and rearing his prize goats and the achievement gives him a great sense of happiness.
Ken Dodd’s signature song “Happiness” gave Rod his opening gambit which led to his description of all the things that make him happy.
Nathan thought happiness was a quest. Seeking it but not always achieving it. The journey to personal relationships and work satisfaction played a large part. Health and hormones and choosing what do in your spare time could also lead to a satisfying life path giving a sense of happiness and achievement.
Peter Minshall from Loughborough was Chief Judge along with Benn Gunn from Newark and Callum Young from Nottingham. While the judges were deliberating the audience took part in another topic session.
After the interval Nathan, who works in the Green Energy Field, gave a fascinating talk about the use of burning household rubbish to provide heating for over 5,000 houses and commercial buildings in Nottingham. Rubbish from landfill sites provides fuel for a large incinerator which boils water to make steam which is then sent through an extensive system of underground pipes.
To close the evening the Area President along with the Chief Judge presented the awards which will be kept until the following year.
Nathan was wished good luck in the Districts Finals which will take place at Foxton Village Hall at the end of the month.
It’s always a pleasure to meet members from the other clubs and competition evenings are a perfect way to do this. Winners of the Area competitions in Speech, Evaluation and Topics go forward to the District Finals and the winners of this competition then go on to the National Final at the Annual Conference and AGM which this year will be held in Edinburgh. A splendid weekend with a Gala Dinner, competitions and speaking workshops.
Nathan Truesdale representing the Nottingham club was the winner of this competition. He is also a dual member of the Loughborough club.
Martin Cox representing the Newark club is also a dual member of the Loughborough club was Runner Up.
New member to the Loughborough club, Nick Ajinkya and Rod Repton also a new member of the Derby club both gave good performances and the judges found it a difficult choice. The mini speeches are judged on a points system so often there will only be one point between them.
They all get the same Topic to speak on for three minutes without any preparation or knowledge beforehand so learning to speak at a moment’s notice on any subject is good preparation for anyone in a work or social situation that would require that skill.
“Happiness is .....” was the topic given. Nick was the first speaker. He explained that Happiness is a state of mind and described a changing world where we all have to adapt.
Martin spoke about the Happiness he would feel if he won this competition as well as the competitions for his champion goats. He spends a great deal of time showing and rearing his prize goats and the achievement gives him a great sense of happiness.
Ken Dodd’s signature song “Happiness” gave Rod his opening gambit which led to his description of all the things that make him happy.
Nathan thought happiness was a quest. Seeking it but not always achieving it. The journey to personal relationships and work satisfaction played a large part. Health and hormones and choosing what do in your spare time could also lead to a satisfying life path giving a sense of happiness and achievement.
Peter Minshall from Loughborough was Chief Judge along with Benn Gunn from Newark and Callum Young from Nottingham. While the judges were deliberating the audience took part in another topic session.
After the interval Nathan, who works in the Green Energy Field, gave a fascinating talk about the use of burning household rubbish to provide heating for over 5,000 houses and commercial buildings in Nottingham. Rubbish from landfill sites provides fuel for a large incinerator which boils water to make steam which is then sent through an extensive system of underground pipes.
To close the evening the Area President along with the Chief Judge presented the awards which will be kept until the following year.
Nathan was wished good luck in the Districts Finals which will take place at Foxton Village Hall at the end of the month.
Nathan Truesdale, Anne Eldridge & Peter Minshall |
Martin Cox, Nick Ajinkya, Nathan Truesdale, Rod Repton, Anne Eldridge & Peter Minshall |
12th March 2019
This evening Sue York welcomed three new visitors to the club at her first time ably chairing a meeting and keeping the programme to time.
Ahmed, Bibo and Aditya had come along after seeing our website and took part in the topics session which was in the capable hands of Sally Dyson. Another first time role for Sally. Sally had a lucky dip bag of small toys from her sons’ toy collection and members were asked to dip into the bag and speak about the country the object represented.
We had Eric talking about the Antarctic, Lydia from Romania talked about growing potatoes, Nick displayed his knowledge of trains in India and Ahmed, who chose an elephant, based his topic on King Solomon’s Mine, an exciting Ryder Haggard story set in Africa.
Aditya spoke well about Australian animals and Bibo picked an Italian Formula 1 race car and based her topic on the wonderful shoes and handbags from Italy.
The Topic session gives people the opportunity to speak without any preparation for three minutes on a given subject and all found something to say for the time allotted.
Nathan Truesdale evaluated the topics speakers and after a lengthy deliberation, as they were all very competent, chose Ahmed as the best topic performer of the evening and awarded him the Topics Award to hold until the next meeting.
We had the usual three prepared speeches from Mark Harrison, Frank Rawson and James Gibson. James was congratulated on achieving his Showpiece speech award having successfully completed ten assignments in the training manual.
Ahmed, Bibo and Aditya had come along after seeing our website and took part in the topics session which was in the capable hands of Sally Dyson. Another first time role for Sally. Sally had a lucky dip bag of small toys from her sons’ toy collection and members were asked to dip into the bag and speak about the country the object represented.
We had Eric talking about the Antarctic, Lydia from Romania talked about growing potatoes, Nick displayed his knowledge of trains in India and Ahmed, who chose an elephant, based his topic on King Solomon’s Mine, an exciting Ryder Haggard story set in Africa.
Aditya spoke well about Australian animals and Bibo picked an Italian Formula 1 race car and based her topic on the wonderful shoes and handbags from Italy.
The Topic session gives people the opportunity to speak without any preparation for three minutes on a given subject and all found something to say for the time allotted.
Nathan Truesdale evaluated the topics speakers and after a lengthy deliberation, as they were all very competent, chose Ahmed as the best topic performer of the evening and awarded him the Topics Award to hold until the next meeting.
We had the usual three prepared speeches from Mark Harrison, Frank Rawson and James Gibson. James was congratulated on achieving his Showpiece speech award having successfully completed ten assignments in the training manual.
Ahmed Alshuraimi with Nathan Truesdale
26th February 2019
James Gibson chaired a lively meeting beginning the evening with the usual one minute warm up topic. Three prepared speeches followed this. Firstly from Kay Light to Assignment 3, a Mean What You Say speech. This should be on a subject one feels strongly about so that a varied pitch of the voice and pauses are used to maximum effect.
She spoke about meaning what you say or saying what you mean giving many examples.
Nick Ajinkya spoke to Assignment 2, Speech Construction. We heard a fascinating speech starting with the History of Mankind and the start of civilisation with a progression through to the Mechanical Age then the Computer Age and on to the Future where robots might become cleverer than their Inventors.
Lidia Lupes speech was also to Assignment 2. Lidia told us about Romania; in particular Transylvania and the Carpathian Mountain range which intriguingly she told us are still home to the Lynx, grey wolf and the brown bear. The natural beauty and the cultural history of the country were described using word pictures that conveyed the love of her Homeland.
After a welcome tea break Eric Baker took charge of the Topics Session and asked several people to describe how they would feel if they had to do without the modern conveniences that we rely on today. The NHS, central heating, television, electricity, computers and mobile phones to name a few.
Sally Dyson won the award for the best topic of the evening and is shown receiving the trophy from Sue York, which she is allowed to keep until the next meeting.
She spoke about meaning what you say or saying what you mean giving many examples.
Nick Ajinkya spoke to Assignment 2, Speech Construction. We heard a fascinating speech starting with the History of Mankind and the start of civilisation with a progression through to the Mechanical Age then the Computer Age and on to the Future where robots might become cleverer than their Inventors.
Lidia Lupes speech was also to Assignment 2. Lidia told us about Romania; in particular Transylvania and the Carpathian Mountain range which intriguingly she told us are still home to the Lynx, grey wolf and the brown bear. The natural beauty and the cultural history of the country were described using word pictures that conveyed the love of her Homeland.
After a welcome tea break Eric Baker took charge of the Topics Session and asked several people to describe how they would feel if they had to do without the modern conveniences that we rely on today. The NHS, central heating, television, electricity, computers and mobile phones to name a few.
Sally Dyson won the award for the best topic of the evening and is shown receiving the trophy from Sue York, which she is allowed to keep until the next meeting.
Sally Dyson receiving Topics trophy from Sue York
12th February 2019
It was competition time again this evening. This time for the Topics Trophy which was won by Vince Jupp & Dorota Pawelczuk was a worthy runner up, again with English not being her first language she gave a good topic on the word Perseverance. Martin Cox, President of the Newark club was the chief judge with fellow judges James Davies and Ann Cox.
Winners of the previous contests for Speech and Evaluation have reached Area level and club member James Davies won the Evaluation Contest and runner up of the Speech Contest. The area will host the area Topics contest in due course and winners of all three contests will go on to the District Finals then to the National contests held in April.
There was the usual warm up session at the start of the evening and Pindar Tara gave us an example of five yogic breaths. Breathing techniques can be very helpful in public speaking so this was something we may need to practice.
Serpil Akkaya gave her second speech to an assignment based on construction. This was an inspirational speech about not giving up. Serpil has learnt English since coming to this country and has a really good command of the language.
Vince Jupp performed a speech which took us on an imaginary walk through the countryside on a wintry day using a plethora of adjectives to demonstrate his skill at word pictures and vocabulary.
University student Joe Zhouzhhenghong gave a speech to show gestures and body language describing his time as an Intern during the summer holidays.
Winners of the previous contests for Speech and Evaluation have reached Area level and club member James Davies won the Evaluation Contest and runner up of the Speech Contest. The area will host the area Topics contest in due course and winners of all three contests will go on to the District Finals then to the National contests held in April.
There was the usual warm up session at the start of the evening and Pindar Tara gave us an example of five yogic breaths. Breathing techniques can be very helpful in public speaking so this was something we may need to practice.
Serpil Akkaya gave her second speech to an assignment based on construction. This was an inspirational speech about not giving up. Serpil has learnt English since coming to this country and has a really good command of the language.
Vince Jupp performed a speech which took us on an imaginary walk through the countryside on a wintry day using a plethora of adjectives to demonstrate his skill at word pictures and vocabulary.
University student Joe Zhouzhhenghong gave a speech to show gestures and body language describing his time as an Intern during the summer holidays.
Vince Jupp (right) receiving Topics trophy from Martin Cox with Dorota Pawelczuk
22nd January 2019
Our evening got off to a great start. Frank Rawson, on his first outing as club chairman, successfully managed the evening which started with the warm up word ‘Snow’; setting the scene for a fun evening.
The first speech entitled ‘Frozen in time’ was brought to us by Sue York and spoke of a child clinging to its mother, in Pompei, Italy, in 79AD, when Mount Vesuvius erupted; burning hot black ash raining down with 6 inches falling every hour.
Centuries later in 1748 explorers found their bodies hardened in perfect rock moulds. Pompeii, frozen in time, was brought to life once again by Sue; a fascinating and interesting speech. We learn so much at speakers’ club.
The second speech by Andy Kowalski was based on using gestures and was entitled ‘Leadership and politics.’ Andy expressed his concern at the lack of leadership regarding Brexit and went onto to give examples of good leaders. He chose Mahatma Ghandi as an outstanding example; an astute Indian, non-violent campaigner. He also cited Nelson Mandela who showed great restraint as a man of peace, had a powerful presence and showed the world what forgiveness looks like. There were other examples in JFK, famous for the Cuban crisis, and the civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, famous for the ‘I have a dream speech.’ Andy contrasted these with poor leadership examples like Neil Kinnock’s failure to win the 1972 election and he concluded with his concern about the British Government’s lack of a workable policy with the EU.
The third speaker, Lidia Lupes, a relatively new member, offered her second speech entitled ‘Wonderful Romania’. She spoke of her love for her country deeply; how beautiful the landscape is and how amazing and important the river Danube is. Time has stood still in Romania. It is a country unspoiled by modernisation; Prince Charles quoted as saying that 'Romania has a sound spiritual base, great social significance and a soul.'
Three different, contrasting, interesting speeches!
After the interval, the topic session was chaired by Nathan Tynsdale. Speakers were given an emotive word like ‘Anger’, or ‘Surprise’ and asked to express it so that the audience could guess the word.
First up was Nick Aginkya, who expressed ‘Anger’ at the state of the British Railway and its appalling mismanagement. Nick’s anger seemed real and as a result he was awarded the Golden Gavel for the best presentation.
Another word expressed was ‘Surprise’. Sue York brought back child hood memories of Santa Claus and stockings. Good emotion was shown in the speech as were others in explaining ‘sadness’ and ‘excitement’. This was a successful theme.
The other successful first of the evening was presented by Vince Jupp who reviewed the whole evening’s activities. He offered constructive advice to the chairman, the evaluators, the topic evaluator and the time keeper, who was thanked for standing in.
The whole evening was very successful, engaging and fun.
The first speech entitled ‘Frozen in time’ was brought to us by Sue York and spoke of a child clinging to its mother, in Pompei, Italy, in 79AD, when Mount Vesuvius erupted; burning hot black ash raining down with 6 inches falling every hour.
Centuries later in 1748 explorers found their bodies hardened in perfect rock moulds. Pompeii, frozen in time, was brought to life once again by Sue; a fascinating and interesting speech. We learn so much at speakers’ club.
The second speech by Andy Kowalski was based on using gestures and was entitled ‘Leadership and politics.’ Andy expressed his concern at the lack of leadership regarding Brexit and went onto to give examples of good leaders. He chose Mahatma Ghandi as an outstanding example; an astute Indian, non-violent campaigner. He also cited Nelson Mandela who showed great restraint as a man of peace, had a powerful presence and showed the world what forgiveness looks like. There were other examples in JFK, famous for the Cuban crisis, and the civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, famous for the ‘I have a dream speech.’ Andy contrasted these with poor leadership examples like Neil Kinnock’s failure to win the 1972 election and he concluded with his concern about the British Government’s lack of a workable policy with the EU.
The third speaker, Lidia Lupes, a relatively new member, offered her second speech entitled ‘Wonderful Romania’. She spoke of her love for her country deeply; how beautiful the landscape is and how amazing and important the river Danube is. Time has stood still in Romania. It is a country unspoiled by modernisation; Prince Charles quoted as saying that 'Romania has a sound spiritual base, great social significance and a soul.'
Three different, contrasting, interesting speeches!
After the interval, the topic session was chaired by Nathan Tynsdale. Speakers were given an emotive word like ‘Anger’, or ‘Surprise’ and asked to express it so that the audience could guess the word.
First up was Nick Aginkya, who expressed ‘Anger’ at the state of the British Railway and its appalling mismanagement. Nick’s anger seemed real and as a result he was awarded the Golden Gavel for the best presentation.
Another word expressed was ‘Surprise’. Sue York brought back child hood memories of Santa Claus and stockings. Good emotion was shown in the speech as were others in explaining ‘sadness’ and ‘excitement’. This was a successful theme.
The other successful first of the evening was presented by Vince Jupp who reviewed the whole evening’s activities. He offered constructive advice to the chairman, the evaluators, the topic evaluator and the time keeper, who was thanked for standing in.
The whole evening was very successful, engaging and fun.
Nick Aginkya receives Topics trophy from Arthur Murray
8th January 2019
''We were pleased to welcome more visitors to this evening's meeting, Ann and Martin Cox from the Newark Club came to enjoy meeting up with old friends and Dorota Pawelczuk and Pindar Tara, both visiting for the first time, took part in the two minute topic session.
Vince Jupp chaired the Topics session and gave people choices of Christmas related subjects. Dorota gave a good topic about Christmas cards reminding everyone that sending love and good wishes to family and friends, some of whom may not have been seen often but still remain in their hearts and minds and lets them know they are still important.
It was a close tie as to who won the best topic but Pindar Tara was chosen for his family themed topic on Christmas crackers. The excitement of what you find inside and the jokes which get everyone laughing and as a DIY fan, Pindar said he appreciated the screwdriver he found in his.
There were three prepared speeches. Kay Light gave us a biography of a man she thought very highly of in Spain where she spent many years, entitled 'Antonio Gala - an introduction'. Kay described him as being similar to Peter Ustinov, Poet, Playwright, Novelist and Raconteur. Now 88 years of age he is still entertaining people with his television interviews. This was Kay’s second speech aimed at speech construction.
Frank Rawson has reached his eighth speech in the guide book, Use of Humour. Probably one of the more difficult speeches to produce. He immediately brought a smile to the audience by producing his own sand timer. Timing is considered an important factor in public speaking, so going over time or under time can cause problems in a real environment.
We heard about the various ways humour can be achieved with lots of examples. Senior moments. Wondering if going upstairs or down and what for was solved by moving to a bungalow! We were all familiar with the Fork Handles sketch from Ronnie Barker’s TV sitcom and Morecombe and Wise playing the piano in a sketch with Andre Previn.
Frank brought his speech to a fitting finale with a joke from the Irish comedian, Dave Allen.
When it comes to performing the tenth speech in the Speakers Guide, which aims to include all the techniques learnt, an outside evaluator is required alongside a senior club member. On this occasion we were pleased to welcome Nathan Truesdale, President of the Nottingham club who is a very experienced speaker and he joined last year’s National President of the ASC, Eric Baker to advise James Gibson on his speech.
A well performed and intriguing speech entitled 'Paradox Explained'. James left us pondering several conundrums which I am sure left everyone with lots to discuss.
Vince Jupp chaired the Topics session and gave people choices of Christmas related subjects. Dorota gave a good topic about Christmas cards reminding everyone that sending love and good wishes to family and friends, some of whom may not have been seen often but still remain in their hearts and minds and lets them know they are still important.
It was a close tie as to who won the best topic but Pindar Tara was chosen for his family themed topic on Christmas crackers. The excitement of what you find inside and the jokes which get everyone laughing and as a DIY fan, Pindar said he appreciated the screwdriver he found in his.
There were three prepared speeches. Kay Light gave us a biography of a man she thought very highly of in Spain where she spent many years, entitled 'Antonio Gala - an introduction'. Kay described him as being similar to Peter Ustinov, Poet, Playwright, Novelist and Raconteur. Now 88 years of age he is still entertaining people with his television interviews. This was Kay’s second speech aimed at speech construction.
Frank Rawson has reached his eighth speech in the guide book, Use of Humour. Probably one of the more difficult speeches to produce. He immediately brought a smile to the audience by producing his own sand timer. Timing is considered an important factor in public speaking, so going over time or under time can cause problems in a real environment.
We heard about the various ways humour can be achieved with lots of examples. Senior moments. Wondering if going upstairs or down and what for was solved by moving to a bungalow! We were all familiar with the Fork Handles sketch from Ronnie Barker’s TV sitcom and Morecombe and Wise playing the piano in a sketch with Andre Previn.
Frank brought his speech to a fitting finale with a joke from the Irish comedian, Dave Allen.
When it comes to performing the tenth speech in the Speakers Guide, which aims to include all the techniques learnt, an outside evaluator is required alongside a senior club member. On this occasion we were pleased to welcome Nathan Truesdale, President of the Nottingham club who is a very experienced speaker and he joined last year’s National President of the ASC, Eric Baker to advise James Gibson on his speech.
A well performed and intriguing speech entitled 'Paradox Explained'. James left us pondering several conundrums which I am sure left everyone with lots to discuss.
Mark Harrison presenting trophy to Pindar Tara
11th December 2018
James Gibson chaired the Christmas themed evening with flair and aplomb. Balloons, coloured disco lights and festive music set the scene with a bit of magic thrown in for good measure. Stylishly dressed in a navy velvet dinner jacket and red trousers James gave the Chair an elegance not always seen on an ordinary club night and he was determined to make this an evening of fun and frivolity. He introduced the usual warm up session with an innovative pairing of two speakers who were both given a snowflake bauble to speak about in random turns at the sound of a bell, one following on from the other. This worked exceptionally well as a “thinking on your feet” exercise.
Maiden speeches by two new members to the club were then given, beginning their speaking journey through the Speakers Guide which aims to teach people about construction, gestures, use of voice etc. Kay Light had a fascinating story to tell about her life and varied career. From an interest in Pathology she worked in a mortuary. Moving to Tenerife gave her the opportunity to learn Spanish and became a Court Interpreter amongst other interesting jobs. Now that she is back in England, we look forward to hearing more of her experiences.
At the other end of the scale Lidia Lupes told us about growing up in communist Romania. Born into a Christian family she lived with her family in a small village where goats were milked for their daily supply and food was often caught with a catapult. They were constantly persecuted by the police and if bibles and hymn books were found they were heavily fined. It was a time of extreme hardship. Food shortages and rationing led to long queues lasting many hours. The state decided how much food each person should have and these deprivations led to emotional distress and loss of confidence. People learnt to keep quiet and trust no one.
Lydia was lucky; she escaped and found herself in Britain where she has rebuilt her life through resilience and determination. She learned the language and is now the proud mother of her own family.
To end the evening Arthur Murray had devised a two minute Topics session on, naturally, a Christmas theme. Christmas Trees, real or fake? Has the true meaning of Christmas been ruined by commercialism? Has TV spoiled traditional Christmas games? Real presents or Gift cards? Plenty to get involved in and everyone managed to speak for the required amount of time.
Maiden speeches by two new members to the club were then given, beginning their speaking journey through the Speakers Guide which aims to teach people about construction, gestures, use of voice etc. Kay Light had a fascinating story to tell about her life and varied career. From an interest in Pathology she worked in a mortuary. Moving to Tenerife gave her the opportunity to learn Spanish and became a Court Interpreter amongst other interesting jobs. Now that she is back in England, we look forward to hearing more of her experiences.
At the other end of the scale Lidia Lupes told us about growing up in communist Romania. Born into a Christian family she lived with her family in a small village where goats were milked for their daily supply and food was often caught with a catapult. They were constantly persecuted by the police and if bibles and hymn books were found they were heavily fined. It was a time of extreme hardship. Food shortages and rationing led to long queues lasting many hours. The state decided how much food each person should have and these deprivations led to emotional distress and loss of confidence. People learnt to keep quiet and trust no one.
Lydia was lucky; she escaped and found herself in Britain where she has rebuilt her life through resilience and determination. She learned the language and is now the proud mother of her own family.
To end the evening Arthur Murray had devised a two minute Topics session on, naturally, a Christmas theme. Christmas Trees, real or fake? Has the true meaning of Christmas been ruined by commercialism? Has TV spoiled traditional Christmas games? Real presents or Gift cards? Plenty to get involved in and everyone managed to speak for the required amount of time.
Our ever growing club members & guests enjoyed our Christmas meeting
27th November 2018
Two of our club competitions took place this evening. The speech competition is a prepared speech between six and eight minutes. There was a diverse range of subjects. Frank Rawson began his talk on sailing and the compass points used for accurate navigation. This led to an historical description of time, going back 6,000 years to the ancient Babylonians, now Iran, through to how the scoring of tennis came about.
Vince Jupp, winner of the competition, gave a heart warming story of a troubled teenager suffering with lack of self esteem and behavioural problems overcoming his difficulties with the right sort of communication and understanding. He explained the importance of listening to each other and making sure we care.
Sally Dyson‘s talk told a fascinating story about three classical composers and how they met their demise. One English, Henry Purcell. One French, Jean Baptiste Lully and Austrian, Anton Webern. Sally has a musical background so brings a new and interesting subject to the club.
James Davies, told us about how railway tracks came to be four feet eight and a half inches wide, all down to the size of two horses rears fitting in a Roman Chariot.
We heard about the delights of Italy from Sue York. Lots of lovely word pictures which took us on a journey of food, ice cream and Limoncello in the beautiful surroundings of Sorrento.
A target speech by Eric Baker for the Evaluation Contest was won by James Davies who will join the speech winner at the Area contest held between Nottingham, Newark and Derby clubs. We all wish them the best of luck.
We meet again on December 11th for our Christmas meeting with mulled wine and mince pies. Visitors are always welcome. It is often said that one of the greatest fears in life is public speaking but in the friendly atmosphere of a speakers' club meeting, this can be practised and confidence improved so that when you need to do that presentation at work or a speech at a wedding it won’t be quite such a scary undertaking.
Vince Jupp, winner of the competition, gave a heart warming story of a troubled teenager suffering with lack of self esteem and behavioural problems overcoming his difficulties with the right sort of communication and understanding. He explained the importance of listening to each other and making sure we care.
Sally Dyson‘s talk told a fascinating story about three classical composers and how they met their demise. One English, Henry Purcell. One French, Jean Baptiste Lully and Austrian, Anton Webern. Sally has a musical background so brings a new and interesting subject to the club.
James Davies, told us about how railway tracks came to be four feet eight and a half inches wide, all down to the size of two horses rears fitting in a Roman Chariot.
We heard about the delights of Italy from Sue York. Lots of lovely word pictures which took us on a journey of food, ice cream and Limoncello in the beautiful surroundings of Sorrento.
A target speech by Eric Baker for the Evaluation Contest was won by James Davies who will join the speech winner at the Area contest held between Nottingham, Newark and Derby clubs. We all wish them the best of luck.
We meet again on December 11th for our Christmas meeting with mulled wine and mince pies. Visitors are always welcome. It is often said that one of the greatest fears in life is public speaking but in the friendly atmosphere of a speakers' club meeting, this can be practised and confidence improved so that when you need to do that presentation at work or a speech at a wedding it won’t be quite such a scary undertaking.
James Gibson, Kay Light, Sue York, James Davies, Vince Jupp, Sally Dyson & Frank Rawson
25th November 2018
All the fun of the Christmas Market Fair in Loughborough town centre as we joined the many charity and craft stalls awaiting the celebration of the turning on of the Christmas lights.
The weather was bright and sunny and the town was buzzing with shoppers and entertainers.
The weather was bright and sunny and the town was buzzing with shoppers and entertainers.
Eric, Patricia & Arthur at the Christmas fair
13th November 2018
So many were at this meeting that we were running out of chairs to accommodate all our visitors and new members. Kay on her second visit to the club became a full member and will be a welcome addition to the club. She has already proved her skill at impromptu topics and we certainly look forward to her prepared speeches.
The popularity of the club must be down in part to the efforts of Arthur Murray who tirelessly recruits from stalls outside John Storer House and in the market place and also hopefully from the excellent coverage in the Loughborough Echo. Mention too should be made of Eva Weng who now lives in Guildford but still maintains our online presence which has attracted several new members.
The evening was ably chaired by Vince Jupp, a relatively recent member who has also agreed to be club secretary. The evening started with the usual warm up session where everyone gets to speak for one minute on a subject almost of their choice.
This was followed by three prepared speeches, two from new members giving their first speech and from student Jo Zhou Zeng Hong his third.
Aaokron Anstey told us about his love of languages. From his first word as a baby then going to France with his family as a young boy and learning French, returning to England and taking on Latin and German then as a teenager, back to France for a summer job selling doughnuts on the beach. He perfected a unique selling approach by singing French phrases which made him the top salesman. Returning to school he found the experience had greatly improved his skills in the language. He said the best way to learn a language is by going to the country and immersing yourself in the local culture. Spanish and Chinese were his next goals. He finds these language skills extremely helpful working with students at the University.
Keeping with an International flavour, Serpil Akkaya who comes from Turkey, also gave her first speech called "Culture Shock". We learned about the difficulties of coming here and learning English; the realisation that rain doesn't always make the British miserable and that it is OK to go out in it with the right clothing and an umbrella. How would her three year old daughter cope in such strange surroundings? Food can also be a hurdle. What does it mean to invite someone for Tea for example? What would an English person expect? Serpil concluded "Variety is the Spice of Life" and you will see her and her husband in the town selling that popular English fast food, the Jacket Potato!
Jo Zhou then cleverly explained that sometimes a short cut is not a short cut. To reach your destination in the shortest time is dependent on a variety of factors such as traffic jams, money, type of transport and taking a short cut may not be the answer.
He considered the role of medicine. To cure in the least possible time may not require antibiotics which are widely used.
Solving mathematical problems using formulas such as algebra may be a short cut. Taking short cuts in the business world can lead to disaster. He quoted the case of Nick Leeson who famously lost over £800 million pounds when working for Barings Bank.
For people finding their feet we provide short readings ranging from poetry to newspaper articles. Adam and Lydia, both visitors whose first language is not English, both did well with these.
We are in awe of the people we have in our midst who excel in learning our language so well. This was truly an international evening and we all gain from listening to their experiences.
The popularity of the club must be down in part to the efforts of Arthur Murray who tirelessly recruits from stalls outside John Storer House and in the market place and also hopefully from the excellent coverage in the Loughborough Echo. Mention too should be made of Eva Weng who now lives in Guildford but still maintains our online presence which has attracted several new members.
The evening was ably chaired by Vince Jupp, a relatively recent member who has also agreed to be club secretary. The evening started with the usual warm up session where everyone gets to speak for one minute on a subject almost of their choice.
This was followed by three prepared speeches, two from new members giving their first speech and from student Jo Zhou Zeng Hong his third.
Aaokron Anstey told us about his love of languages. From his first word as a baby then going to France with his family as a young boy and learning French, returning to England and taking on Latin and German then as a teenager, back to France for a summer job selling doughnuts on the beach. He perfected a unique selling approach by singing French phrases which made him the top salesman. Returning to school he found the experience had greatly improved his skills in the language. He said the best way to learn a language is by going to the country and immersing yourself in the local culture. Spanish and Chinese were his next goals. He finds these language skills extremely helpful working with students at the University.
Keeping with an International flavour, Serpil Akkaya who comes from Turkey, also gave her first speech called "Culture Shock". We learned about the difficulties of coming here and learning English; the realisation that rain doesn't always make the British miserable and that it is OK to go out in it with the right clothing and an umbrella. How would her three year old daughter cope in such strange surroundings? Food can also be a hurdle. What does it mean to invite someone for Tea for example? What would an English person expect? Serpil concluded "Variety is the Spice of Life" and you will see her and her husband in the town selling that popular English fast food, the Jacket Potato!
Jo Zhou then cleverly explained that sometimes a short cut is not a short cut. To reach your destination in the shortest time is dependent on a variety of factors such as traffic jams, money, type of transport and taking a short cut may not be the answer.
He considered the role of medicine. To cure in the least possible time may not require antibiotics which are widely used.
Solving mathematical problems using formulas such as algebra may be a short cut. Taking short cuts in the business world can lead to disaster. He quoted the case of Nick Leeson who famously lost over £800 million pounds when working for Barings Bank.
For people finding their feet we provide short readings ranging from poetry to newspaper articles. Adam and Lydia, both visitors whose first language is not English, both did well with these.
We are in awe of the people we have in our midst who excel in learning our language so well. This was truly an international evening and we all gain from listening to their experiences.
Serpil Akkaya with James Gibson after making her first speech
23rd October 2018
We were pleased to welcome several visitors at the last meeting. New member Nick Ajinkya brought his daughter Victoria and two friends, Kay and Adam who we hope will continue to take part as they did so well in the topics session.
New members Serpil, Aaron, Mauranda and Rory all took part in the topics session with Mauranda Lewis winning the best topic of the evening.
Mauranda also gave her maiden speech and told us about her life and aspirations. Born in Hackney, London to Jamaican parents, she realised that education was the way out of living in an area with a bad reputation and has proved her point well. One of a twin, her sister followed a Drama career while Mauranda studied Construction Engineering at University and is now working on a Masters Degree at Nottingham University.
Vince Jupp attained his 5th assignment by using his voice effectively. Vince chose the title “Encouraging Rudyard”.
Inspired by reading the biography of Rudyard Kipling, Vince explored the different titles and poems which many of us recognise, “The Man who would be King”, “Jungle Book” and the well known poem “If”. Some of these stories have been made into films and dramas which have been shown in Cinemas and on TV.
Vince was encouraged to write a poem of his own called “Less is More, More or Less” which he recited to the club. Vince has become a very impressive speaker since joining us last year.
Also giving his maiden speech was Nick Ajinkya. Clearly a natural raconteur Nick told us about his career with the Approved School Service. After being invalided out of the Services Nick decided he wanted to work with young people and showed he had a gift for communicating with them. He told his story with humour and confidence and we look forward to more of his entertaining reminiscences.
After a short tea break Eric Baker conducted the Topics session by suggesting hypothetical situations in which people might find themselves. Sue York who has progressed with her speeches gave the Topics evaluation as well as an evaluation of Mauranda’s speech. Everyone takes a turn at the various roles within the club so experience is gained in different ways.
New members Serpil, Aaron, Mauranda and Rory all took part in the topics session with Mauranda Lewis winning the best topic of the evening.
Mauranda also gave her maiden speech and told us about her life and aspirations. Born in Hackney, London to Jamaican parents, she realised that education was the way out of living in an area with a bad reputation and has proved her point well. One of a twin, her sister followed a Drama career while Mauranda studied Construction Engineering at University and is now working on a Masters Degree at Nottingham University.
Vince Jupp attained his 5th assignment by using his voice effectively. Vince chose the title “Encouraging Rudyard”.
Inspired by reading the biography of Rudyard Kipling, Vince explored the different titles and poems which many of us recognise, “The Man who would be King”, “Jungle Book” and the well known poem “If”. Some of these stories have been made into films and dramas which have been shown in Cinemas and on TV.
Vince was encouraged to write a poem of his own called “Less is More, More or Less” which he recited to the club. Vince has become a very impressive speaker since joining us last year.
Also giving his maiden speech was Nick Ajinkya. Clearly a natural raconteur Nick told us about his career with the Approved School Service. After being invalided out of the Services Nick decided he wanted to work with young people and showed he had a gift for communicating with them. He told his story with humour and confidence and we look forward to more of his entertaining reminiscences.
After a short tea break Eric Baker conducted the Topics session by suggesting hypothetical situations in which people might find themselves. Sue York who has progressed with her speeches gave the Topics evaluation as well as an evaluation of Mauranda’s speech. Everyone takes a turn at the various roles within the club so experience is gained in different ways.
Sue York presenting trophy to Mauranda Lewis
9th October 2018
Our third meeting of the new season got off to a great start as we were delighted to welcome three new guests - Mauranda Lewis, Aaron Anstey and Rory O’Sullivan together with Serpil Akkaya who came for a second visit.
The first speech of the evening was given by Jo Zhou Zeng hong titled ‘My Social Enterprise’. In it he explained about how to set up a new company, talked in detail on the management structure of the business model, explained the rolls and responsibility of the various members of the work force and showed that it was not driven by profit alone but gave serious consideration to the environment. Jo had clearly done a lot of research on the subject and delivered his assignment successfully with enthusiasm and conviction plus the added bonus of showing a Powerpoint presentation.
Sue York followed with a beautifully descriptive speech titled ‘The Delights of Sorrento’ in which she made us envious of lovely holidays in a beautiful country. She also made our mouths water by telling us all about the many pasta dishes that use traditional Mozzarella cheese which is made from the milk of water buffalos. No mention of Sorrento however would be complete without reference to a refreshing glass of Limoncello or an Italian ice-cream and Sue had us all dreaming of ‘Just one Cornetto - give it to me - delicious ice-cream - from Italy’.
The third speech of the evening was given by James Gibson who called his speech ‘Ad hoc’, which he told us was a Latin phrase and meant ‘for this’ or ‘for this situation’. He spoke about the great speeches of the past which had moved nations and personally inspired him. To discover ‘What is their Magic Ingredient?’ James asked us to consider the memorable ‘Infamy Speech’ that was delivered by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on December 8th 1941 just one day after the Empire of Japan's attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbour. Also the "I Have a Dream" speech delivered by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28th 1963, in which he calls for an end to racism in the United States and called for civil and economic rights. It was also in 1963 that President John F. Kennedy made his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech at the Berlin Wall on June 26th. But James then reminded us that no reference to famous speeches would be complete without reference to Winston Churchill’s 1940 ‘We shall fight them on the beaches’ speech given on June 4th which was one of the defining speeches during the Second World War. All of James speeches are well researched and once again he provided us with an educational, entertaining and most enjoyable experience delivered with his usual enthusiasm and gusto.
After a well earned break, which gave us time to chat with our new guests, the evening continued with ‘The Topic Session’ which on this occasion was chaired by Vince Jupp. He challenged with the task of explaining seemingly obvious subjects to imaginary aliens from outer space. Some of those present taking up the challenge included our club president Peter Minshall trying to explain the game of Cricket whilst admitting to be somewhat uncertain of the rules anyway! Sue York had us all laughing as she struggled to describe the seemingly simple act of kissing. Perhaps Arthur Murray had an easier time in telling our alien friends all about Morris Dancing. We were delighted too that all of our guests rose to the occasion and took part in this impromptu part of the evening that even for experienced members of the club can sometimes be daunting.
The first speech of the evening was given by Jo Zhou Zeng hong titled ‘My Social Enterprise’. In it he explained about how to set up a new company, talked in detail on the management structure of the business model, explained the rolls and responsibility of the various members of the work force and showed that it was not driven by profit alone but gave serious consideration to the environment. Jo had clearly done a lot of research on the subject and delivered his assignment successfully with enthusiasm and conviction plus the added bonus of showing a Powerpoint presentation.
Sue York followed with a beautifully descriptive speech titled ‘The Delights of Sorrento’ in which she made us envious of lovely holidays in a beautiful country. She also made our mouths water by telling us all about the many pasta dishes that use traditional Mozzarella cheese which is made from the milk of water buffalos. No mention of Sorrento however would be complete without reference to a refreshing glass of Limoncello or an Italian ice-cream and Sue had us all dreaming of ‘Just one Cornetto - give it to me - delicious ice-cream - from Italy’.
The third speech of the evening was given by James Gibson who called his speech ‘Ad hoc’, which he told us was a Latin phrase and meant ‘for this’ or ‘for this situation’. He spoke about the great speeches of the past which had moved nations and personally inspired him. To discover ‘What is their Magic Ingredient?’ James asked us to consider the memorable ‘Infamy Speech’ that was delivered by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on December 8th 1941 just one day after the Empire of Japan's attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbour. Also the "I Have a Dream" speech delivered by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28th 1963, in which he calls for an end to racism in the United States and called for civil and economic rights. It was also in 1963 that President John F. Kennedy made his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech at the Berlin Wall on June 26th. But James then reminded us that no reference to famous speeches would be complete without reference to Winston Churchill’s 1940 ‘We shall fight them on the beaches’ speech given on June 4th which was one of the defining speeches during the Second World War. All of James speeches are well researched and once again he provided us with an educational, entertaining and most enjoyable experience delivered with his usual enthusiasm and gusto.
After a well earned break, which gave us time to chat with our new guests, the evening continued with ‘The Topic Session’ which on this occasion was chaired by Vince Jupp. He challenged with the task of explaining seemingly obvious subjects to imaginary aliens from outer space. Some of those present taking up the challenge included our club president Peter Minshall trying to explain the game of Cricket whilst admitting to be somewhat uncertain of the rules anyway! Sue York had us all laughing as she struggled to describe the seemingly simple act of kissing. Perhaps Arthur Murray had an easier time in telling our alien friends all about Morris Dancing. We were delighted too that all of our guests rose to the occasion and took part in this impromptu part of the evening that even for experienced members of the club can sometimes be daunting.
Eric Baker (centre) welcomed guests Rory O'Sullivan, Aaron Anstey, Mauranda Lewis & Serpil Akkaya so that they could see first hand the benefits of joining our club
25th September 2018
The club was pleased to welcome visitor Nick Ajinkya who had stopped by our information stall in Loughborough market to find out about the club. Clearly a man of talent as he won the best topic of the evening with his humorous 3 minutes speech about his experiences with bicycles and cycling.
Another visitor to the club who became a member at her second visit was Sally Dyson who performed her first speech which we call an icebreaker, to introduce herself to us.
She called her speech “Who am I” and proceeded to recount her upbringing in Nottinghamshire, describing her experiences of growing up through the different seasons of the year. She became an accomplished clarinet player with well known orchestras until moving on to become a wife and mother and a totally different career move.
Vince Jupp, now in his second season with the club prepared a power point presentation called “Speaking volumes without saying a word”. He informed us that we had all told him much more about ourselves than we had imagined through our body language. He knew if we liked him or not! How we felt about ourselves and whether we were “open or closed”. How different handshakes can reveal your personality and if a smile is genuine or fake.
Frank Rawson offered us his eighth speech from the speaking guide that we produce entitled “Three wheels on my wagon”. This was based on Audience Rapport and he took us on his journey as a sixteen year old who was allowed to drive but only a three wheeler. As a sixth former he drove himself to school in a three wheel Reliant which gave us an image of a well known three wheeler in a popular TV comedy. There were several mishaps and accidents along the way until at last, at seventeen he moved on to a four wheel vehicle.
Another visitor to the club who became a member at her second visit was Sally Dyson who performed her first speech which we call an icebreaker, to introduce herself to us.
She called her speech “Who am I” and proceeded to recount her upbringing in Nottinghamshire, describing her experiences of growing up through the different seasons of the year. She became an accomplished clarinet player with well known orchestras until moving on to become a wife and mother and a totally different career move.
Vince Jupp, now in his second season with the club prepared a power point presentation called “Speaking volumes without saying a word”. He informed us that we had all told him much more about ourselves than we had imagined through our body language. He knew if we liked him or not! How we felt about ourselves and whether we were “open or closed”. How different handshakes can reveal your personality and if a smile is genuine or fake.
Frank Rawson offered us his eighth speech from the speaking guide that we produce entitled “Three wheels on my wagon”. This was based on Audience Rapport and he took us on his journey as a sixteen year old who was allowed to drive but only a three wheeler. As a sixth former he drove himself to school in a three wheel Reliant which gave us an image of a well known three wheeler in a popular TV comedy. There were several mishaps and accidents along the way until at last, at seventeen he moved on to a four wheel vehicle.
Club President Peter Minshall presenting Topics trophy to Nick Ajinkya
11th September 2018
After a summer break our club members got back into their stride with some entertaining speeches and topics as if they had never been away.
We were certainly not disappointed with the speeches at this meeting.
James Gibson gave a speech entitled “The Paradox Explained” which gave us plenty of food for thought and raised several questions on the complexity of paradox and conundrums.
Arthur Murray’s speech title was “Hearts, Tarts and Rascals”. Again an intriguing title which made us wonder what he was going to talk about. Well, it was that great British tradition, afternoon tea at Betty’s in York. Cream Hearts, Jam Tarts and Fat Rascals were deliciously described and had us all watering at the mouth ready for our tea and biscuits.
James Davies gave a fascinating speech entitled “Four feet, eight and a half Inches”.
He asked if we knew what that measurement was, not many of us did.
Describing this as the measurement between the tracks on a railway in America and why. Of course, it was based on British engineering standards. And where did this come from he asked. From the same gauge as the tramways that preceded the trains!
Leading us skilfully back in time via the width of wagons fitting the ruts in the road to the Roman chariots and carts on which the measurement of the horse’s backside was the vital factor to the Mormons in Utah who make boosters for the rockets sent into space which are the same measurement - an important factor when transporting them from Utah to Cape Canaveral by rail.
We can always learn something from the speeches people prepare and be entertained at the same time as building confidence in addressing an audience.
If you would like to gain confidence in speaking why not join us at our next meeting.
We were certainly not disappointed with the speeches at this meeting.
James Gibson gave a speech entitled “The Paradox Explained” which gave us plenty of food for thought and raised several questions on the complexity of paradox and conundrums.
Arthur Murray’s speech title was “Hearts, Tarts and Rascals”. Again an intriguing title which made us wonder what he was going to talk about. Well, it was that great British tradition, afternoon tea at Betty’s in York. Cream Hearts, Jam Tarts and Fat Rascals were deliciously described and had us all watering at the mouth ready for our tea and biscuits.
James Davies gave a fascinating speech entitled “Four feet, eight and a half Inches”.
He asked if we knew what that measurement was, not many of us did.
Describing this as the measurement between the tracks on a railway in America and why. Of course, it was based on British engineering standards. And where did this come from he asked. From the same gauge as the tramways that preceded the trains!
Leading us skilfully back in time via the width of wagons fitting the ruts in the road to the Roman chariots and carts on which the measurement of the horse’s backside was the vital factor to the Mormons in Utah who make boosters for the rockets sent into space which are the same measurement - an important factor when transporting them from Utah to Cape Canaveral by rail.
We can always learn something from the speeches people prepare and be entertained at the same time as building confidence in addressing an audience.
If you would like to gain confidence in speaking why not join us at our next meeting.
New member Sally Dyson won the Topics contest at her first meeting
Recently Past National President Eric Baker and Club Treasurer Arthur Murray manned a recruitment and information stall on Loughborough market shown here with Nick Ajinkya who came to find out what we did at the club.
12th June 2018
This evening Club President Peter Minshall hosted our summer supper which also gave club members an opportunity to practice after dinner toasts. Arthur Murray gave a toast to the association which was replied to by Eric Baker. A toast to the guests was given by James Gibson and the reply on behalf of the guests by Sue York. Anyone who attends a formal dinner may be called upon to deliver a speech of this kind so it’s a useful exercise to practice.
Our club will be having a break for the summer but will start again in September for the new season. We hope to meet and greet new people who would like to practice their speaking skills in a friendly and helpful environment. You could be the incoming President or Treasurer of a club or association who needs a bit of encouragement or someone who needs to make presentations in the workplace or give a speech at a wedding. There are many occasions where a bit more confidence would be a helpful asset. We’ve also helped students towards the end of their studies when presenting themselves and their work which makes a more confident interview.
Our club will be having a break for the summer but will start again in September for the new season. We hope to meet and greet new people who would like to practice their speaking skills in a friendly and helpful environment. You could be the incoming President or Treasurer of a club or association who needs a bit of encouragement or someone who needs to make presentations in the workplace or give a speech at a wedding. There are many occasions where a bit more confidence would be a helpful asset. We’ve also helped students towards the end of their studies when presenting themselves and their work which makes a more confident interview.
Members enjoyed our Summer Supper evening.
22nd May 2018
In charge of proceedings as chairman this evening was Mark Harrison who got things under way with a warm-up session that included subjects such as ‘Celebration, ‘Success’ and even Oxygen’.
First up to the lectern for our main speeches was Frank Rawson with a speech titled “Time and the Art of Estimation”. A report in the newspapers sent the alarm bells ringing for Frank when he learnt that the young children of today apparently cannot read the time on a standard clock face, so for their exams this year they had been replaced by digital displays. Other skills like map reading are also a lost art. The reading of dials and clock faces are an essential life-skill, important just like reading how much fuel we have in our car, or how much pressure there is in our car tyres. Time, Frank considered, would take at least half a dozen speeches to fully explain this intriguing subject. In conclusion he told us that it was a matter of “Horses for Courses” as both conventional dials and digital displays are essential in modern life, and it is necessary for young people to learn and use both methods.
Our next speaker was Andy Kowalski who titled his speech “Helping others on their Career Journey.” At Loughborough Speakers’ Club the ethos is about helping, improving and equipping members in society to achieve and reach their full potential and Andy, who is a a qualified and very experienced chemist, talked about how as a coach and mentor he is helping young people in setting realistic achievable goals with a management structure set to a realistic time scale. By advocating this philosophy of helping others who may have been stuck in a rut Andy explained how he has helped many young people with ambition to maximise their educational aspirations and thereby enabling them to deal with the harsh realities of modern life.
After the interval our evening continued with evaluations of both speeches where advice on how to improve them was given, such as “Slow Down” and use the “Pause” for greater effect.
Our Topics session was next where one has to give short impromptu speech without any prior preparation. Tonight we were in the capable hands of a relatively new member Vince Jupp who used a mystery “Lucky Dip” box for us to choose the subjects. Mark Harrison pulled out a fluffy toy, so his topic was “A children’s toy that changed my life”. Mark told us that he has young children who don’t appreciate toys and are more likely to be using their electronic gadgets instead. Frank pulled out a toy elephant from the box, so his subject was “Hunting”. This gave him the chance to speak about the problems of illegal ivory poaching, and with the ineffectual controls by game wardens and rangers resulting in the low numbers surviving in the wild.
All of this evening’s topics speakers were evaluated by James Gibson who awarded the golden gavel to Louise Crook for her speech about ‘buildings’. She spoke about churches and cathedrals and discussed their historical significance and spiritual purpose. Louise also considered the architectural beauty of school and university buildings.
First up to the lectern for our main speeches was Frank Rawson with a speech titled “Time and the Art of Estimation”. A report in the newspapers sent the alarm bells ringing for Frank when he learnt that the young children of today apparently cannot read the time on a standard clock face, so for their exams this year they had been replaced by digital displays. Other skills like map reading are also a lost art. The reading of dials and clock faces are an essential life-skill, important just like reading how much fuel we have in our car, or how much pressure there is in our car tyres. Time, Frank considered, would take at least half a dozen speeches to fully explain this intriguing subject. In conclusion he told us that it was a matter of “Horses for Courses” as both conventional dials and digital displays are essential in modern life, and it is necessary for young people to learn and use both methods.
Our next speaker was Andy Kowalski who titled his speech “Helping others on their Career Journey.” At Loughborough Speakers’ Club the ethos is about helping, improving and equipping members in society to achieve and reach their full potential and Andy, who is a a qualified and very experienced chemist, talked about how as a coach and mentor he is helping young people in setting realistic achievable goals with a management structure set to a realistic time scale. By advocating this philosophy of helping others who may have been stuck in a rut Andy explained how he has helped many young people with ambition to maximise their educational aspirations and thereby enabling them to deal with the harsh realities of modern life.
After the interval our evening continued with evaluations of both speeches where advice on how to improve them was given, such as “Slow Down” and use the “Pause” for greater effect.
Our Topics session was next where one has to give short impromptu speech without any prior preparation. Tonight we were in the capable hands of a relatively new member Vince Jupp who used a mystery “Lucky Dip” box for us to choose the subjects. Mark Harrison pulled out a fluffy toy, so his topic was “A children’s toy that changed my life”. Mark told us that he has young children who don’t appreciate toys and are more likely to be using their electronic gadgets instead. Frank pulled out a toy elephant from the box, so his subject was “Hunting”. This gave him the chance to speak about the problems of illegal ivory poaching, and with the ineffectual controls by game wardens and rangers resulting in the low numbers surviving in the wild.
All of this evening’s topics speakers were evaluated by James Gibson who awarded the golden gavel to Louise Crook for her speech about ‘buildings’. She spoke about churches and cathedrals and discussed their historical significance and spiritual purpose. Louise also considered the architectural beauty of school and university buildings.
James presents trophy to Louise
14th May 2018
The Adams Apple Team speaking competition has been held annually for the past 28 years between what were then four clubs in the area, Shepshed, Ashby de la Zouch, Loughborough Ladies and Loughborough Men's clubs.
The Loughborough Ladies and Men’s club joined together some years ago and Ashby closed due to falling membership. The area now includes Newark, Nottingham and Derby.
The team competition remains as popular as ever and is also now being held on a national basis. A legacy left by Eric Baker of our club during his term as National President.
The area event was held this evening with the three word phrase “Glass Half Full”. This is a four man team with a Chair who introduces links and closes the fifteen minute set, and the three speakers who each speak on one of the words. This can be quite a challenge finding a subject which will embrace just one of the words.
Derby club chose “The Old Silk Mill” (which later became a popular pub) on which to base their speeches, which historically is the birthplace of the first Trades Union Movement. The first speaker spoke about “Glass” of ale, the next speaker explained “Half” the workers who led the struggle for fairer treatment and finally “Full” membership of the newly formed Unions which eventually became legalised in the 19th Century. This is such an important part of history that a march is held every year to commemorate the men who made such a huge sacrifice.
Our club, who performed well in the competition, chose medieval church windows. The wonderful colours of stained “Glass”, using “Half” the old glass which was found buried after the destruction of the windows during the dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII. Then finally coming “Full" circle when the old and new glass was used to re-create fabulous new windows for everyone to enjoy and marvel at.
The winning team this time was the club from Newark. They were particularly pleased as this is the first time Newark has won the coveted Wooden Apple Trophy which was given by the founder of the competition, Derek Adams way back in 1990.
The first speaker spoke about the times before glass windows were made, then how “Glass” is made and the many uses of glass nowadays that we could not do without. “What can you do in “Half” an hour” was the next speaker’s task. A 30 minute meal from a popular cookery book? 30 minutes reading each day to complete a novel for the Book Group discussion. Planning your time to achieve your goals was good advice. To conclude, advice about healthy living and trying for the “Full” marathon running challenge which will help to ward of dementia and improve motor neurone skills.
Working as a team can be a useful and rewarding experience. Getting together to formulate the idea and meeting a few times to rehearse enables people to get to know each other better and makes being a member of the club a friendly and enjoyable hobby and learning experience.
The Loughborough Ladies and Men’s club joined together some years ago and Ashby closed due to falling membership. The area now includes Newark, Nottingham and Derby.
The team competition remains as popular as ever and is also now being held on a national basis. A legacy left by Eric Baker of our club during his term as National President.
The area event was held this evening with the three word phrase “Glass Half Full”. This is a four man team with a Chair who introduces links and closes the fifteen minute set, and the three speakers who each speak on one of the words. This can be quite a challenge finding a subject which will embrace just one of the words.
Derby club chose “The Old Silk Mill” (which later became a popular pub) on which to base their speeches, which historically is the birthplace of the first Trades Union Movement. The first speaker spoke about “Glass” of ale, the next speaker explained “Half” the workers who led the struggle for fairer treatment and finally “Full” membership of the newly formed Unions which eventually became legalised in the 19th Century. This is such an important part of history that a march is held every year to commemorate the men who made such a huge sacrifice.
Our club, who performed well in the competition, chose medieval church windows. The wonderful colours of stained “Glass”, using “Half” the old glass which was found buried after the destruction of the windows during the dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII. Then finally coming “Full" circle when the old and new glass was used to re-create fabulous new windows for everyone to enjoy and marvel at.
The winning team this time was the club from Newark. They were particularly pleased as this is the first time Newark has won the coveted Wooden Apple Trophy which was given by the founder of the competition, Derek Adams way back in 1990.
The first speaker spoke about the times before glass windows were made, then how “Glass” is made and the many uses of glass nowadays that we could not do without. “What can you do in “Half” an hour” was the next speaker’s task. A 30 minute meal from a popular cookery book? 30 minutes reading each day to complete a novel for the Book Group discussion. Planning your time to achieve your goals was good advice. To conclude, advice about healthy living and trying for the “Full” marathon running challenge which will help to ward of dementia and improve motor neurone skills.
Working as a team can be a useful and rewarding experience. Getting together to formulate the idea and meeting a few times to rehearse enables people to get to know each other better and makes being a member of the club a friendly and enjoyable hobby and learning experience.
Our team - Arthur Murray, Sue York, James Davies & Vince Jupp
8th May 2018
Wielding the gavel as chairman for this evening's meeting was Club President Peter Minshall who got things under way with a warm up session that included subjects such as ‘yesterday’, ‘friends’ and even ‘duck racing’.
First up to the podium was Jo Zhou Zheng Hong with his speech titled “Economics and Mathematics”. He told us about Gross Domestic Product and explained how this is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods. He talked of the dangers of inflation and its effects on employment and how mathematics and economics are closely related. It was a well researched and effective speech.
Vince Judd followed with a speech titled “My Friend Anxiety”. He told us how we should embrace anxiety for the helpful, loving and caring friend it is. This thought provoking speech looked at the positive ups and downs. Vince cleverly co-ordinated the introduction and the conclusion of his speech by starting with a nearly empty shaking glass and ending with a full glass to toast “Anxiety My Friend”.
Sue York’s speech was titled “Are our young people being short changed when it comes to making the right career choices?” In a very emotive way Sue, a mother of two sons who are at an age when their future employment prospects need to be considered, asked the question “Are modern methods of education fit for the purpose?” She used the word ‘Success’ as an acronym to cover various aspects of education and its modern reverence to employment, such as “S” for schools, “U” for university, “C” for college and so on. Sue’s general conclusion was that education did not fit the purpose and was causing many families much concern.
Our evening continued with a Topics Session chaired by Frank Rawson. The theme was “Super Elements” with topics such as lead, gold, copper and iron.
The Golden Gavel is presented to the best Topic and this evening it was awarded to our Club President Peter Minshall, who expanded on the many meanings of the word ‘copper’.
The evening was an enjoyable, educational and entertaining occasion, so why not join us at our next meeting on 22nd May? You will be made most welcome.
First up to the podium was Jo Zhou Zheng Hong with his speech titled “Economics and Mathematics”. He told us about Gross Domestic Product and explained how this is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods. He talked of the dangers of inflation and its effects on employment and how mathematics and economics are closely related. It was a well researched and effective speech.
Vince Judd followed with a speech titled “My Friend Anxiety”. He told us how we should embrace anxiety for the helpful, loving and caring friend it is. This thought provoking speech looked at the positive ups and downs. Vince cleverly co-ordinated the introduction and the conclusion of his speech by starting with a nearly empty shaking glass and ending with a full glass to toast “Anxiety My Friend”.
Sue York’s speech was titled “Are our young people being short changed when it comes to making the right career choices?” In a very emotive way Sue, a mother of two sons who are at an age when their future employment prospects need to be considered, asked the question “Are modern methods of education fit for the purpose?” She used the word ‘Success’ as an acronym to cover various aspects of education and its modern reverence to employment, such as “S” for schools, “U” for university, “C” for college and so on. Sue’s general conclusion was that education did not fit the purpose and was causing many families much concern.
Our evening continued with a Topics Session chaired by Frank Rawson. The theme was “Super Elements” with topics such as lead, gold, copper and iron.
The Golden Gavel is presented to the best Topic and this evening it was awarded to our Club President Peter Minshall, who expanded on the many meanings of the word ‘copper’.
The evening was an enjoyable, educational and entertaining occasion, so why not join us at our next meeting on 22nd May? You will be made most welcome.
Our newly elected committee
Arthur Murray -Treasurer, James Davies - Vice President, Peter Minshall - Club President and Vince Jupp - Secretary.
28th April 2018
The Association of Speakers Clubs National Conference was held in York this weekend. Eric Baker from our club performed his final role as National President chairing the AGM. This was certainly an extremely challenging meeting to chair. There was a great deal of discussion about various motions put to the meeting; amendments proffered, argued and voted upon, points of order to be negotiated and many points of view listened to. The meeting came to a close with Eric handing over his chain of office to the new incoming national president from the Wigan and District Speakers Club. With reference to the centenary of the Women’s Suffrage movement it was only fitting that the new president was a women in this auspicious year of celebration. Leaving the audience with a smile on their faces with one of his old but entertaining jokes Eric took his place in the audience leaving the new National President to give her address and close the meeting.
We steadfastly sit through the AGM because we know we will be seeing the cream of the association’s speakers later in the day. Having won at club, area and district levels, eight exceptionally talented speakers perform an eight minute speech to a very appreciative audience with hardly anything between them as far as a winner and runner up goes. A difficult task for the judges and as with all competitions not everyone will agree with the result.
A Gala dinner is held in the evening with more opportunities to entertain with after dinner speeches. It becomes a lively social event which gives everyone the chance to compare and contrast the speakers involved and the organisers of the event.
Relief at having completed all the tasks and competitions was certainly evident leaving the successors of next year’s National Conference, which will be in Edinburgh, to ponder the trials ahead. A great deal of hard work by the organisers and the speakers goes into making a successful event and is appreciated by all attend.
Most people who join a speakers’ club want to improve their presentation skills and they make noticeable improvements to their confidence and abilities. It takes time to reach national levels so dedication and hard work is necessary for those who aspire to the challenge. Most people however are content to stay within their club and continue with the social side of being a club member and enjoy the activity of an entertaining evening with like minded friends.
We steadfastly sit through the AGM because we know we will be seeing the cream of the association’s speakers later in the day. Having won at club, area and district levels, eight exceptionally talented speakers perform an eight minute speech to a very appreciative audience with hardly anything between them as far as a winner and runner up goes. A difficult task for the judges and as with all competitions not everyone will agree with the result.
A Gala dinner is held in the evening with more opportunities to entertain with after dinner speeches. It becomes a lively social event which gives everyone the chance to compare and contrast the speakers involved and the organisers of the event.
Relief at having completed all the tasks and competitions was certainly evident leaving the successors of next year’s National Conference, which will be in Edinburgh, to ponder the trials ahead. A great deal of hard work by the organisers and the speakers goes into making a successful event and is appreciated by all attend.
Most people who join a speakers’ club want to improve their presentation skills and they make noticeable improvements to their confidence and abilities. It takes time to reach national levels so dedication and hard work is necessary for those who aspire to the challenge. Most people however are content to stay within their club and continue with the social side of being a club member and enjoy the activity of an entertaining evening with like minded friends.
24th April 2018
Most people join a Speakers' club to gain confidence at speaking in public. Presentations at work, chairing meetings, proposing a toast or giving a speech as a best man or father of the bride at weddings are some of the many occasions this skill is a great advantage to have.
At Loughborough Speakers' Club we follow a guide which helps us to produce ten speeches focusing on different skills such as ‘Use of Voice’, ‘Gestures’, ‘Humour’ etc.
When this has been achieved it does not mean you have to stop there because there is also a further section of the guide which covers many of the more advanced occasions that public speaking is a great asset to have acquired.
There are three compulsory advanced assignments which are – ‘Giving an Impromptu speech’, an ‘Outside assignment’ where a speech has to be delivered to an audience outside the normal environment of the Association and a ‘Use of Presentation Aids’ speech using more than one presentation aid such as using Powerpoint and video.
At least two voluntary assignments must then be accomplished from a list of seven that includes ‘Chairing Skills’, ‘Developing and Delivering a Lecture’, and giving a ‘Business Presentation’.
Our Chairman Peter Minshall is only the second club member in the last ten years to have successfully completed all of the tasks to achieve this award.
The photograph shows Peter receiving his Advanced certificate from the National President Eric Baker for successfully passing all of the five advanced assignments.
At Loughborough Speakers' Club we follow a guide which helps us to produce ten speeches focusing on different skills such as ‘Use of Voice’, ‘Gestures’, ‘Humour’ etc.
When this has been achieved it does not mean you have to stop there because there is also a further section of the guide which covers many of the more advanced occasions that public speaking is a great asset to have acquired.
There are three compulsory advanced assignments which are – ‘Giving an Impromptu speech’, an ‘Outside assignment’ where a speech has to be delivered to an audience outside the normal environment of the Association and a ‘Use of Presentation Aids’ speech using more than one presentation aid such as using Powerpoint and video.
At least two voluntary assignments must then be accomplished from a list of seven that includes ‘Chairing Skills’, ‘Developing and Delivering a Lecture’, and giving a ‘Business Presentation’.
Our Chairman Peter Minshall is only the second club member in the last ten years to have successfully completed all of the tasks to achieve this award.
The photograph shows Peter receiving his Advanced certificate from the National President Eric Baker for successfully passing all of the five advanced assignments.
10th April 2018
Getting ready for the Area Team Speaking Contest, Loughborough Club members rehearsed their presentation to the three word theme all clubs will speak to.
This year it is Newark club who will host and choose the theme which is “Glass Half Full”.
The four man team consists of a Chairperson who will introduce, link and conclude the set and three speakers who will each speak on one of the words.
James Davies will Chair the presentation. Arthur Murray will be the first speaker to focus on the word GLASS. He will be describing the world of medieval stained glass and the stories depicted in the windows of churches and cathedrals, often referred to as the poor man’s bible.
Sue York will concentrate on the word HALF. Moving to the time of Henry VIII who was responsible for much of the destruction of stained glass windows, Sue mentions the fact that much of the glass had been buried for half a Millennium and nowadays the windows are made of half old and half new glass.
Eric Baker concluded with the word FULL. Following the destruction and discovery of the old glass, new skills are being used to create new windows which can be said to have come full circle. Modern science has reinvented the manufacture of stained glass and the artistry is being used in many different ways not just for making windows.
Of course this is only a précis of the information they will impart. As long as the three words are used several times, any subject can be covered. It is always interesting as no club picks the same theme.
This is one of the fun contests we have at Speakers Club as it encourages
co operation as a team and a challenge to fit a theme to a sometimes difficult three word mantra.
This year it is Newark club who will host and choose the theme which is “Glass Half Full”.
The four man team consists of a Chairperson who will introduce, link and conclude the set and three speakers who will each speak on one of the words.
James Davies will Chair the presentation. Arthur Murray will be the first speaker to focus on the word GLASS. He will be describing the world of medieval stained glass and the stories depicted in the windows of churches and cathedrals, often referred to as the poor man’s bible.
Sue York will concentrate on the word HALF. Moving to the time of Henry VIII who was responsible for much of the destruction of stained glass windows, Sue mentions the fact that much of the glass had been buried for half a Millennium and nowadays the windows are made of half old and half new glass.
Eric Baker concluded with the word FULL. Following the destruction and discovery of the old glass, new skills are being used to create new windows which can be said to have come full circle. Modern science has reinvented the manufacture of stained glass and the artistry is being used in many different ways not just for making windows.
Of course this is only a précis of the information they will impart. As long as the three words are used several times, any subject can be covered. It is always interesting as no club picks the same theme.
This is one of the fun contests we have at Speakers Club as it encourages
co operation as a team and a challenge to fit a theme to a sometimes difficult three word mantra.
Adams Apple team - Eric Baker, James Davies, Sue York & Arthur Murray
27th March 2018
A trio of excellent speeches was presented to the club this evening.
Taking the lead with a speech entitled “Whittling and Carving” James Gibson fooled us all into thinking he was being a rather nervous amateur, shuffling notes with bumbling buffoonery before casting them aside with a flourish and enthusiastically launching into his speech about working with wood.
Reminiscing about his schooldays studying not only Latin and French but also Metalwork and Woodwork instilled in him a fascination with the properties of wood.
He learned about the many types of joints; Butt, Bridle, Biscuit, Tongue and Groove, Mortise and Tenon were some of names that fascinated him.
A seafaring uncle taught him about whittling small pieces of wood into tiny lighthouses. One day his uncle surprised him by showing him a Dimple whiskey bottle and said “Come by after school and I will show you something amazing”.
James was delighted to see not only the tiny lighthouse but a fully rigged Man o’ War on a raging sea inside the bottle. The wonderment of how that got into the small neck of the bottle was intriguing and it became a gift he has treasured to this day.
A very well researched speech by Angus Harriman followed. This was a serious speech on a subject which Angus felt strongly about.
In America in just one year there were 33,636 people killed by one cause and that “cause” was Guns! It was the startling opening to his emotive speech on the effects of not having gun laws, as in other countries.
Angus developed his theme by quoting data from various countries such as Australia whose gun fatalities have reduced to almost zero after strict laws were introduced in 1996 followed by the UK in 1997 but ignored by America due to the second amendment in the Constitution which states the right of the people to keep and bear arms.
He made a case for when guns could be of use but asked how seeing them used in action films which are portrayed as thrilling and exciting would affect the young people who watched them.
Urging the USA to adopt gun laws, Angus ended his speech with a strong statement, “Why not give it a shot” he said.
Vince Jupp who joined the club after his first visit presented his initial speech which aims to tell us something about himself. Clearly an accomplished speaker Vince was confident and relaxed as he told us about his quest for minimalism. He explained that we all start life as a minimalist, naked and bare and without possessions.
Along life’s route, we collect more and more. The more we have the more space we need. The more insurance we need to protect what we have in case someone steals it. Aim to reduce possessions is the route to peace and contentment. Time for the important things in life. Time to spend with loved ones.
“Taking the first step to simply be and be simply me is simply great” he concluded.
Well constructed, well performed and left us wishing we had the courage to do the same.
James Davies then introduced the impromptu speaking session where members are given a topic to speak on for three minutes without any preparation. This is often the scariest part of the evening and the only one where a best topic is rewarded with a trophy to hold until the next meeting.
Everyone was invited to dip into a bag and speak about the colour they had chosen from the selection of pencils it contained.
Sue York found herself talking about white which may or may not be called a colour! As a makeup artist to bridal parties and a consultant to cancer sufferers whose hair colour may change after regrowth Sue has plenty of experience and interest in colours and made an interesting case for the use of white and was duly awarded the best topic trophy for the evening.
Taking the lead with a speech entitled “Whittling and Carving” James Gibson fooled us all into thinking he was being a rather nervous amateur, shuffling notes with bumbling buffoonery before casting them aside with a flourish and enthusiastically launching into his speech about working with wood.
Reminiscing about his schooldays studying not only Latin and French but also Metalwork and Woodwork instilled in him a fascination with the properties of wood.
He learned about the many types of joints; Butt, Bridle, Biscuit, Tongue and Groove, Mortise and Tenon were some of names that fascinated him.
A seafaring uncle taught him about whittling small pieces of wood into tiny lighthouses. One day his uncle surprised him by showing him a Dimple whiskey bottle and said “Come by after school and I will show you something amazing”.
James was delighted to see not only the tiny lighthouse but a fully rigged Man o’ War on a raging sea inside the bottle. The wonderment of how that got into the small neck of the bottle was intriguing and it became a gift he has treasured to this day.
A very well researched speech by Angus Harriman followed. This was a serious speech on a subject which Angus felt strongly about.
In America in just one year there were 33,636 people killed by one cause and that “cause” was Guns! It was the startling opening to his emotive speech on the effects of not having gun laws, as in other countries.
Angus developed his theme by quoting data from various countries such as Australia whose gun fatalities have reduced to almost zero after strict laws were introduced in 1996 followed by the UK in 1997 but ignored by America due to the second amendment in the Constitution which states the right of the people to keep and bear arms.
He made a case for when guns could be of use but asked how seeing them used in action films which are portrayed as thrilling and exciting would affect the young people who watched them.
Urging the USA to adopt gun laws, Angus ended his speech with a strong statement, “Why not give it a shot” he said.
Vince Jupp who joined the club after his first visit presented his initial speech which aims to tell us something about himself. Clearly an accomplished speaker Vince was confident and relaxed as he told us about his quest for minimalism. He explained that we all start life as a minimalist, naked and bare and without possessions.
Along life’s route, we collect more and more. The more we have the more space we need. The more insurance we need to protect what we have in case someone steals it. Aim to reduce possessions is the route to peace and contentment. Time for the important things in life. Time to spend with loved ones.
“Taking the first step to simply be and be simply me is simply great” he concluded.
Well constructed, well performed and left us wishing we had the courage to do the same.
James Davies then introduced the impromptu speaking session where members are given a topic to speak on for three minutes without any preparation. This is often the scariest part of the evening and the only one where a best topic is rewarded with a trophy to hold until the next meeting.
Everyone was invited to dip into a bag and speak about the colour they had chosen from the selection of pencils it contained.
Sue York found herself talking about white which may or may not be called a colour! As a makeup artist to bridal parties and a consultant to cancer sufferers whose hair colour may change after regrowth Sue has plenty of experience and interest in colours and made an interesting case for the use of white and was duly awarded the best topic trophy for the evening.
James Gibson presents Sue York with Trophy award
13th March 2018
A short training session by National President Eric Baker was given on how to put a good speech together. It was given to aid newcomers to the club. Once you have found a subject of interest, you can develop this into a good speech. Start with something that grabs the attention straight away by making a bold statement or asking a question. Remember though, to wait for an answer! If using notes make sure you learn the first and last few lines to keep eye contact with your audience were some of the helpful tips he gave.
Members have a Speaking Guide to help them through the various types of speeches that are practised in the club.
There was a first time speech from Jo Zhou Zhenghong entitled “Being a Treasurer or Not”. Jo is a student of Accountancy at Loughborough University and numbers are clearly his passion. An unusual approach to a speech as he wanted to get our vote. I am sure our club Treasurer would be happy to hand over the role!
Frank Rawson gave a speech entitled “One of my Favourite walks”. He described a picturesque wander through Dovedale in Derbyshire. Rugged valleys, cliffs, rocks, streams and hills were described. After a steep climb to a large cave with a spectacular view it was time for a picnic lunch and a well earned rest.
Sue York continued after tea and biscuits with her first time as Topics Chair. She chose favourite things we experienced as a child which caused some delving into the memory for some of us.
James Davies chaired the meeting with his usual finesse and guidance. He reminded us of occasions at work or a family celebration when someone might put their hand on your shoulder and say “Could you just... say a few words, give a vote of thanks or give a presentation?" when someone hasn’t turned up or cancelled at the last minute. “What would you do?” he asked. Would you freeze at the thought or say “I must get some practice at public speaking”. You can do this in a friendly and non judgmental atmosphere here at Loughborough Speakers Club.
Members have a Speaking Guide to help them through the various types of speeches that are practised in the club.
There was a first time speech from Jo Zhou Zhenghong entitled “Being a Treasurer or Not”. Jo is a student of Accountancy at Loughborough University and numbers are clearly his passion. An unusual approach to a speech as he wanted to get our vote. I am sure our club Treasurer would be happy to hand over the role!
Frank Rawson gave a speech entitled “One of my Favourite walks”. He described a picturesque wander through Dovedale in Derbyshire. Rugged valleys, cliffs, rocks, streams and hills were described. After a steep climb to a large cave with a spectacular view it was time for a picnic lunch and a well earned rest.
Sue York continued after tea and biscuits with her first time as Topics Chair. She chose favourite things we experienced as a child which caused some delving into the memory for some of us.
James Davies chaired the meeting with his usual finesse and guidance. He reminded us of occasions at work or a family celebration when someone might put their hand on your shoulder and say “Could you just... say a few words, give a vote of thanks or give a presentation?" when someone hasn’t turned up or cancelled at the last minute. “What would you do?” he asked. Would you freeze at the thought or say “I must get some practice at public speaking”. You can do this in a friendly and non judgmental atmosphere here at Loughborough Speakers Club.
Club President Peter Minshall with new members Louise Crook, Tommy Hong & Jo Zhou Zhenghong
27th February 2018
Social media is now the “go to” method of communicating these days. Facebook, Twitter, websites, email, to name a few. We at Loughborough speakers club have a web site with news of events, dates of meetings etc and we were pleased to welcome a visitor who had found us online. He took part in the Topics session led by Frank Rawson and evaluated by Patricia Baker who awarded him the “Best Topic Trophy” for his mini talk about his favourite walk.
This was a perfect subject for our visitor Vince Jupp. As an enthusiastic walker he gave a good description of his walking boots with the sexy red laces. How he followed a meandering path beside a canal, describing the shimmering water and wildlife with a welcome pint at the end of the walk.
It was Frank’s first time as Topics Chair and although it is usual to give different subjects to each speaker so that no one has time to think about what to say in advance, everyone spoke for around three minutes on their favourite walk.
James Gibson chaired the evening and had a change of programme to deal with at the last moment. One of the speakers had not arrived so alternative arrangements needed to be made on the spot. Fortunately, President Peter Minshall had a speech prepared about cruising. As someone who has spent many holidays cruising to different countries this was a familiar subject. Some previous research about early ships had revealed that cows were kept on board for fresh milk in the 1800’s but ships were used for cargo rather than passengers in those days. During the last two wars, ships were used to carry soldiers to war zones before becoming the popular holiday choice of today. Now they are floating hotels with all manner of entertainments available for all age groups.
Andy Kowalski gave his second speech to the club about Risk Assessment. Evaluating risks in the work place is now a legal requirement. He gave examples of tragic accidents that could happen when these risk assessments had not be undertaken properly. We all remembered the case of the Red Arrows pilot who was accidently ejected from his seat and killed. James Davies gave a very helpful evaluation of the speech with some valuable advice.
This was a perfect subject for our visitor Vince Jupp. As an enthusiastic walker he gave a good description of his walking boots with the sexy red laces. How he followed a meandering path beside a canal, describing the shimmering water and wildlife with a welcome pint at the end of the walk.
It was Frank’s first time as Topics Chair and although it is usual to give different subjects to each speaker so that no one has time to think about what to say in advance, everyone spoke for around three minutes on their favourite walk.
James Gibson chaired the evening and had a change of programme to deal with at the last moment. One of the speakers had not arrived so alternative arrangements needed to be made on the spot. Fortunately, President Peter Minshall had a speech prepared about cruising. As someone who has spent many holidays cruising to different countries this was a familiar subject. Some previous research about early ships had revealed that cows were kept on board for fresh milk in the 1800’s but ships were used for cargo rather than passengers in those days. During the last two wars, ships were used to carry soldiers to war zones before becoming the popular holiday choice of today. Now they are floating hotels with all manner of entertainments available for all age groups.
Andy Kowalski gave his second speech to the club about Risk Assessment. Evaluating risks in the work place is now a legal requirement. He gave examples of tragic accidents that could happen when these risk assessments had not be undertaken properly. We all remembered the case of the Red Arrows pilot who was accidently ejected from his seat and killed. James Davies gave a very helpful evaluation of the speech with some valuable advice.
Visitor Vince Jupp presented with trophy by Patricia Baker
22nd February 2018
EVOLUTION was the word contestants in the Area Topics Contest were given to speak on for three minutes. Club winners from Loughborough, Nottingham, Newark and Derby clubs were posed with what the judges agreed was a difficult subject as an unprepared mini speech. The winner, Martin Cox from the Nottingham club spoke about the evolution of starting out at a speakers club as a shy and diffident speaker who evolved into a confident speaker who was happy to address an audience of any size. He will go on to represent the Area at the District contests being held in Castle Donington next month.
Frank Rawson from our club brought his knowledge of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution to the fore which was very informative and thought provoking.
Prepared speeches from other members followed. “Be Bold” was the title from Ja Tangpanjapon. Being courageous first came to mind but the speaker had other ideas. She quoted “Bold” as a type face or bold colours and patterns as in the designs of fashion icon Alexander McQueen. Bold personalities and bold ideas. She challenged the audience to go out and be bold quoting Nelson Mandela saying “Some things may seem impossible until they are done”.
David Roome gave a speech entitled “Effective Altruism”. How everyone could help those less fortunate in an effective way.
Ganesh Ganiga spoke about plastic waste. Everyone taking small steps to reduce their usage could ultimately make a big difference.
Robert Jones described himself as an old desk top computer. Doesn’t like change and takes a long time to turn on! When he bought a new computer he needed to transfer his life time of memories into a memory stick to transfer them to their new home. However, all those memories were in the past and in the future he could choose to make more. He could choose to make things better or to be different. He could remortgage his house, spend the money on a brand new Ferrari and a gold lame jacket, and in his own words “Drive around the town, no longer a memory stick but a Flash Drive”.
We always learn something at a club meeting and are entertained by some amusing and clever speeches which people can prepare beforehand, usually six to eight minutes long or take part in Topics which need no preparation.
Frank Rawson from our club brought his knowledge of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution to the fore which was very informative and thought provoking.
Prepared speeches from other members followed. “Be Bold” was the title from Ja Tangpanjapon. Being courageous first came to mind but the speaker had other ideas. She quoted “Bold” as a type face or bold colours and patterns as in the designs of fashion icon Alexander McQueen. Bold personalities and bold ideas. She challenged the audience to go out and be bold quoting Nelson Mandela saying “Some things may seem impossible until they are done”.
David Roome gave a speech entitled “Effective Altruism”. How everyone could help those less fortunate in an effective way.
Ganesh Ganiga spoke about plastic waste. Everyone taking small steps to reduce their usage could ultimately make a big difference.
Robert Jones described himself as an old desk top computer. Doesn’t like change and takes a long time to turn on! When he bought a new computer he needed to transfer his life time of memories into a memory stick to transfer them to their new home. However, all those memories were in the past and in the future he could choose to make more. He could choose to make things better or to be different. He could remortgage his house, spend the money on a brand new Ferrari and a gold lame jacket, and in his own words “Drive around the town, no longer a memory stick but a Flash Drive”.
We always learn something at a club meeting and are entertained by some amusing and clever speeches which people can prepare beforehand, usually six to eight minutes long or take part in Topics which need no preparation.
National President Eric Baker and District President Anne Eldridge presenting Martin Cox with his Trophy
13th February 2018
“It’s not fair” How many times have you heard that plaintive cry from a teenager. If you thought the terrible twos were a challenge, teenagers can be much more of a worry stated Sue York when she performed her second speech to the club entitled “The Experience of having Teenagers through a Parents Eyes”.
The stress of exams, the school Prom dance, becoming eighteen and being old enough to buy alcohol were just a few of the trials and tribulations a parent goes through.
Waiting for the A level results to find out if they have achieved the University place they want and watching as they become young adults as they leave the home nest and become independent individuals can leave a big gap in the home life of the parents.
Luckily for the Speakers' club Sue has found an interest and is fast becoming a competent speaker taking part in Topics and preparing speeches to entertain the members.
The second speaker was club President Peter Minshall who was attempting an Impromptu speech from the Advanced Speakers Guide. The speaker is given a choice of three subjects by the Chair of the evening then has ten minutes to prepare a six to eight minute speech on the subject of his choice.
He was given The Sun, Photography or Cruises to consider.
As a professional photographer he naturally went for the subject he knew best. “A picture is worth a thousand words” began Peter as he proceeded to inform us of the history of photography.
Although the camera obscura was known in the 13th century it wasn’t until the eighteen hundreds that photographs were invented. However they needed eight hours exposure time, so a long way to go before the instant photography we know of today.
Since the nineteen hundreds when skill was required to operate cameras, taking a photograph has become very simple. Then, a case full of different lenses, light meters and filters were needed, not to mention the art of developing the pictures from film.
Today it’s more a case of point and shoot with automatic cameras, iphones or ipads and printing from home or looking at them on computers has become the norm in many cases.
The second half of the evening saw Mark Harrison lead the Topics session. He chose various events that would come as a surprise. Being able to travel in time for instance. Qualifying for the Olympic Games and inadvertently saving someone’s life were some of the situations members were invited to speak about for three minutes.
The stress of exams, the school Prom dance, becoming eighteen and being old enough to buy alcohol were just a few of the trials and tribulations a parent goes through.
Waiting for the A level results to find out if they have achieved the University place they want and watching as they become young adults as they leave the home nest and become independent individuals can leave a big gap in the home life of the parents.
Luckily for the Speakers' club Sue has found an interest and is fast becoming a competent speaker taking part in Topics and preparing speeches to entertain the members.
The second speaker was club President Peter Minshall who was attempting an Impromptu speech from the Advanced Speakers Guide. The speaker is given a choice of three subjects by the Chair of the evening then has ten minutes to prepare a six to eight minute speech on the subject of his choice.
He was given The Sun, Photography or Cruises to consider.
As a professional photographer he naturally went for the subject he knew best. “A picture is worth a thousand words” began Peter as he proceeded to inform us of the history of photography.
Although the camera obscura was known in the 13th century it wasn’t until the eighteen hundreds that photographs were invented. However they needed eight hours exposure time, so a long way to go before the instant photography we know of today.
Since the nineteen hundreds when skill was required to operate cameras, taking a photograph has become very simple. Then, a case full of different lenses, light meters and filters were needed, not to mention the art of developing the pictures from film.
Today it’s more a case of point and shoot with automatic cameras, iphones or ipads and printing from home or looking at them on computers has become the norm in many cases.
The second half of the evening saw Mark Harrison lead the Topics session. He chose various events that would come as a surprise. Being able to travel in time for instance. Qualifying for the Olympic Games and inadvertently saving someone’s life were some of the situations members were invited to speak about for three minutes.
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Sue York giving her 2nd speech
9th February 2018
“When we got married, my wife and I became a workshop, I worked and my wife shopped”.
So began the winning speech at the Area Speech and Evaluation contests of the Speakers' Club.
It was a speech entitled “Choices” delivered by Newark contestant Ramana Sundara . A witty and humorous speech considering the choices we all have and make through life and a worthy winner.
Ramana is a former National contest winner so the competition was set at a high standard.
Our own member from Loughborough club, James Davies gave an entertaining speech about his passion for dancing which clearly fulfils many aspects of his life. The music and friendships that are made plus the exercise are well worthwhile and the numbers of people who watch dancing shows on TV attest for this, but “Get out there and dance yourselves” encouraged James.
John Smith from the Nottingham club was runner up with a speech called “The Lying Game”.
“It’s ok to lie sometimes” he said describing a romantic meal out. When the waiter came to ask if all was well, he said yes even though it wasn’t. Why did he feel he had to lie?
How can we tell if someone is lying? He described several physiological signs that we were asked if true or not and the answers were sometimes surprising. A well researched and clever speech from John.
Finally a speech about hobbies and pastimes from Ja Tangpanjapon from Derby club. She covered the different pastimes people took part in, reading, watching TV and cookery where the weather was inclement to the different activities in other countries depending on the terrain. Snow activities in colder climates and water sports in places like Australia where the beaches are popular.
After the interval the Evaluation of a Speech contest took place. This is designed to be helpful and encouraging and to offer advice where needed. Not always an easy task so an important skill to learn.
Martin Cox from the Nottingham club was the winner.
The contest was held in Nottingham and attended by four of the clubs in this area. The winners will go on to represent the District at the next event being held in Castle Donington with the National contest held later in the year in York.
So began the winning speech at the Area Speech and Evaluation contests of the Speakers' Club.
It was a speech entitled “Choices” delivered by Newark contestant Ramana Sundara . A witty and humorous speech considering the choices we all have and make through life and a worthy winner.
Ramana is a former National contest winner so the competition was set at a high standard.
Our own member from Loughborough club, James Davies gave an entertaining speech about his passion for dancing which clearly fulfils many aspects of his life. The music and friendships that are made plus the exercise are well worthwhile and the numbers of people who watch dancing shows on TV attest for this, but “Get out there and dance yourselves” encouraged James.
John Smith from the Nottingham club was runner up with a speech called “The Lying Game”.
“It’s ok to lie sometimes” he said describing a romantic meal out. When the waiter came to ask if all was well, he said yes even though it wasn’t. Why did he feel he had to lie?
How can we tell if someone is lying? He described several physiological signs that we were asked if true or not and the answers were sometimes surprising. A well researched and clever speech from John.
Finally a speech about hobbies and pastimes from Ja Tangpanjapon from Derby club. She covered the different pastimes people took part in, reading, watching TV and cookery where the weather was inclement to the different activities in other countries depending on the terrain. Snow activities in colder climates and water sports in places like Australia where the beaches are popular.
After the interval the Evaluation of a Speech contest took place. This is designed to be helpful and encouraging and to offer advice where needed. Not always an easy task so an important skill to learn.
Martin Cox from the Nottingham club was the winner.
The contest was held in Nottingham and attended by four of the clubs in this area. The winners will go on to represent the District at the next event being held in Castle Donington with the National contest held later in the year in York.
National President Eric Baker with area contest winners Ramana Sundara & Martin Cox
23rd January 2018
It was certainly an intellectually stimulating evening with two exceptional speeches and the annual Topics Contest.
District Treasurer Allan Rimmer from the Lutterworth club was welcomed as chief judge for the competition which had five contestants.
Chair for the evening Patricia Baker chose the topic which was “On the Right Lines” It was hoped this would be a challenging topic worthy of a competition. Each contestant must leave the room to make it a fair contest as each person will speak on the same topic. It’s always interesting to find that each person will generally choose a different theme albeit the same subject.
We were very pleased that Frank Rawson who is half way through the speakers’ manual was runner up in a close fought contest. This is Frank's second year with the club and his progress is notable.
The winner who will go forward to the area contest is James Davies, one of our experienced speakers who was warmly congratulated along with all the contestants who took part.
Still stretching our intellect David Hopkins who, as a previous contest winner at National level, intrigued us with a speech entitled “Twist your Brain”.
He challenged us to recite the tongue twister 'Red Leather, Yellow Leather' as fast as we could. He then went on to discuss neuroplasticity and the circuitry of the brain and how this can be retrained in the event of accident. Can it be measured on an MRI scan for example?
It was surprising to see how many left handed people were present. A larger than normal proportion as it turned out. “How many people are able to write with the opposite hand?” He asked.
He described how our actions can be unconscious incompetence, not knowing if we can do something to conscious incompetence, knowing that we can do something if we try. Leading on to consciously competent to unconsciously competent where we can do something without thinking.
He used the analogy of walking a woodland path to the end then trying a short cut through the undergrowth. Eventually a new path will emerge.
Ending with another tongue twister about Susy, Susy, sitting in a shoe shine shop, David really did give our brains a work out.
James Gibson gave the second speech of the evening, again testing our intellect. This was called “Shadows, Angles and the size of the Earth”.
This was a charming story about two children, Jonathon and Cleo who were tasked with finding the answer to the question ” What is the size of the Earth ?”. The measurement around the middle in terms of miles and to come back to school after the holidays with the answer.
Cleo decided to go back in time to the wise sage of 250 years BC. She learned about the stars and angles and about shadows made by palm trees and pyramids. How mathematical measurements were used to arrive at the figure of 25,000 miles.
Jonathan, a child of the modern age decided to ask 'Alexa' who after some time gave him the answer of 24,901 miles. It was astounding that all that time ago and without the resources we have today those brilliant minds were remarkably accurate.
However, I am sure that Cleo gained a great deal more knowledge in researching the subject as she did, rather than asking a computer!
District Treasurer Allan Rimmer from the Lutterworth club was welcomed as chief judge for the competition which had five contestants.
Chair for the evening Patricia Baker chose the topic which was “On the Right Lines” It was hoped this would be a challenging topic worthy of a competition. Each contestant must leave the room to make it a fair contest as each person will speak on the same topic. It’s always interesting to find that each person will generally choose a different theme albeit the same subject.
We were very pleased that Frank Rawson who is half way through the speakers’ manual was runner up in a close fought contest. This is Frank's second year with the club and his progress is notable.
The winner who will go forward to the area contest is James Davies, one of our experienced speakers who was warmly congratulated along with all the contestants who took part.
Still stretching our intellect David Hopkins who, as a previous contest winner at National level, intrigued us with a speech entitled “Twist your Brain”.
He challenged us to recite the tongue twister 'Red Leather, Yellow Leather' as fast as we could. He then went on to discuss neuroplasticity and the circuitry of the brain and how this can be retrained in the event of accident. Can it be measured on an MRI scan for example?
It was surprising to see how many left handed people were present. A larger than normal proportion as it turned out. “How many people are able to write with the opposite hand?” He asked.
He described how our actions can be unconscious incompetence, not knowing if we can do something to conscious incompetence, knowing that we can do something if we try. Leading on to consciously competent to unconsciously competent where we can do something without thinking.
He used the analogy of walking a woodland path to the end then trying a short cut through the undergrowth. Eventually a new path will emerge.
Ending with another tongue twister about Susy, Susy, sitting in a shoe shine shop, David really did give our brains a work out.
James Gibson gave the second speech of the evening, again testing our intellect. This was called “Shadows, Angles and the size of the Earth”.
This was a charming story about two children, Jonathon and Cleo who were tasked with finding the answer to the question ” What is the size of the Earth ?”. The measurement around the middle in terms of miles and to come back to school after the holidays with the answer.
Cleo decided to go back in time to the wise sage of 250 years BC. She learned about the stars and angles and about shadows made by palm trees and pyramids. How mathematical measurements were used to arrive at the figure of 25,000 miles.
Jonathan, a child of the modern age decided to ask 'Alexa' who after some time gave him the answer of 24,901 miles. It was astounding that all that time ago and without the resources we have today those brilliant minds were remarkably accurate.
However, I am sure that Cleo gained a great deal more knowledge in researching the subject as she did, rather than asking a computer!
Topics Contest entrants - Arthur, David, James, Angus & Frank
9th January 2018
Everyone was in ebullient mood for the first meeting of the season.
James Gibson welcomed each person on arrival with generous bonhomie.
James Davies took the chair for the evening and could hardly contain his enthusiasm for every subject covered by the speakers of the evening, especially his experiences on the sports field, following Andy Kowalski’s first speech to the club.
The club provides a training manual with advice on various aspects of public speaking through ten speeches. The first speech is called an ice breaker and designed to be an easy subject to talk about as it can be used to tell the audience something about oneself, hobbies, work or background.
Andy decided to tell us about his passion for the game of rugby. As a young man he played a right wing position and regrets the passage of time has left him unable to do this anymore, although he avidly follows the sport on TV and enjoys the excitement of Twickenham and the Leicester Tigers locally.
He remembered being told at school that he would most likely get injured and they would play no matter what the weather.
Frank Rawson gave a speech to demonstrate gestures and body language. It was obvious that in the time Frank has been coming to the club he has gained in confidence and delivered a speech entitled “Fire” with boldness and assurance.
Starting with a pointed finger, he announced “You are fired” in the fashion of Alan Sugar on his popular TV programme.
Frank followed this with explanations of the various types of fires from domestic log fires, bonfires; beacon fires which send messages, forest fires, arson and using fire for gunpowder. He had clearly researched his subject which included what he thought was the greatest fire of all, the Library of Alexandria in Egypt which took place in 48 BC.
This is a fascinating story which Frank could expand on in future speeches.
A warm up session at the beginning of the evening gave everyone a minute to tell us about their New Year Resolutions and concluded with the Topics session which is slightly longer at three minutes and included different celebratory events such as birthdays, weddings, christenings and retirements but the one that won the gavel for the best topic went to Angus Harriman with his description of being at home with his family at Christmas.
Angus also did a very good job keeping everyone to time with his handling of the lights which is an important feature of speaking to an audience.
James Gibson welcomed each person on arrival with generous bonhomie.
James Davies took the chair for the evening and could hardly contain his enthusiasm for every subject covered by the speakers of the evening, especially his experiences on the sports field, following Andy Kowalski’s first speech to the club.
The club provides a training manual with advice on various aspects of public speaking through ten speeches. The first speech is called an ice breaker and designed to be an easy subject to talk about as it can be used to tell the audience something about oneself, hobbies, work or background.
Andy decided to tell us about his passion for the game of rugby. As a young man he played a right wing position and regrets the passage of time has left him unable to do this anymore, although he avidly follows the sport on TV and enjoys the excitement of Twickenham and the Leicester Tigers locally.
He remembered being told at school that he would most likely get injured and they would play no matter what the weather.
Frank Rawson gave a speech to demonstrate gestures and body language. It was obvious that in the time Frank has been coming to the club he has gained in confidence and delivered a speech entitled “Fire” with boldness and assurance.
Starting with a pointed finger, he announced “You are fired” in the fashion of Alan Sugar on his popular TV programme.
Frank followed this with explanations of the various types of fires from domestic log fires, bonfires; beacon fires which send messages, forest fires, arson and using fire for gunpowder. He had clearly researched his subject which included what he thought was the greatest fire of all, the Library of Alexandria in Egypt which took place in 48 BC.
This is a fascinating story which Frank could expand on in future speeches.
A warm up session at the beginning of the evening gave everyone a minute to tell us about their New Year Resolutions and concluded with the Topics session which is slightly longer at three minutes and included different celebratory events such as birthdays, weddings, christenings and retirements but the one that won the gavel for the best topic went to Angus Harriman with his description of being at home with his family at Christmas.
Angus also did a very good job keeping everyone to time with his handling of the lights which is an important feature of speaking to an audience.
Angus Harriman presented with Topics gavel from Club President Peter Minshall
12th December 2017
The club celebrated the last meeting of the year with a Christmas theme, starting with a mini topics session pulling crackers. Speaking for one minute on the motto found within to get you in the party mood. "What do acrobats like to drink?” “Anything in a tumbler” and several more in that vein!
Chairing the evening was Club President Peter Minshall who led us neatly through the programme introducing the first speaker, Sue York who gave us her first speech as a member of the club.
Sue told us all about her experiences of being a makeup artist mainly for wedding parties.
This was a very accomplished first speech showing that Sue had learnt some techniques by attending the club and watching others and putting those observations into practice.
She was able to tell us about some of the humorous events at weddings and also about her work for a charity aimed at helping people having cancer treatments to look and feel better.
After an interval enjoying mince pies and mulled wine, Sandy Leong gave a power point presentation showing an alternative story about how we came to celebrate Christmas with Santa Claus, reindeers and fairies on top of Christmas trees.
I think most people know that Queen Victoria’s husband Albert brought the Christmas tree to Britain but not how the Fairy came to be on top!
We heard how Rudolph the red nosed reindeer became an important part of the story via a poem we now associate with the song that made the author, a poor man very rich as its popularity grew.
It’s also possible that all Santa’s reindeer were female as they keep their antlers through the winter when the males lose theirs!
Chairing the evening was Club President Peter Minshall who led us neatly through the programme introducing the first speaker, Sue York who gave us her first speech as a member of the club.
Sue told us all about her experiences of being a makeup artist mainly for wedding parties.
This was a very accomplished first speech showing that Sue had learnt some techniques by attending the club and watching others and putting those observations into practice.
She was able to tell us about some of the humorous events at weddings and also about her work for a charity aimed at helping people having cancer treatments to look and feel better.
After an interval enjoying mince pies and mulled wine, Sandy Leong gave a power point presentation showing an alternative story about how we came to celebrate Christmas with Santa Claus, reindeers and fairies on top of Christmas trees.
I think most people know that Queen Victoria’s husband Albert brought the Christmas tree to Britain but not how the Fairy came to be on top!
We heard how Rudolph the red nosed reindeer became an important part of the story via a poem we now associate with the song that made the author, a poor man very rich as its popularity grew.
It’s also possible that all Santa’s reindeer were female as they keep their antlers through the winter when the males lose theirs!
James, Sandra & Martin |
Sue & Eric |
Frank, Sandra, Sue, James, Sandy, Andy, Arthur & Mark
28th November 2017
This evening we held our speech and evaluation contests. Alan Young, Area President from the Nottingham club presided as Chief Judge assisted by our club President Peter Minshall.
The winner of the speech contest was James Davies with a speech entitled “Money, Money, Money”. We all paid attention as he asked “Who wants some free money” and showed handfuls of real £5 & £10 notes which he waved around before scattering them into a box. Well he wasn’t going to let us pick it up was he?
James continued with his theme about who might need money most. Was it the young or was it the old? Was it teachers, nurses, essential services or key workers? Or was it first time house buyers and what is the government doing about it? James then took us on a journey explaining the benefits of the governments “Help to Buy” scheme. “Where’s the catch?” he concluded. Well, there was none, free money is what the government is giving to first time buyers.
Runner up, Arthur Murray, gave an informative speech about his passion for the game of golf. We found out how golf balls were made since the game was introduced in Scotland back in 1457. He explored the technology and innovation of the game and explained the different strokes and their meanings. Sadly though, no hole in one for him. A very well researched and interesting speech.
Joe Richardson then gave a speech on Health and Fitness for the Evaluation Contest. Contestants have four minutes to evaluate the speech advising the speaker on the good points and where it could be improved. It is quite a skill to achieve a positive and helpful evaluation which will encourage a speaker to continue through the Speakers Guide to the eventual certificate of achievement.
David Hopkins was a worthy winner and both winners will go on to the area contests next February.
The evening concluded with everyone taking part in an impromtu topics session. The next meeting on 12th December will be the Christmas meeting and we have some surprises in store for an entertaining evening. Visitors are always welcome to come and try out their speaking skills or learn how to be more confident at speaking to an audience.
The winner of the speech contest was James Davies with a speech entitled “Money, Money, Money”. We all paid attention as he asked “Who wants some free money” and showed handfuls of real £5 & £10 notes which he waved around before scattering them into a box. Well he wasn’t going to let us pick it up was he?
James continued with his theme about who might need money most. Was it the young or was it the old? Was it teachers, nurses, essential services or key workers? Or was it first time house buyers and what is the government doing about it? James then took us on a journey explaining the benefits of the governments “Help to Buy” scheme. “Where’s the catch?” he concluded. Well, there was none, free money is what the government is giving to first time buyers.
Runner up, Arthur Murray, gave an informative speech about his passion for the game of golf. We found out how golf balls were made since the game was introduced in Scotland back in 1457. He explored the technology and innovation of the game and explained the different strokes and their meanings. Sadly though, no hole in one for him. A very well researched and interesting speech.
Joe Richardson then gave a speech on Health and Fitness for the Evaluation Contest. Contestants have four minutes to evaluate the speech advising the speaker on the good points and where it could be improved. It is quite a skill to achieve a positive and helpful evaluation which will encourage a speaker to continue through the Speakers Guide to the eventual certificate of achievement.
David Hopkins was a worthy winner and both winners will go on to the area contests next February.
The evening concluded with everyone taking part in an impromtu topics session. The next meeting on 12th December will be the Christmas meeting and we have some surprises in store for an entertaining evening. Visitors are always welcome to come and try out their speaking skills or learn how to be more confident at speaking to an audience.
Alan Young presents trophy to Angus Harriman |
Contest winners David Hopkins, & James Davies with Alan Young - Area President |
14th November 2017
It was Mark Harrison's first time chairing the meeting at this evening's meeting. He had clearly learned from the training we’d had on chairmanship and took charge with confidence and a good clear voice.
He explained the programme for the evening and led a warm up session to get us into the swing of the evening.
This is an impromptu one minute topic starting from one word which the next speaker takes over from the last word at the end of one minute. Mark had his ongoing extension in his mind so chose the word 'extension' as a starter. This was followed by 'budget', 'already' and 'category'.
Two new members, Joe Richardson and Angus Harriman then completed their maiden speech which aims to tell us more about themselves.
Joe was keen on health and fitness which he said had improved his life style and given him confidence. Having a healthy diet improved his energy levels and his self image.
Angus gave some consideration to what he would talk about and spoke about how he would want to appear to others and gave many examples of what he thought would be proper behaviour, or not, with some humour.
Frank Rawson has reached assignment number five in the Speakers Guide which covers use of voice. As an engineer Frank favours subjects that he feels comfortable with and which are often very educational. He told us about how starting a small business several years ago he needed to find customers without the help of the internet and mobile phones which makes it so much easier in today’s technical environment.
Getting a stand at the Inter Plas exhibition in Birmingham was both tiring and had elements of boredom which anyone who has ever manned a stand at an exhibition can attest to.
Filling display cabinets with products and getting leaflets printed was costly for someone starting out but at the end of the three days he had a great many enquiries to follow up and all that was left was the hard and tiring work of dismantling the stand and making his way home.
After a well earned interval, the evening continued with evaluations of the speeches and a topic session in which everyone took part. Using the mnemonic 'Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain' Patricia Baker gave each speaker one of the colours of the rainbow to speak about.
This was won by David Hopkins who has reached the National competitions in the past yet said he had never received the topics award at club level. We were all surprised at this revelation as David has been a member of the club for several years. David spoke for almost three minutes on the colour orange. He described an orange in great detail with some amazing word pictures which made us all taste the citric flavour and smell the tangy zest as he made the first cut.
He explained the programme for the evening and led a warm up session to get us into the swing of the evening.
This is an impromptu one minute topic starting from one word which the next speaker takes over from the last word at the end of one minute. Mark had his ongoing extension in his mind so chose the word 'extension' as a starter. This was followed by 'budget', 'already' and 'category'.
Two new members, Joe Richardson and Angus Harriman then completed their maiden speech which aims to tell us more about themselves.
Joe was keen on health and fitness which he said had improved his life style and given him confidence. Having a healthy diet improved his energy levels and his self image.
Angus gave some consideration to what he would talk about and spoke about how he would want to appear to others and gave many examples of what he thought would be proper behaviour, or not, with some humour.
Frank Rawson has reached assignment number five in the Speakers Guide which covers use of voice. As an engineer Frank favours subjects that he feels comfortable with and which are often very educational. He told us about how starting a small business several years ago he needed to find customers without the help of the internet and mobile phones which makes it so much easier in today’s technical environment.
Getting a stand at the Inter Plas exhibition in Birmingham was both tiring and had elements of boredom which anyone who has ever manned a stand at an exhibition can attest to.
Filling display cabinets with products and getting leaflets printed was costly for someone starting out but at the end of the three days he had a great many enquiries to follow up and all that was left was the hard and tiring work of dismantling the stand and making his way home.
After a well earned interval, the evening continued with evaluations of the speeches and a topic session in which everyone took part. Using the mnemonic 'Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain' Patricia Baker gave each speaker one of the colours of the rainbow to speak about.
This was won by David Hopkins who has reached the National competitions in the past yet said he had never received the topics award at club level. We were all surprised at this revelation as David has been a member of the club for several years. David spoke for almost three minutes on the colour orange. He described an orange in great detail with some amazing word pictures which made us all taste the citric flavour and smell the tangy zest as he made the first cut.
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Angus Harriman, Eric Baker & Joe Richardson David Hopkins & James Davies
24th October 2017
It was encouraging to see several new faces at our latest meeting.
The main event was a free training session on Chairmanship given by former National President Lindsay Dutch from a club in York.
There is much more to think about when chairing a meeting. Keeping to time, being prepared for the unexpected, making sure the Chair is being attentive to everyone and not writing too many notes plus lots of other valuable advice.
This was followed by a Topics session led by James Gibson based on various autumn themes. A speaker is given a subject to speak on for up to three minutes without any notice so it can be quite tough on the nerves but excellent practice for thinking on the feet at short notice.
Several of our visitors took part and we were especially pleased that Sue York decided to become a member of the club. We offer three free visits to the club so that people will be able to have a turn at speaking to see if it is something that will help them to gain confidence and expertise in speaking to an audience. Many of the members have continued long after they have achieved their certificate as it is also an entertaining and friendly way to spend an evening.
The main event was a free training session on Chairmanship given by former National President Lindsay Dutch from a club in York.
There is much more to think about when chairing a meeting. Keeping to time, being prepared for the unexpected, making sure the Chair is being attentive to everyone and not writing too many notes plus lots of other valuable advice.
This was followed by a Topics session led by James Gibson based on various autumn themes. A speaker is given a subject to speak on for up to three minutes without any notice so it can be quite tough on the nerves but excellent practice for thinking on the feet at short notice.
Several of our visitors took part and we were especially pleased that Sue York decided to become a member of the club. We offer three free visits to the club so that people will be able to have a turn at speaking to see if it is something that will help them to gain confidence and expertise in speaking to an audience. Many of the members have continued long after they have achieved their certificate as it is also an entertaining and friendly way to spend an evening.
Joe Richardson, Lindsay Dutch, Angus Harriman, Sue York and Andy Kowalski
21st October 2017
Eric Baker, who is currently the National ASC President, held a President's Dinner and speaking competition at a Kegworth Hotel.
Seven teams from around the country entered to speak on a three word theme - "Three Piece Suite”. Each team devised a different story to illustrate this. There was a suite of luggage, things that come in threes, hotel suites, musical suites, three popular colours of flags and our own Loughborough team who chose the three piece suite of crown jewels. The Crown, the Orb and the Sceptre.
James Davies chaired the team asking the question “Has anyone met the Queen?” and “Who would like to meet the Queen?” Always a good start to get a response from the audience. He even cheekily said he had asked to borrow them to illustrate the talk! Not to be outdone though, the team had fashioned a very plausible set of Crown Jewels of their own. James introduced Arthur Murray, Mark Harrison and Martin Cox who each spoke eloquently on each item.
This was a competition at National level and they were up against some very talented speakers and it was a team from Kent who won on this occasion. For newer members it was a chance to speak to a much larger audience but any nerves they felt were well hidden. We shall certainly look forward to a repeat performance at a club meeting when all who were unable to attend the contest will enjoy the hard work our Loughborough team put in.
The after dinner speakers were former National contest winners and did not disappoint with their amusing speeches.
Eric was pleased to see six former National Presidents at his dinner along with many others from the various clubs around the country.
There was a splendid raffle with some very generous prizes from our sponsors which made the whole event self funding. It was heart-warming to see so many people attend and they were warmly thanked for their generosity and support.
We try to encourage members to attend these larger events at Area, District and National level as it gives a new dimension to speaking in public.
Seven teams from around the country entered to speak on a three word theme - "Three Piece Suite”. Each team devised a different story to illustrate this. There was a suite of luggage, things that come in threes, hotel suites, musical suites, three popular colours of flags and our own Loughborough team who chose the three piece suite of crown jewels. The Crown, the Orb and the Sceptre.
James Davies chaired the team asking the question “Has anyone met the Queen?” and “Who would like to meet the Queen?” Always a good start to get a response from the audience. He even cheekily said he had asked to borrow them to illustrate the talk! Not to be outdone though, the team had fashioned a very plausible set of Crown Jewels of their own. James introduced Arthur Murray, Mark Harrison and Martin Cox who each spoke eloquently on each item.
This was a competition at National level and they were up against some very talented speakers and it was a team from Kent who won on this occasion. For newer members it was a chance to speak to a much larger audience but any nerves they felt were well hidden. We shall certainly look forward to a repeat performance at a club meeting when all who were unable to attend the contest will enjoy the hard work our Loughborough team put in.
The after dinner speakers were former National contest winners and did not disappoint with their amusing speeches.
Eric was pleased to see six former National Presidents at his dinner along with many others from the various clubs around the country.
There was a splendid raffle with some very generous prizes from our sponsors which made the whole event self funding. It was heart-warming to see so many people attend and they were warmly thanked for their generosity and support.
We try to encourage members to attend these larger events at Area, District and National level as it gives a new dimension to speaking in public.
Mark Harrison, Martin Cox, James T. Davies, & Arthur D. Murray
10th October 2017
Hard work 'The Key to Success' was the theme of the meeting which was well attended by visitors who had come for the first time. It was expertly chaired by James Gibson, who warmly welcomed all present. After the formalities the warm-up started with the subject of “Party Conferences” which got the evening off with a buzz.
The first speech was by a new member Hafiz Wasif who was on his second visit to the club. The title was most appropriately "Hard Work is the key to Success" and he spoke with affection of the example set by his father's attitude to hard work; this has brought success to Hafiz in his application to his studies and he has attained a “Master’s Degree” in engineering.
In conclusion he said he had joined the Loughborough Speakers' Club to improve his Public Speaking ability particularly for presentations. He passed his assignment A1 “Making a Start” speech, with flying colours.
The second speaker of the evening was Frank Rawson with his speech to assignment A6 'Vocabulary and Word pictures' which was titled "The 7 Ages of my Bike". This was an entertaining and enjoyable speech about his love of cycling through the years, and with his experience of the 18 inch wheels in the 1960’s progressing to a more modern period when an electric assisted cycle was more appropriate. He recalled happy times holidaying and camping and on one occasion achieving the 'Golden Cycling Award' at Saundersfoot in Wales. Frank also recalled happy times spent on the Monsal Cycle Trail in Derbyshire.
The speech was evaluated by James T. Davies who passed the assignment and remarked on Frank’s improved progress as a speaker and congratulated him on his success.
The Chairman for the evening James Gibson stepped in at short notice and delivered a revised speech titled "Windows & Wig Powder" which outlined why the tax systems are very complicated and told us that the first income tax change in this country was 2p in the £1.00 and how politically the rate could not be increased. He then looked at the “Stealth Tax” introduced by Gordon Brown. Then back to the 18th century when to avoid increasing income tax the idea of making a charge but not a tax on houses having more than ten windows. Then in another desperate attempt to raise money for the treasury a one guinea charge, again not a tax, was levied annually on those using wig powder, a fashionable thing in those days for many, not just Lords and Ladies but their bewigged servants too. A clever money spinner and 'ha ha', not a tax.
Three enjoyable main speeches proving that Speakers' Club is truly educational and entertaining.
After the interval the Impromptu Topic session was introduced by Arthur D Murray, with a number of visitors participating. The subject theme was “Debatable Social Issues”. James Gibson started with “Should we build houses on green belt land?”. Next was new comer Angus with his topic which was “Have high street banks had their day?”. This was a superb topic, he covered the high debt nationally and in particular student debts.
The winner of the “Golden Gavel for Best Topic” was another visitor, Donna Hunt, for her topic “Should cyclists be required by law to have a licence to use the road?”. James T. Davies in his evaluation said Donna covered the subject with her cycling experiences in different parts of the country with humour. Her smile lit up the room, he could see the cogs turning in her mind. She was a confident and worthy winner.
In his general evaluation of the meeting Mark Harrison did a detailed analysis of the evening's events and concluded that it was a very enjoyable meeting.
Finally the chairman James Gibson finished with a positive constructive comment -
'We’ve heard what we have to do. We’ve seen what we need to do. Now is the time to do it and together we can.'
The first speech was by a new member Hafiz Wasif who was on his second visit to the club. The title was most appropriately "Hard Work is the key to Success" and he spoke with affection of the example set by his father's attitude to hard work; this has brought success to Hafiz in his application to his studies and he has attained a “Master’s Degree” in engineering.
In conclusion he said he had joined the Loughborough Speakers' Club to improve his Public Speaking ability particularly for presentations. He passed his assignment A1 “Making a Start” speech, with flying colours.
The second speaker of the evening was Frank Rawson with his speech to assignment A6 'Vocabulary and Word pictures' which was titled "The 7 Ages of my Bike". This was an entertaining and enjoyable speech about his love of cycling through the years, and with his experience of the 18 inch wheels in the 1960’s progressing to a more modern period when an electric assisted cycle was more appropriate. He recalled happy times holidaying and camping and on one occasion achieving the 'Golden Cycling Award' at Saundersfoot in Wales. Frank also recalled happy times spent on the Monsal Cycle Trail in Derbyshire.
The speech was evaluated by James T. Davies who passed the assignment and remarked on Frank’s improved progress as a speaker and congratulated him on his success.
The Chairman for the evening James Gibson stepped in at short notice and delivered a revised speech titled "Windows & Wig Powder" which outlined why the tax systems are very complicated and told us that the first income tax change in this country was 2p in the £1.00 and how politically the rate could not be increased. He then looked at the “Stealth Tax” introduced by Gordon Brown. Then back to the 18th century when to avoid increasing income tax the idea of making a charge but not a tax on houses having more than ten windows. Then in another desperate attempt to raise money for the treasury a one guinea charge, again not a tax, was levied annually on those using wig powder, a fashionable thing in those days for many, not just Lords and Ladies but their bewigged servants too. A clever money spinner and 'ha ha', not a tax.
Three enjoyable main speeches proving that Speakers' Club is truly educational and entertaining.
After the interval the Impromptu Topic session was introduced by Arthur D Murray, with a number of visitors participating. The subject theme was “Debatable Social Issues”. James Gibson started with “Should we build houses on green belt land?”. Next was new comer Angus with his topic which was “Have high street banks had their day?”. This was a superb topic, he covered the high debt nationally and in particular student debts.
The winner of the “Golden Gavel for Best Topic” was another visitor, Donna Hunt, for her topic “Should cyclists be required by law to have a licence to use the road?”. James T. Davies in his evaluation said Donna covered the subject with her cycling experiences in different parts of the country with humour. Her smile lit up the room, he could see the cogs turning in her mind. She was a confident and worthy winner.
In his general evaluation of the meeting Mark Harrison did a detailed analysis of the evening's events and concluded that it was a very enjoyable meeting.
Finally the chairman James Gibson finished with a positive constructive comment -
'We’ve heard what we have to do. We’ve seen what we need to do. Now is the time to do it and together we can.'
Donna Hunt receiving trophy from James Davies
26th September 2017
Our newly elected President Peter Minshall started the meeting with a warm welcome to everyone. In his address he said that apparently most people found the prospect of speaking in public even more fearful than death. By gaining experience at Speakers’ Club you will be ready for that occasion when you may get a tap on the shoulder and be asked to give a presentation at work, chair an important meeting, or even proposing a toast. Speakers’ Club will give you the ability and self confidence to excel in any speaking situation.
Peter told the visitors that they had made an important and courageous move by coming through the door, and that Loughborough Speakers’ Club can offer additional assistance and support to those whom English is not their native language.
The first main speaker of the evening was James Gibson whose speech title was “Windows & Wig Power”. His subject covered taxation, both complex and simple, with a brief history going back to 1798 when Income Tax was 2d in the pound. He explained why ‘Stealth Tax’ was introduced because the political situation at that time would not allow Income Tax to be increased, so stealth taxes were manipulated to enable an increase in Government revenue. Some ridiculous rules applied, such as the number of windows in homes, which were used to determine the tax payable. So many large houses had several windows bricked up so that the owners’ taxes would be lower. He told us that there are many of these still visible on the older houses in Loughborough to this day. More examples were given in a very informative and entertaining speech.
Next up to the lectern was Arthur D. Murray with a speech titled “Making Choices”. He told us that his facts had been learned from a lifelong interest in all aspects of health. The system of ‘Nature-Cure’ was covered, also the natural wonders of the human body, together with an explanation of the modern processes of food manufacture. The health benefits of Nature-Cure were illustrated where food was grown organically from a healthy soil structure as this is where the real nutrition comes from. To maximise the benefit, food should be eaten whenever possible fresh and raw, but in moderation. An explanation of the modern processing methods, along with manufacturing techniques, were given where food is taken apart and then re-assembled so it lasts longer, tastes different, and often results in over indulgence and ill health.
The conclusion was that if you want to maximise your full health potential then the correct and sensible option is all about making the correct ‘Life Style Choices’.
The Topic session was presented by James T. Davies on the theme of ‘Favourites’. He used the famous book “Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie as his inspiration for the choices he presented. In the book were a series of alternative topic subjects, so members selected a slip of paper on which a relevant word or phrase had been written. First up was David Hopkins with ‘Favourite Piece of Music”. As a children’s entertainer he used music choices that he used in his job to continue his chosen topic. Others followed with a variety of topics such as ‘Holidays’, ‘Sport’ and ‘View’. We were extremely pleased that all of our visiting guests took part and that one of them, Hafiz Wasif, won the ‘Golden Gavel’ with the subject “My Favourite Meal”.
Peter summed up the evening by declaring that it had been a success, whilst also being both educational and entertaining.
Peter told the visitors that they had made an important and courageous move by coming through the door, and that Loughborough Speakers’ Club can offer additional assistance and support to those whom English is not their native language.
The first main speaker of the evening was James Gibson whose speech title was “Windows & Wig Power”. His subject covered taxation, both complex and simple, with a brief history going back to 1798 when Income Tax was 2d in the pound. He explained why ‘Stealth Tax’ was introduced because the political situation at that time would not allow Income Tax to be increased, so stealth taxes were manipulated to enable an increase in Government revenue. Some ridiculous rules applied, such as the number of windows in homes, which were used to determine the tax payable. So many large houses had several windows bricked up so that the owners’ taxes would be lower. He told us that there are many of these still visible on the older houses in Loughborough to this day. More examples were given in a very informative and entertaining speech.
Next up to the lectern was Arthur D. Murray with a speech titled “Making Choices”. He told us that his facts had been learned from a lifelong interest in all aspects of health. The system of ‘Nature-Cure’ was covered, also the natural wonders of the human body, together with an explanation of the modern processes of food manufacture. The health benefits of Nature-Cure were illustrated where food was grown organically from a healthy soil structure as this is where the real nutrition comes from. To maximise the benefit, food should be eaten whenever possible fresh and raw, but in moderation. An explanation of the modern processing methods, along with manufacturing techniques, were given where food is taken apart and then re-assembled so it lasts longer, tastes different, and often results in over indulgence and ill health.
The conclusion was that if you want to maximise your full health potential then the correct and sensible option is all about making the correct ‘Life Style Choices’.
The Topic session was presented by James T. Davies on the theme of ‘Favourites’. He used the famous book “Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie as his inspiration for the choices he presented. In the book were a series of alternative topic subjects, so members selected a slip of paper on which a relevant word or phrase had been written. First up was David Hopkins with ‘Favourite Piece of Music”. As a children’s entertainer he used music choices that he used in his job to continue his chosen topic. Others followed with a variety of topics such as ‘Holidays’, ‘Sport’ and ‘View’. We were extremely pleased that all of our visiting guests took part and that one of them, Hafiz Wasif, won the ‘Golden Gavel’ with the subject “My Favourite Meal”.
Peter summed up the evening by declaring that it had been a success, whilst also being both educational and entertaining.
Guest Hafiz Wasif receiving the Golden Gavel
12th September 2017
Our first meeting of the new season
At the start of our first meeting of the new season, ASC National President Eric Baker congratulated Peter Minshall on being elected the new club President. The post of Vice President now goes to James Davies, a long standing member of the club and one of our most experienced speakers.
Peter Minshall takes over from Arthur Murray who has worked very hard over the past few years to ensure the club stays in the public eye and Arthur will continue with his role as treasurer and publicity officer.
Eric took the role as Chair for the evening and after leading the warm up session introduced the three speakers for the evening.
National contest finalist, David Hopkins gave the first speech entitled “The science of Happiness”. He began by asking if we remembered Ken Dodd and his Diddymen. “Are you blessed with more than your share of Happiness” he asked. This led us to humming the tune and remembering the old days of Ken Dodd’s humour and we were involved straight away.
Happiness is being taken more seriously these days with studies exploring the things that make people happy. Of course happy people work and play more efficiently and this can be seen as important to the country as the GDP.
David gave illustrations. It’s not always money or material wealth that makes people happy. Rockefeller for instance had billions of dollars but poor health, which only started to improve when he gave some of his billions away.
Are you a glass half full person or a glass half empty? Certainly food for thought.
Frank Rawson, a newer member to the club gave his third speech entitled “Water”. This was a well researched speech of seven minutes which he performed with little need of his notes. Water is certainly one of the most vital substances to sustain life and industry. Frank examined the various sources of water from the vapour contained in clouds, the seas and rivers to snow capped mountains. He covered the effect of the hurricanes in the Caribbean and the power of water which was used early on in our history with the water wheel. This led on to the Hydro Electric Dams and high pressure cleaning in Industry and Precision Engineering. We often take for granted where water comes from but where would we be without it. We drink it; we wash in it, swim and travel on it. 80% of our body weight is water and two thirds of the world is covered in it. Frank urged us to consider this especially as it was soon time for the tea break!
James Davies then gave an Impromptu speech from the Advanced Manual. He was given a choice of three subjects and ten minutes to prepare a speech between five and eight minutes. From Weather, Time and Entertainment James chose to speak about weather. Well, it is probably the most talked about subject we know. An opener to many conversations wherever you may find yourself. Only in England can you often find four seasons in one day. James spoke for nearly eight minutes on various aspects of weather around the world with a particularly vivid description of the colourful flowers that appear in the desert after a rare fall of rain and only last for a couple of days.
He concluded that there is no such thing as bad weather only the wrong clothing.
Mark Harrison led us through a Topics session based on summer activities. Everyone had a chance to speak for up to three minutes on such topics as Camping, Festivals, Eclipse and Exams. These seemed fairly straightforward until Frank was given the topic 'Bolt'. From his seat to the lectern he had time to associate this with Hussein Bolt and running but cleverly sidelined this into talking about bolts in engineering, cycling and thunder.
Topics are an excellent format to practice thinking on your feet. You never know when you might be asked to say a few impromptu words, be it a Vote of Thanks or a Welcome to Visitors.
Peter Minshall takes over from Arthur Murray who has worked very hard over the past few years to ensure the club stays in the public eye and Arthur will continue with his role as treasurer and publicity officer.
Eric took the role as Chair for the evening and after leading the warm up session introduced the three speakers for the evening.
National contest finalist, David Hopkins gave the first speech entitled “The science of Happiness”. He began by asking if we remembered Ken Dodd and his Diddymen. “Are you blessed with more than your share of Happiness” he asked. This led us to humming the tune and remembering the old days of Ken Dodd’s humour and we were involved straight away.
Happiness is being taken more seriously these days with studies exploring the things that make people happy. Of course happy people work and play more efficiently and this can be seen as important to the country as the GDP.
David gave illustrations. It’s not always money or material wealth that makes people happy. Rockefeller for instance had billions of dollars but poor health, which only started to improve when he gave some of his billions away.
Are you a glass half full person or a glass half empty? Certainly food for thought.
Frank Rawson, a newer member to the club gave his third speech entitled “Water”. This was a well researched speech of seven minutes which he performed with little need of his notes. Water is certainly one of the most vital substances to sustain life and industry. Frank examined the various sources of water from the vapour contained in clouds, the seas and rivers to snow capped mountains. He covered the effect of the hurricanes in the Caribbean and the power of water which was used early on in our history with the water wheel. This led on to the Hydro Electric Dams and high pressure cleaning in Industry and Precision Engineering. We often take for granted where water comes from but where would we be without it. We drink it; we wash in it, swim and travel on it. 80% of our body weight is water and two thirds of the world is covered in it. Frank urged us to consider this especially as it was soon time for the tea break!
James Davies then gave an Impromptu speech from the Advanced Manual. He was given a choice of three subjects and ten minutes to prepare a speech between five and eight minutes. From Weather, Time and Entertainment James chose to speak about weather. Well, it is probably the most talked about subject we know. An opener to many conversations wherever you may find yourself. Only in England can you often find four seasons in one day. James spoke for nearly eight minutes on various aspects of weather around the world with a particularly vivid description of the colourful flowers that appear in the desert after a rare fall of rain and only last for a couple of days.
He concluded that there is no such thing as bad weather only the wrong clothing.
Mark Harrison led us through a Topics session based on summer activities. Everyone had a chance to speak for up to three minutes on such topics as Camping, Festivals, Eclipse and Exams. These seemed fairly straightforward until Frank was given the topic 'Bolt'. From his seat to the lectern he had time to associate this with Hussein Bolt and running but cleverly sidelined this into talking about bolts in engineering, cycling and thunder.
Topics are an excellent format to practice thinking on your feet. You never know when you might be asked to say a few impromptu words, be it a Vote of Thanks or a Welcome to Visitors.
National President Eric Baker congratulating Peter Minshall on becoming our new Club President
Shepshed Club Ladies Dinner
We are lucky to have in our club the current National President of the Association of Speakers Clubs, Eric Baker from Quorn. He will spend his year of office visiting as many clubs in the country as he can.
He was recently the guest speaker at the Shepshed clubs Ladies evening Dinner held at Longcliffe Golf Club in Loughborough.
This is an annual event to thank the wives and partners of the club members for their support over the year, listening to their rehearsals, catering for their social events and generally supporting them in their endeavours.
Eric spoke fondly of his friendship with the club over many years and regaled them with humorous tales from his days as a Magistrate.
Ian Briggs gave the toast to the Ladies. He reminded us that next year will be the centenary of the first Votes for Women. He spoke about the influence that Leicester born suffragette Alice Hawkins whose statue will soon be gracing the city, had on the government and the role of women today.
Votes of thanks were given on behalf of the club and the ladies present.
Following an excellent five course dinner, the Ladies were each given a playing card in a raffle specially devised to give them all a prize when their card came up.
To round off the evening, the clubs multi talented Ukelele and guitar playing quartet gave an amusing concert to everyone's delight.
Finally Eric was presented with a limited edition print of well known Loughborough landmarks by Barbara Bagley.
He was recently the guest speaker at the Shepshed clubs Ladies evening Dinner held at Longcliffe Golf Club in Loughborough.
This is an annual event to thank the wives and partners of the club members for their support over the year, listening to their rehearsals, catering for their social events and generally supporting them in their endeavours.
Eric spoke fondly of his friendship with the club over many years and regaled them with humorous tales from his days as a Magistrate.
Ian Briggs gave the toast to the Ladies. He reminded us that next year will be the centenary of the first Votes for Women. He spoke about the influence that Leicester born suffragette Alice Hawkins whose statue will soon be gracing the city, had on the government and the role of women today.
Votes of thanks were given on behalf of the club and the ladies present.
Following an excellent five course dinner, the Ladies were each given a playing card in a raffle specially devised to give them all a prize when their card came up.
To round off the evening, the clubs multi talented Ukelele and guitar playing quartet gave an amusing concert to everyone's delight.
Finally Eric was presented with a limited edition print of well known Loughborough landmarks by Barbara Bagley.
Eric with gift from Shepshed Club
Members & Guests enjoy our Summer Supper 2017
13th June 2017
This evening we enjoyed an end of season Summer Supper at the home of outgoing President Arthur Murray in Quorn. Everyone contributed to the buffet which worked out very well with a mixture of sweet and savoury dishes. The weather was lovely and it was a pleasure to be able to mingle and chat to each other in the garden.
Afterwards we adjourned indoors to conduct the handover of the President's chain of office to the incoming President Peter Minshall. There were toasts to the club and guests with suitable replies. It is a useful skill to acquire as often people are required to perform various toasts at formal dinners, weddings or other celebrations.
There was a fun competition to judge how long in total the speeches took. This can vary greatly depending on how much or little the speaker has to say. The lucky winner received a splendid bottle of whisky.
We will now have a summer break - ample time to learn some new speeches ready for our first meeting of the new season on 12th September 2017.
Afterwards we adjourned indoors to conduct the handover of the President's chain of office to the incoming President Peter Minshall. There were toasts to the club and guests with suitable replies. It is a useful skill to acquire as often people are required to perform various toasts at formal dinners, weddings or other celebrations.
There was a fun competition to judge how long in total the speeches took. This can vary greatly depending on how much or little the speaker has to say. The lucky winner received a splendid bottle of whisky.
We will now have a summer break - ample time to learn some new speeches ready for our first meeting of the new season on 12th September 2017.
Club's Manchester tribute
Jackie Mafi, Eric Baker, Maureen Mennie with a member of the Manchester Mayors Office.
The first international speakers club was represented by one of their members on a visit to Manchester in order to present a letter of condolence from the Mayor of Corner Brook in Newfoundland to the Mayor's office in Manchester. Also in attendance was the National President, Eric Baker from the our club and the National Vice President, Jackie Mafi from the club in Wigan. They took the opportunity to join the people of Manchester where the sea of flowers and Tributes fill St Ann's Square.
The Newfoundland club have joined us from Toastmasters who are a similar organisation whose aims are very like ours. Maureen Mennie, originally from Scotland was on a journey to visit relatives and welcomed the opportunity to attend a club meeting in the UK. Having moved to Canada forty five years ago she was pleased to tell us all about life in Corner Brook. We hope to have video links set up with them on competition meetings.
Also in Manchester to help with the horrific injuries was Matthew Horrocks, who is new member to our club. He gave his first speech at the last meeting entitled "Myself".
This first speech is usually a getting to know you speech which should be an easier subject on which to start the speaking journey. The first time is often the scariest but with the help and guidance of a friendly group of people, confidence is gained by practice and improvements are applauded with a certificate of achievement.
Matthew grew up in Nuneaton, later attended Leeds University where he studied Orthopaedics. Having graduated he continued to work in Leeds specialising in Orthopaedics but now lives in Loughborough. We certainly look forward to hearing about his experiences, especially from his time in Manchester at future meetings.
The Newfoundland club have joined us from Toastmasters who are a similar organisation whose aims are very like ours. Maureen Mennie, originally from Scotland was on a journey to visit relatives and welcomed the opportunity to attend a club meeting in the UK. Having moved to Canada forty five years ago she was pleased to tell us all about life in Corner Brook. We hope to have video links set up with them on competition meetings.
Also in Manchester to help with the horrific injuries was Matthew Horrocks, who is new member to our club. He gave his first speech at the last meeting entitled "Myself".
This first speech is usually a getting to know you speech which should be an easier subject on which to start the speaking journey. The first time is often the scariest but with the help and guidance of a friendly group of people, confidence is gained by practice and improvements are applauded with a certificate of achievement.
Matthew grew up in Nuneaton, later attended Leeds University where he studied Orthopaedics. Having graduated he continued to work in Leeds specialising in Orthopaedics but now lives in Loughborough. We certainly look forward to hearing about his experiences, especially from his time in Manchester at future meetings.
9th May 2017
This evening we saw another successful speech by one of our newer members, Frank Rawson, entitled 'The Rewards of Innovation'.
This was a fascinating insight, particularly for the lady members; about shoes, as it turned out.
Frank worked for the British United Shoe Manufacturers in Leicester (BUSM) as a young engineer and he was given a problem to solve. What could he do with an Ultra Sonic machine? Considering the conditions for solving this dilemma, Frank explored the possibilities as he wondered what could be done with it. He'd heard of ultra sonic sound machines for scanning unborn babies, and explained the technicalities of vibration and friction heat which enabled plastics to get hot and be welded.
He illustrated this with the old Smarty tube that we recognised and some plastic shapes that had been seamlessly moulded together from two halves. 'What could this do for shoe making?' he asked himself. Well, several years ago heels were made of wood and nailed on through the base of the shoe and there was often the problem of the heels coming off.
Later plastic heels became fashionable in different shapes and height. Frank designed a metal staple which could be used to weld through to the heel and this become extremely strong and virtually unbreakable. It was so successful that shoe makers such as Clarke's and Kay shoes adopted this method and in over 100,000 pairs not one heel has come off! Frank's reward, just one pound!
We said a fond farewell to one of our student members, Oscar Guerreo, as he finishes his time at Loughborough Universlty. He gave a speech about his experience of joining a speakers' club.
He wanted to be a better speaker as presentations were a big part of his university work. It can be daunting prospect but finding a club where everyone was welcoming and encouraging enabled him to improve and gain in confidence. Oscar also enjoyed being in the winning Adams Apple team competition this year and this will be something he can add to his CV which hopefully will help in his job interviews - We wish him every success.
This was a fascinating insight, particularly for the lady members; about shoes, as it turned out.
Frank worked for the British United Shoe Manufacturers in Leicester (BUSM) as a young engineer and he was given a problem to solve. What could he do with an Ultra Sonic machine? Considering the conditions for solving this dilemma, Frank explored the possibilities as he wondered what could be done with it. He'd heard of ultra sonic sound machines for scanning unborn babies, and explained the technicalities of vibration and friction heat which enabled plastics to get hot and be welded.
He illustrated this with the old Smarty tube that we recognised and some plastic shapes that had been seamlessly moulded together from two halves. 'What could this do for shoe making?' he asked himself. Well, several years ago heels were made of wood and nailed on through the base of the shoe and there was often the problem of the heels coming off.
Later plastic heels became fashionable in different shapes and height. Frank designed a metal staple which could be used to weld through to the heel and this become extremely strong and virtually unbreakable. It was so successful that shoe makers such as Clarke's and Kay shoes adopted this method and in over 100,000 pairs not one heel has come off! Frank's reward, just one pound!
We said a fond farewell to one of our student members, Oscar Guerreo, as he finishes his time at Loughborough Universlty. He gave a speech about his experience of joining a speakers' club.
He wanted to be a better speaker as presentations were a big part of his university work. It can be daunting prospect but finding a club where everyone was welcoming and encouraging enabled him to improve and gain in confidence. Oscar also enjoyed being in the winning Adams Apple team competition this year and this will be something he can add to his CV which hopefully will help in his job interviews - We wish him every success.
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Frank with shoe making components |
Farewell to Oscar |
We then had an excellent speech from Eva Weng about some little known facts about tea drinking. Eva who was born in China talked about "The Dark History of Tea" to an assignment devised to show her expertise in creating word pictures with an expanding vocabulary.
She asked a question to begin with, drawing us all in. "How many of you like a cup of tea to get going in the morning?" she asked."What kind of tea did we prefer?"
Tea wasn't always drunk with milk alone. In Northern China different kinds of tea were made adding salt, ginger, mint, cloves and orange peel. This produced a salty, bitter spicy drink, more like tea soup.
Back in the 8th century, if you wanted to get rid of someone, poison was a quick and easy way to do this. Especially political adversaries.
Arsenic was the ideal substance. It was tasteless but became coloured in plain water so mixing it in tea soup was ideal as it was the custom to drink all of it and eat the flavourings, ensuring the person consumed all the poison.
Silver tableware became the favourite of the rich people and this led to the habit of carrying a silver spoon to dip into a drink as the spoon would turn black if there was arsenic present. Poorer people might have silver paper wrapped around their chopsticks. Her Grandmother still did that although she didn't really know why. Something that parents through the ages teach their children, somewhat like the superstitions we are taught.
In time, this changed peoples’ habit of drinking tea with additives in so plain tea became the norm.
Eva described the custom of the Tea Ceremony. All the ingredients for making tea would be presented on a tray in front of the guests so that everything could be seen. The table would be low so that the guests could see inside the pot. The maker would not wear any jewellery or rings where poison might be concealed, nor even have long finger nails which might also be a hiding place for small amounts.
They would not wear clothes with pockets either. They would show their hands palms facing upwards with fingers spread so that nothing could be hidden. The first cup of tea would always be drunk by the host, watched by everyone with bated breath.
Eva's speech was delivered just before the tea break so she was watched very carefully from then on as she served everyone tea!
We can always learn something new from the speeches performed at the club and subjects like these make for a very interesting evening.
She asked a question to begin with, drawing us all in. "How many of you like a cup of tea to get going in the morning?" she asked."What kind of tea did we prefer?"
Tea wasn't always drunk with milk alone. In Northern China different kinds of tea were made adding salt, ginger, mint, cloves and orange peel. This produced a salty, bitter spicy drink, more like tea soup.
Back in the 8th century, if you wanted to get rid of someone, poison was a quick and easy way to do this. Especially political adversaries.
Arsenic was the ideal substance. It was tasteless but became coloured in plain water so mixing it in tea soup was ideal as it was the custom to drink all of it and eat the flavourings, ensuring the person consumed all the poison.
Silver tableware became the favourite of the rich people and this led to the habit of carrying a silver spoon to dip into a drink as the spoon would turn black if there was arsenic present. Poorer people might have silver paper wrapped around their chopsticks. Her Grandmother still did that although she didn't really know why. Something that parents through the ages teach their children, somewhat like the superstitions we are taught.
In time, this changed peoples’ habit of drinking tea with additives in so plain tea became the norm.
Eva described the custom of the Tea Ceremony. All the ingredients for making tea would be presented on a tray in front of the guests so that everything could be seen. The table would be low so that the guests could see inside the pot. The maker would not wear any jewellery or rings where poison might be concealed, nor even have long finger nails which might also be a hiding place for small amounts.
They would not wear clothes with pockets either. They would show their hands palms facing upwards with fingers spread so that nothing could be hidden. The first cup of tea would always be drunk by the host, watched by everyone with bated breath.
Eva's speech was delivered just before the tea break so she was watched very carefully from then on as she served everyone tea!
We can always learn something new from the speeches performed at the club and subjects like these make for a very interesting evening.
Eva Weng with her poison detection implements!
11th April 2017
With several members on holiday, Chair for the evening, Eric Baker had some rearranging to do with the evening’s programme. Zak was drafted in as Timekeeper. His first time on the timing lights, which should make sure no one exceeds their allotted time. This can be a vital task when running any kind of meeting. The Chairman took over the topics session and speech evaluators were brought in at short notice. It was as usual a well run and interesting evening with three speeches and a hastily prepared Topics session.
The first speech of the evening heard Patricia speaking on the subject of crosswords. Not the angry kind but the brain challenging kind. Retirement gave her the time to indulge in a daily crossword and codeword problem preferring letters to numbers as with games such as Sudoku. The first crossword was printed on 21st December 1913 in New York. It was invented by a Liverpudlian journalist called Arthur Wynne whose family had emigrated to America. Other countries have different patterns, some patterns appear the same when upside down, in Japan all four corners must be white and in Sweden they often have illustrated clues.During the Second World War, as part of the recruitment criteria, Bletchley Park required their interviewees to solve a Daily Telegraph crossword in less than twelve minutes. In January 2013 The Reverend John Galbraith who wrote the crosswords for the Guardian Newspaper announced that he was dying through his crossword saying he had 18 down, (Cancer) of the 19 across (oesophagus) which is being treated with 13 and 15 down (Palliative care). He sadly died later that year. Concluding with the message that it’s important to keep the brain active especially in older age!
Sandra then gave a speech entitled "Will I ever be pain free". We all sympathised with her descriptions of childhood in Jamaica and the various accidents and "pain" she had experienced through her life. We would all like our lives to be pain free but that is not always possible.
Haesul then gave a talk about her home in the Philippines. She described how workers were considered Heroes of the Country by going abroad to work, many of them in the Service Industries such as cruise ships, hoping to provide a better life for themselves and their families. Of course this often meant leaving their children for long periods. Even well educated people are often persuaded to leave, and then find themselves in menial jobs. She now realises this is a fault of successive governments which could be addressed to improve the standards of life in her home country.
Sandra Burton won the gavel for the best topic of the evening. She'd just won a Rolls Royce car and how would she feel about that? WOW was the general feeling but then doubts about where she would keep it parked rather marred the surprise.
The first speech of the evening heard Patricia speaking on the subject of crosswords. Not the angry kind but the brain challenging kind. Retirement gave her the time to indulge in a daily crossword and codeword problem preferring letters to numbers as with games such as Sudoku. The first crossword was printed on 21st December 1913 in New York. It was invented by a Liverpudlian journalist called Arthur Wynne whose family had emigrated to America. Other countries have different patterns, some patterns appear the same when upside down, in Japan all four corners must be white and in Sweden they often have illustrated clues.During the Second World War, as part of the recruitment criteria, Bletchley Park required their interviewees to solve a Daily Telegraph crossword in less than twelve minutes. In January 2013 The Reverend John Galbraith who wrote the crosswords for the Guardian Newspaper announced that he was dying through his crossword saying he had 18 down, (Cancer) of the 19 across (oesophagus) which is being treated with 13 and 15 down (Palliative care). He sadly died later that year. Concluding with the message that it’s important to keep the brain active especially in older age!
Sandra then gave a speech entitled "Will I ever be pain free". We all sympathised with her descriptions of childhood in Jamaica and the various accidents and "pain" she had experienced through her life. We would all like our lives to be pain free but that is not always possible.
Haesul then gave a talk about her home in the Philippines. She described how workers were considered Heroes of the Country by going abroad to work, many of them in the Service Industries such as cruise ships, hoping to provide a better life for themselves and their families. Of course this often meant leaving their children for long periods. Even well educated people are often persuaded to leave, and then find themselves in menial jobs. She now realises this is a fault of successive governments which could be addressed to improve the standards of life in her home country.
Sandra Burton won the gavel for the best topic of the evening. She'd just won a Rolls Royce car and how would she feel about that? WOW was the general feeling but then doubts about where she would keep it parked rather marred the surprise.
Sandra Burton receiving 'Best Topic of the Evening' trophy from Arthur D. Murray
28th March 2017
The key to a successful meeting is often down to the skill of the chairman on the night. This was the case tonight when James Gibson superbly handled the challenge.
We had an interesting warm up impromptu session on the subject of boiled eggs. Frank recalled his days as Second Mate teaching raw recruits how to boil an egg. Sesha preferred his eggs scrambled but admitted that they could be greasy and unhealthy. Eva remembered her time in Germany when she was amused that eggs bought in the Supermarket always came complete with boiling instructions!
The evening continued with our prepared speeches firstly with Yana who spoke on the subject of Takeaways. She gave statistical facts such as the average British family relies on at least three take-away meals a week and that the next meal is but a click away because of the ease of ordering on line. However most of us never consider the unhealthy aspects especially with the high dependency on salt, sugar and fats. If you want to maintain a more healthy lifestyle then give up on convenience and cook your own with natural and fresh ingredients.
The next speech was by Oscar who is progressing through his assignments at a rapid pace and tonight gave a speech on “Blood Donation”. His emotional approach was to ask us to imagine being rushed to hospital with a heart attack or taking a child or sibling there only to find they hadn’t got the necessary blood supply for that life threatening operation. In a strong conclusion he asked us to consider ‘Blood the Greatest Gift – The Gift of Life & a Good Deal’ and reminded us that the 14th June will be Blood Bank Day.
One of the many benefits of Speakers Club is that it gives us the opportunity to prepare for the occasion when you may need to give a speech at a wedding or an important work situation and our final speaker of the evening was Club President Arthur D. Murray who used the opportunity to give a rehearsal for a Closing Address that he will be making to the N.H.B.C. in which he will recounting on his 15 years as a regional independent judge for the ‘Top 100’ Pride in the Job Campaign. This has always been a prestigious award to attain within the house building industry and gives the added bonus to potential home buyers in terms of improved building standards, presentation and continued pursuit of building excellence. He added that he always felt a great personal satisfaction in being involved with such an amazing quality project and why it is a win-win situation for all those connected with ‘the House Building Oscars’.
The final part of the evening is where members are challenged to give a 3 minute impromptu speech on often a topical issue, and on this occasion we heard the argument as to whether the rapid expansion of fast food outlets is a serious health concern for Loughborough residents; 'Should glass be replaced by plastics?'; 'Ought diesel cars be restricted and banned from town centres?'; and 'Should electronic cigarettes only be available via a doctor’s prescription'. Of the eight speeches given the very worthy winner was Yana Luo.
We had an interesting warm up impromptu session on the subject of boiled eggs. Frank recalled his days as Second Mate teaching raw recruits how to boil an egg. Sesha preferred his eggs scrambled but admitted that they could be greasy and unhealthy. Eva remembered her time in Germany when she was amused that eggs bought in the Supermarket always came complete with boiling instructions!
The evening continued with our prepared speeches firstly with Yana who spoke on the subject of Takeaways. She gave statistical facts such as the average British family relies on at least three take-away meals a week and that the next meal is but a click away because of the ease of ordering on line. However most of us never consider the unhealthy aspects especially with the high dependency on salt, sugar and fats. If you want to maintain a more healthy lifestyle then give up on convenience and cook your own with natural and fresh ingredients.
The next speech was by Oscar who is progressing through his assignments at a rapid pace and tonight gave a speech on “Blood Donation”. His emotional approach was to ask us to imagine being rushed to hospital with a heart attack or taking a child or sibling there only to find they hadn’t got the necessary blood supply for that life threatening operation. In a strong conclusion he asked us to consider ‘Blood the Greatest Gift – The Gift of Life & a Good Deal’ and reminded us that the 14th June will be Blood Bank Day.
One of the many benefits of Speakers Club is that it gives us the opportunity to prepare for the occasion when you may need to give a speech at a wedding or an important work situation and our final speaker of the evening was Club President Arthur D. Murray who used the opportunity to give a rehearsal for a Closing Address that he will be making to the N.H.B.C. in which he will recounting on his 15 years as a regional independent judge for the ‘Top 100’ Pride in the Job Campaign. This has always been a prestigious award to attain within the house building industry and gives the added bonus to potential home buyers in terms of improved building standards, presentation and continued pursuit of building excellence. He added that he always felt a great personal satisfaction in being involved with such an amazing quality project and why it is a win-win situation for all those connected with ‘the House Building Oscars’.
The final part of the evening is where members are challenged to give a 3 minute impromptu speech on often a topical issue, and on this occasion we heard the argument as to whether the rapid expansion of fast food outlets is a serious health concern for Loughborough residents; 'Should glass be replaced by plastics?'; 'Ought diesel cars be restricted and banned from town centres?'; and 'Should electronic cigarettes only be available via a doctor’s prescription'. Of the eight speeches given the very worthy winner was Yana Luo.
Yana Luo receiving the Golden Gavel trophy for the Best Impromtu speech of the evening from Mark Harrison.
14th March 2017
After the excitement of all the competitions that have taken place this season we returned to our usual format for last week’s meeting.
New member Frank Rawson performed his first prepared speech. An exciting tale of adventure as a volunteer for the Ocean Youth Club on a sailing holiday from Holyhead to Dublin.
Oscar Guerrero performed his fourth speech demonstrating "Gestures and Body Language". Entitled "Perseverance Pays" he told us that after joining Loughborough University he was determined to get into the sporting activities Loughborough is famed for until a pain in the shoulder caused a problem. Treatment, exercise and physiotherapy needed perseverance to work through the pain even though doctors were saying there was nothing wrong. But why did he still have pain? He is determined to overcome this and surely Perseverance will pay!
An impromtu topics session in the second half followed the theme of the recent Adams Apple contest by using common three word phrases.
Everyone was able to take part. Sesha took on "Air Port Terminal", Sandra had "Mother Knows Best", Yana "Picture Post Card", to name a few.
However Mark won the best Topic of the evening award with "White Van Man".
A lively and animated mini speech on a most read about subject of late.
It is encouraging to see how Mark comes to the lectern with real confidence now, somewhat different from his uncertainty in the early days.
New member Frank Rawson performed his first prepared speech. An exciting tale of adventure as a volunteer for the Ocean Youth Club on a sailing holiday from Holyhead to Dublin.
Oscar Guerrero performed his fourth speech demonstrating "Gestures and Body Language". Entitled "Perseverance Pays" he told us that after joining Loughborough University he was determined to get into the sporting activities Loughborough is famed for until a pain in the shoulder caused a problem. Treatment, exercise and physiotherapy needed perseverance to work through the pain even though doctors were saying there was nothing wrong. But why did he still have pain? He is determined to overcome this and surely Perseverance will pay!
An impromtu topics session in the second half followed the theme of the recent Adams Apple contest by using common three word phrases.
Everyone was able to take part. Sesha took on "Air Port Terminal", Sandra had "Mother Knows Best", Yana "Picture Post Card", to name a few.
However Mark won the best Topic of the evening award with "White Van Man".
A lively and animated mini speech on a most read about subject of late.
It is encouraging to see how Mark comes to the lectern with real confidence now, somewhat different from his uncertainty in the early days.
Mark Harrison receiving trophy from James Gibson
The Adams Apple returns home
The winning team - Oscar Guerrero, Arthur D. Murray, James Davies & Eva Weng
The Adams Apple contest 2017
Congratulations to our victorious team who won back the Adams Apple Trophy after narrowly losing last year by only one point. The four man team led by James Davies gave a polished performance which showed just how much rehearsals count when entering a competition.
Research into the First World War and the building of the Carillon in Queens Park to honour those who gave their lives was full of interesting facts about our town.
The contest is based on a three word phrase, this year it was Big, Bold and Brassy, chosen by the Host club each year. Each speaker has one word and the Chair links them all together.
Oscar Guerrero told us about the Big and majestic memorial the people of Loughborough wanted to remember their Heroes by.
Arthur Murray told how the Carillon was heard in Belgium and thought to be the Bold memorial that was required.
Eva Weng talked about the need for brass and metal donations from the public to make the Brassy casings for the bullet shells.
Although it was a serious subject it held the interest and it touched the emotions as many people would have their own memories of lost family members.
Derby was the Host club this year and and they organised extra entertainment and a very tasty buffet. They based their performance on past historical persons. Nottingham club used the theme of an Antiques Road show programme.
It’s always interesting to discover the different takes on a particular subject, all good but Loughborough had the edge this time.
We shall be having another contest in October based on the words ‘Three Piece Suite’.
Something for everyone to think about.
Research into the First World War and the building of the Carillon in Queens Park to honour those who gave their lives was full of interesting facts about our town.
The contest is based on a three word phrase, this year it was Big, Bold and Brassy, chosen by the Host club each year. Each speaker has one word and the Chair links them all together.
Oscar Guerrero told us about the Big and majestic memorial the people of Loughborough wanted to remember their Heroes by.
Arthur Murray told how the Carillon was heard in Belgium and thought to be the Bold memorial that was required.
Eva Weng talked about the need for brass and metal donations from the public to make the Brassy casings for the bullet shells.
Although it was a serious subject it held the interest and it touched the emotions as many people would have their own memories of lost family members.
Derby was the Host club this year and and they organised extra entertainment and a very tasty buffet. They based their performance on past historical persons. Nottingham club used the theme of an Antiques Road show programme.
It’s always interesting to discover the different takes on a particular subject, all good but Loughborough had the edge this time.
We shall be having another contest in October based on the words ‘Three Piece Suite’.
Something for everyone to think about.
James Davies, Arthur D. Murray, Eva Weng & Oscar Guerrero
Tuesday 14th February 2017
A bevy of Presidents attended our recent joint meeting of the speakers clubs in our area.
A past National President, the current National Vice President, the District President and the Area President plus club Presidents joined members at the Area Topics Contest.
Chaired by Eric Baker, who chose the title of the Topic to be addressed, appropriately for Valentine's Day "If music be the food of love". A contestant from each club took part in the contest. Each person had the same subject to address the audience for three minutes without any preparation. To make this a fair contest, each contestant was brought in separately so they did not hear each other.
The winner this time came from Derby and the runner up from Nottingham so better luck to our club for next year's competition.
Following this, we heard a speech from a Loughborough member, Oscar Guerreo who gave his second speech from the Speakers' Guide which aims to demonstrate Speech Construction. The title was "Sleep".
Oscar is a PHD student who has just completed his final year's exams. He explained with some humour the difficulty of devising a system he called the 3 S's. Sleep, Socialising and Study. Only two of these can be undertaken at one time which caused something of a dilemma.
Like many students he left studying for the exams until two weeks before they took place. Hoping that all went well. This dilemma with sleep led him to research the subject. Why is it some people need eight or nine hours of sleep when others can survive on less? Apparently women need more sleep than men. REM sleep is the most important as this is when regeneration takes place.
We even heard how elephants sleep standing up. There are also dangers to sleeping too long. Oscar quoted a story about someone who slept for twenty one days but suffered a speech impediment and kidney dysfunction when he awoke, so it would seem important to devise one's time appropriately.
After the interval and the well supported raffle, which included two bottles of whisky, Martin Cox from Nottingham chaired a Topics session for the people who had not had a chance to speak.
This was based on several Archaic Laws. He had clearly researched the subject and this was received with interest and amusement. Topics included chocolate, doctors, horses and chickens to name a few. He closed with the statement that "Good Lawyers never die, they just lose their appeal". Well, they say the old ones are the best !
A past National President, the current National Vice President, the District President and the Area President plus club Presidents joined members at the Area Topics Contest.
Chaired by Eric Baker, who chose the title of the Topic to be addressed, appropriately for Valentine's Day "If music be the food of love". A contestant from each club took part in the contest. Each person had the same subject to address the audience for three minutes without any preparation. To make this a fair contest, each contestant was brought in separately so they did not hear each other.
The winner this time came from Derby and the runner up from Nottingham so better luck to our club for next year's competition.
Following this, we heard a speech from a Loughborough member, Oscar Guerreo who gave his second speech from the Speakers' Guide which aims to demonstrate Speech Construction. The title was "Sleep".
Oscar is a PHD student who has just completed his final year's exams. He explained with some humour the difficulty of devising a system he called the 3 S's. Sleep, Socialising and Study. Only two of these can be undertaken at one time which caused something of a dilemma.
Like many students he left studying for the exams until two weeks before they took place. Hoping that all went well. This dilemma with sleep led him to research the subject. Why is it some people need eight or nine hours of sleep when others can survive on less? Apparently women need more sleep than men. REM sleep is the most important as this is when regeneration takes place.
We even heard how elephants sleep standing up. There are also dangers to sleeping too long. Oscar quoted a story about someone who slept for twenty one days but suffered a speech impediment and kidney dysfunction when he awoke, so it would seem important to devise one's time appropriately.
After the interval and the well supported raffle, which included two bottles of whisky, Martin Cox from Nottingham chaired a Topics session for the people who had not had a chance to speak.
This was based on several Archaic Laws. He had clearly researched the subject and this was received with interest and amusement. Topics included chocolate, doctors, horses and chickens to name a few. He closed with the statement that "Good Lawyers never die, they just lose their appeal". Well, they say the old ones are the best !
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Members & guests from Area clubs enjoy the Inter Club Topics Contest
Monday 6th February 2017
We are sometimes called upon to visit other clubs in the wider area to judge their competitions or take part in their social events.
Stourbridge, Bromsgrove and Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands held their area competitions tonight and our club provided three judges plus club member Eva Weng who bravely offered to perform a speech to be evaluated by three contestants in their Evaluation contest.
Eva who comes from China gave a speech titled "When West meets East".
Eva has an excellent command of the English language and had her audience laughing heartily as she described her experiences of English films seen in China.
At primary school they were told they should be grateful for the happy life they led. The teacher showed an extract from Great Expectations to support this.
Poor Pips family had to survive on a daily diet of bread and butter. They had no idea what this was so thought it must be disgusting. If only they could have cabbage and potatoes like them they could lead a happy life as they did in China.
It was later that a school friend whose father was a high ranking official and could get a special supply of good food that they realised bread and butter was indeed a rich and tasty treat. Her friend had also been privileged to see the whole film of Great Expectations and knew they also enjoyed mincemeat and pork pies on festive occasions. With this knowledge she soon became their leader and to taste bread and butter became a long standing ambition in their childhood.
The second film that made a big impression was the Sherlock Holmes mysteries shown on television. The whole of China was so enthralled by these episodes that even crime was diminished on Monday evenings as the criminals stayed home to watch.
They were even shown to police cadets as part of their training. It was the question everyone wanted answering when David Cameron visited in 2013 "Mr Prime Minister" they asked "When will the next Sherlock Holmes season be available ?"
Another popular hero was of course, Mr James Bond. These were often censored. When a Bond girl appeared, the lower part of the screen was black so only the head and neck could be seen. When they questioned the cinema manager they were told the film had burnt.
"But why is it only when the Bond girls are on" they asked. "Because they are so hot" he replied.
It seems we have made a big impression in China with our films. Eva even confided later that she prefers fish and chips and has since realised her desire to taste pork pies which she heats up in the oven. I might just try that for myself.
The judges chose the winners of the Speech, Topics and Evaluation contests who will go forward to the district contests in March. Hopefully the clubs agreed with their decision as the standard was very high and it was a very close run contest. It was certainly a very entertaining evening.
Stourbridge, Bromsgrove and Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands held their area competitions tonight and our club provided three judges plus club member Eva Weng who bravely offered to perform a speech to be evaluated by three contestants in their Evaluation contest.
Eva who comes from China gave a speech titled "When West meets East".
Eva has an excellent command of the English language and had her audience laughing heartily as she described her experiences of English films seen in China.
At primary school they were told they should be grateful for the happy life they led. The teacher showed an extract from Great Expectations to support this.
Poor Pips family had to survive on a daily diet of bread and butter. They had no idea what this was so thought it must be disgusting. If only they could have cabbage and potatoes like them they could lead a happy life as they did in China.
It was later that a school friend whose father was a high ranking official and could get a special supply of good food that they realised bread and butter was indeed a rich and tasty treat. Her friend had also been privileged to see the whole film of Great Expectations and knew they also enjoyed mincemeat and pork pies on festive occasions. With this knowledge she soon became their leader and to taste bread and butter became a long standing ambition in their childhood.
The second film that made a big impression was the Sherlock Holmes mysteries shown on television. The whole of China was so enthralled by these episodes that even crime was diminished on Monday evenings as the criminals stayed home to watch.
They were even shown to police cadets as part of their training. It was the question everyone wanted answering when David Cameron visited in 2013 "Mr Prime Minister" they asked "When will the next Sherlock Holmes season be available ?"
Another popular hero was of course, Mr James Bond. These were often censored. When a Bond girl appeared, the lower part of the screen was black so only the head and neck could be seen. When they questioned the cinema manager they were told the film had burnt.
"But why is it only when the Bond girls are on" they asked. "Because they are so hot" he replied.
It seems we have made a big impression in China with our films. Eva even confided later that she prefers fish and chips and has since realised her desire to taste pork pies which she heats up in the oven. I might just try that for myself.
The judges chose the winners of the Speech, Topics and Evaluation contests who will go forward to the district contests in March. Hopefully the clubs agreed with their decision as the standard was very high and it was a very close run contest. It was certainly a very entertaining evening.
Eva Weng delivers her speech at the contest
Tuesday 24th January 2017
A triple whammy for long time member David Hopkins who now holds the trophies for the Prepared Speech, the Speech Evaluation and now the Topics contest. David will now represent the club at the Area contest in February.
Sandra Burton took her turn at chairing the competition for the evening, keeping everyone to time and introducing the speeches. The evening began with a warm up session designed to involve as many members as possible in a one minute topic. Starting with the word "Weather" which could also mean "Whether" in the vagaries of the English language. This posed a conundrum for the first speaker who, not sure which to choose, settled on weather, as being the easiest. The next speaker would carry on from the last word spoken at the end of the minute.
Yana, from China who came to John Storer House one evening looking for an interest happened upon us on our training night so we invited her to be in our audience. She has now joined the club and took part in the warm up session talking for one minute about "Topic" which of course could also mean a well known chocolate bar.
The prepared speeches followed. Another first time for new member Sophia, who gave us an insight into her life and background with her first speech. These generally take between six and eight minutes. A qualified Chartered Engineer, she is also a devotee of many sports which she says gives her a sense of purpose and achievement.
Mark then gave a speech entitled " Put the Blue Light to Sleep" an intriguing title which led us humorously from apple pies to William Tell to Apple devices. We learned how keeping these modern forms of communication, if switched on for too long can have a detrimental effect on our health. Keeping us awake and our brains whirring instead of being relaxed at the end of the day.
This was supported by scientific information which showed Mark had researched his subject and delivered the speech with vigour as a "Mean What You Say" exercise.
We heard from James how he quickly learned to be a Fashion Show Compère. The theme of his story was that if you get to an appointment or event on time, you are already late. Several things needed sorting out. The microphone, the lectern, a script to be practised. The moral was "Be Prepared" you never know when you might be called upon to help out at the last minute as he was on this occasion. Fortunately the evening went to plan because he had made the effort to be early rather than on time.
The evening closed with the presentation of the Topics Trophy and good wishes to David for the next round between the five clubs in this area which will be held at John Storer House on 14th February.
Sandra Burton took her turn at chairing the competition for the evening, keeping everyone to time and introducing the speeches. The evening began with a warm up session designed to involve as many members as possible in a one minute topic. Starting with the word "Weather" which could also mean "Whether" in the vagaries of the English language. This posed a conundrum for the first speaker who, not sure which to choose, settled on weather, as being the easiest. The next speaker would carry on from the last word spoken at the end of the minute.
Yana, from China who came to John Storer House one evening looking for an interest happened upon us on our training night so we invited her to be in our audience. She has now joined the club and took part in the warm up session talking for one minute about "Topic" which of course could also mean a well known chocolate bar.
The prepared speeches followed. Another first time for new member Sophia, who gave us an insight into her life and background with her first speech. These generally take between six and eight minutes. A qualified Chartered Engineer, she is also a devotee of many sports which she says gives her a sense of purpose and achievement.
Mark then gave a speech entitled " Put the Blue Light to Sleep" an intriguing title which led us humorously from apple pies to William Tell to Apple devices. We learned how keeping these modern forms of communication, if switched on for too long can have a detrimental effect on our health. Keeping us awake and our brains whirring instead of being relaxed at the end of the day.
This was supported by scientific information which showed Mark had researched his subject and delivered the speech with vigour as a "Mean What You Say" exercise.
We heard from James how he quickly learned to be a Fashion Show Compère. The theme of his story was that if you get to an appointment or event on time, you are already late. Several things needed sorting out. The microphone, the lectern, a script to be practised. The moral was "Be Prepared" you never know when you might be called upon to help out at the last minute as he was on this occasion. Fortunately the evening went to plan because he had made the effort to be early rather than on time.
The evening closed with the presentation of the Topics Trophy and good wishes to David for the next round between the five clubs in this area which will be held at John Storer House on 14th February.
David Hopkins receiving the Club's Topic Contest Trophy from Peter Minshall
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Sophia Howard, James Davies, David Hopkins, Mark Harrison & Arthur D. Murray
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Tuesday 10th January 2017
The first meeting of the New Year welcomed a past National President of the association, Lindsay Dutch, who came to deliver a workshop on Evaluation. We evaluate all sorts of situations in our daily lives. A visit to a restaurant for example. Are we considering the service, the quality of the food, the ambiance of the venue etc. How do we address these issues in the light of say, a complaint or something we might consider could be better addressed.
Speaking to an audience in whatever scenario you might be involved in can be just as fraught with criticism and it is important to be able to assess and evaluate this in a good way so as to help and encourage the speaker to recognise the improvements that could be made without demoralising them to the extent they do not wish to continue.
An associate of the tutor in this instance bravely gave a speech to be evaluated by the club. We were divided into three groups. One to relay the positive points, one to offer suggestions on improvements with examples and one to offer advice for future speeches.
The speech was entitled "Flushed with Success". This was a very interesting speech of six minutes covering as you might expect from the title, the history of the WC. We had humour, we had facts ranging from Roman times to present day. We had appropriate gestures to emphasise certain points. Certain methods of cleansing which might horrify us today caused us to be grateful for the soft and perfumed paper now available.
The speech concluded with a humorous tale about a night soil man who was still employed as late as 1989 in Norfolk whose jacket slipped into the putrid substances and all he was concerned about were the sandwiches that were in his coat pocket.
After a pleasant interval for refreshments, one of our newer members gave us his first speech. This is best done about oneself. A subject that would be easy to construct. Oscar Guerreo explained how he came by his name, and what it meant. A mix of Icelandic and Spanish. How he had arrived at Loughborough University after living in seven countries following his parents profession.
From Iceland to Portugal, to Argentina, to Brazil then the USA. Spain and Singapore followed before settling in Loughborough for its reputation as a good environment to study business at the University here. Plus an interest in sports and dancing the Salsa. I am sure Oscar has lots of interesting subjects to entertain us with over the coming months.
Speaking to an audience in whatever scenario you might be involved in can be just as fraught with criticism and it is important to be able to assess and evaluate this in a good way so as to help and encourage the speaker to recognise the improvements that could be made without demoralising them to the extent they do not wish to continue.
An associate of the tutor in this instance bravely gave a speech to be evaluated by the club. We were divided into three groups. One to relay the positive points, one to offer suggestions on improvements with examples and one to offer advice for future speeches.
The speech was entitled "Flushed with Success". This was a very interesting speech of six minutes covering as you might expect from the title, the history of the WC. We had humour, we had facts ranging from Roman times to present day. We had appropriate gestures to emphasise certain points. Certain methods of cleansing which might horrify us today caused us to be grateful for the soft and perfumed paper now available.
The speech concluded with a humorous tale about a night soil man who was still employed as late as 1989 in Norfolk whose jacket slipped into the putrid substances and all he was concerned about were the sandwiches that were in his coat pocket.
After a pleasant interval for refreshments, one of our newer members gave us his first speech. This is best done about oneself. A subject that would be easy to construct. Oscar Guerreo explained how he came by his name, and what it meant. A mix of Icelandic and Spanish. How he had arrived at Loughborough University after living in seven countries following his parents profession.
From Iceland to Portugal, to Argentina, to Brazil then the USA. Spain and Singapore followed before settling in Loughborough for its reputation as a good environment to study business at the University here. Plus an interest in sports and dancing the Salsa. I am sure Oscar has lots of interesting subjects to entertain us with over the coming months.
Oscar Guerreo gave us his first speech.
Tuesday 13th December 2016
Members all enjoyed a festive evening with mince pies, mulled wine cordial and Santa hats at our Christmas meeting.
Looking forward to 2017 will be an exciting year with lots of new members, competitions to win and speeches to be prepared and presented. A training session by a past National President will take place on Tuesday January 10th, so make a date in your diary.
Christmas Story Telling was tried as something new and John Storer House had provided a decorated Christmas tree so the scene was set.
We had the Legend of the Christmas Tree from Peter, a reading from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe from Sophia, a Strange Christmas at the bottom of the world from Frank who told us about Christmas on the beach in New Zealand. It's just not the same dressed in shorts on the beach with a barbecue, not to mention experiencing an earthquake at the time.
Oscer, who comes from Argentina told us a story about writing to Santa Claus when he was 8 years old. "If Santa writes back" he said, I'll believe in him. He waited and waited but had no reply. His friend who had also written to Santa did get a reply which made things worse, although he did get the present he wanted.
Years later he told his mother the story and of course she was very sad that her son had been so disappointed but the secret to getting what you want is to tell your parents that you have written the letter in the first place !
Another tale from Eva about winter time in China. This particular year it had been cold with lots of snow. Christmas as we know it is not recognised in China so Eva had to go to work. Not only was there snow but a deep and heavy smog which made public transport impossible so Eva had to walk for two hours to get there. No excuses are accepted ! However, the snow and the smog made everything look like a white wonderland. As she struggled along trying to see as best she could she bumped into an old man wearing white clothes. He was holding a pot with what looked like sticks in it. She apologised profusely to the old man for nearly knocking him over. She had heard that sometimes there were Fortune Tellers who wandered the streets trying to earn a living and Eva felt that she should at least ask him to tell her future. She took the pot and shook it well to mix up the sticks. These were known to have symbols on them which the Sage would interpret so it depended on which one you chose. Eva duly asked "What do you see in my future" and the Sage replied "I'm a waiter, give me back my chopsticks, you need to go to the opticians".
This prompted the club to call out that well known advertising phrase and laughter was heard all round.
James talked about Carols. In particular the conundrum of how many gifts the True Love received on the days leading up to Christmas. It was this carol that led to James fascination with all things numerical.
In fact it was said this carol is not really about gifts, it was a 16th century coded canticle for the Catholics who were not allowed to practice their faith in those days. For instance, the first and second gifts were referring to the old and new testaments, the fourth gift, the four gospels, eight, the eight beatitudes and so on.
As usual a clever tale from James with a sharp ending.
Last but not least, Mark who works for the Post Office, told us about the Christmas card no one wants to receive. That red card you find on your door mat that says you have missed a delivery and you will have to fetch it yourself !
To be fair and in the spirit of Christmas the Post Office have had a blue version printed with a snowflake design. Does that make it any easier? We can only wonder.
To complete the evening a raffle was held to raise a donation for John Storer House who as a Charity do so much for the community.
Looking forward to 2017 will be an exciting year with lots of new members, competitions to win and speeches to be prepared and presented. A training session by a past National President will take place on Tuesday January 10th, so make a date in your diary.
Christmas Story Telling was tried as something new and John Storer House had provided a decorated Christmas tree so the scene was set.
We had the Legend of the Christmas Tree from Peter, a reading from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe from Sophia, a Strange Christmas at the bottom of the world from Frank who told us about Christmas on the beach in New Zealand. It's just not the same dressed in shorts on the beach with a barbecue, not to mention experiencing an earthquake at the time.
Oscer, who comes from Argentina told us a story about writing to Santa Claus when he was 8 years old. "If Santa writes back" he said, I'll believe in him. He waited and waited but had no reply. His friend who had also written to Santa did get a reply which made things worse, although he did get the present he wanted.
Years later he told his mother the story and of course she was very sad that her son had been so disappointed but the secret to getting what you want is to tell your parents that you have written the letter in the first place !
Another tale from Eva about winter time in China. This particular year it had been cold with lots of snow. Christmas as we know it is not recognised in China so Eva had to go to work. Not only was there snow but a deep and heavy smog which made public transport impossible so Eva had to walk for two hours to get there. No excuses are accepted ! However, the snow and the smog made everything look like a white wonderland. As she struggled along trying to see as best she could she bumped into an old man wearing white clothes. He was holding a pot with what looked like sticks in it. She apologised profusely to the old man for nearly knocking him over. She had heard that sometimes there were Fortune Tellers who wandered the streets trying to earn a living and Eva felt that she should at least ask him to tell her future. She took the pot and shook it well to mix up the sticks. These were known to have symbols on them which the Sage would interpret so it depended on which one you chose. Eva duly asked "What do you see in my future" and the Sage replied "I'm a waiter, give me back my chopsticks, you need to go to the opticians".
This prompted the club to call out that well known advertising phrase and laughter was heard all round.
James talked about Carols. In particular the conundrum of how many gifts the True Love received on the days leading up to Christmas. It was this carol that led to James fascination with all things numerical.
In fact it was said this carol is not really about gifts, it was a 16th century coded canticle for the Catholics who were not allowed to practice their faith in those days. For instance, the first and second gifts were referring to the old and new testaments, the fourth gift, the four gospels, eight, the eight beatitudes and so on.
As usual a clever tale from James with a sharp ending.
Last but not least, Mark who works for the Post Office, told us about the Christmas card no one wants to receive. That red card you find on your door mat that says you have missed a delivery and you will have to fetch it yourself !
To be fair and in the spirit of Christmas the Post Office have had a blue version printed with a snowflake design. Does that make it any easier? We can only wonder.
To complete the evening a raffle was held to raise a donation for John Storer House who as a Charity do so much for the community.
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James, Oscer, & Eva - three of our Christmas Story Tellers
Tuesday 22nd November 2016
Tonight was the occasion for our club Speech and Evaluation contests at which David Hopkins was the worthy winner of the club Speech competition with a speech entitled "Random Acts of Kindness".
An inspirational talk designed to make us feel so much better if we took the opportunity to brighten someone's day, however small the gesture.
David gave several examples. Opening a door with a smile for someone could brighten their day. Passing the time of day at the supermarket could even lead to a job. David explained that he met someone in the supermarket and following a brief conversation he was asked what he did for a living. "I'm a children's entertainer" David replied and gave the stranger his card. Some days later he was booked for a party.
There were lots of word pictures in David's speech. We were taken to Bradgate Park and the weir where a mother duck was trying to encourage the last of her babies to fly up to join the rest of the family at the top but without success. A little girl was watching and thought she could help. She jumped down with her fishing net, scooped up the duckling and returned it to it's mother so that the family could go on their way.
The little girl smiled broadly to cheers all round. This random act of kindness made her feel really good inside and she had helped save the duckling and made it's mother happy too.
If you are kind, kindness will come back to you. Take a chance and notice how good it makes you feel was David's message.
Arthur Murray gave a speech entitled The Big Question. He explored the concept of time in various ways. It drags! Not cross dressing he said, causing a smile. It flys, time, not flies. He gave us several quotes, Time is money, Move with the times, Life is not a rehearsal he said. He talked about sleep and who are larks and who are owls. When is the best time to get things done he asked. Make the days count and don't count the days. Time goes in one direction not the other way round. It slows when you are frightened and flys when you are having fun. As usual Arthur gave us lots of inspiring words, giving food for thought.
Eva Weng, last years speech winner gave us another interesting speech about China and some of their customs. Eva is an accomplished speaker and has mastered the English language exceptionally well.
A topics session followed a welcome refreshment break. Everyone took part in this, starting with the word "Competition". Speaking for one minute, the next person continued from the last word spoken. This is designed to help people speak at a moment's notice on any given subject. This is what we refer to as the fun part of the evening although some people might say it's the scariest!
During the final part of the evening the club Evaluation contest was held where contestants all listen to the same speech before giving an Evaluation. Tremendous credit must be given to new member Neil Fitzgerald who, whilst yet to give his first speech, valiantly entered the contest without too much arm twisting!
However the worthy winner of the contest was also David Hopkins who will now go on to the Area contests next January and we wish him success there too.
An inspirational talk designed to make us feel so much better if we took the opportunity to brighten someone's day, however small the gesture.
David gave several examples. Opening a door with a smile for someone could brighten their day. Passing the time of day at the supermarket could even lead to a job. David explained that he met someone in the supermarket and following a brief conversation he was asked what he did for a living. "I'm a children's entertainer" David replied and gave the stranger his card. Some days later he was booked for a party.
There were lots of word pictures in David's speech. We were taken to Bradgate Park and the weir where a mother duck was trying to encourage the last of her babies to fly up to join the rest of the family at the top but without success. A little girl was watching and thought she could help. She jumped down with her fishing net, scooped up the duckling and returned it to it's mother so that the family could go on their way.
The little girl smiled broadly to cheers all round. This random act of kindness made her feel really good inside and she had helped save the duckling and made it's mother happy too.
If you are kind, kindness will come back to you. Take a chance and notice how good it makes you feel was David's message.
Arthur Murray gave a speech entitled The Big Question. He explored the concept of time in various ways. It drags! Not cross dressing he said, causing a smile. It flys, time, not flies. He gave us several quotes, Time is money, Move with the times, Life is not a rehearsal he said. He talked about sleep and who are larks and who are owls. When is the best time to get things done he asked. Make the days count and don't count the days. Time goes in one direction not the other way round. It slows when you are frightened and flys when you are having fun. As usual Arthur gave us lots of inspiring words, giving food for thought.
Eva Weng, last years speech winner gave us another interesting speech about China and some of their customs. Eva is an accomplished speaker and has mastered the English language exceptionally well.
A topics session followed a welcome refreshment break. Everyone took part in this, starting with the word "Competition". Speaking for one minute, the next person continued from the last word spoken. This is designed to help people speak at a moment's notice on any given subject. This is what we refer to as the fun part of the evening although some people might say it's the scariest!
During the final part of the evening the club Evaluation contest was held where contestants all listen to the same speech before giving an Evaluation. Tremendous credit must be given to new member Neil Fitzgerald who, whilst yet to give his first speech, valiantly entered the contest without too much arm twisting!
However the worthy winner of the contest was also David Hopkins who will now go on to the Area contests next January and we wish him success there too.
David Hopkins winner of Club Speech Contest 2016
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David receiving Evaluation Contest trophy from Arthur D. Murray
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Tuesday 8th November 2016
Remember, Remember the fifth of November
Gun Powder Treason and Plot
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
Gun Powder Treason and Plot
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
November being the season of Fairs, Fireworks and Frosty mornings gave members plenty to talk about at their last meeting.
One of the most important occasions in November is Remembrance Sunday and to commemorate this, Peter Minshall gave an illustrated speech on the history of the Carillon Tower which is in the Loughborough Queen's Park.
Built in 1922 as a memorial to local people who gave their lives during the first world war, it has remained a fitting tribute not only to the brave men and women from that time but to all whose sacrifice has given us the life we know today.
The sum of £23,000 (£1,5000,000 in today's money) was raised to build the Carillon Tower. Taylor's Bell Foundry was commissioned to cast the 47 bells which are situated at the top of the tower and are often heard at various times of the year but especially at the Remembrance service which is held there every year.
The Tower was unveiled in 1923 and included a specially composed piece of music by Edward Elgar called Memorial Chimes.
The Tower contains a museum which is open to the public from Easter to the end of September and is full of interesting memorabilia including a life size statue of Songster, a magnificent horse who went to war and miraculously returned.
Now closed for the winter it is run entirely by volunteers who are on hand to give help and information when the Tower is open. Climb the 151 feet to the top and see spectacular views of the town and surrounding park.
Peter showed several photographs during the presentation which he had taken himself and culminated with a moving review of the Remembrance service set to music with a gun salute and the red poppies somberly floating down from the top of the tower.
One of the most important occasions in November is Remembrance Sunday and to commemorate this, Peter Minshall gave an illustrated speech on the history of the Carillon Tower which is in the Loughborough Queen's Park.
Built in 1922 as a memorial to local people who gave their lives during the first world war, it has remained a fitting tribute not only to the brave men and women from that time but to all whose sacrifice has given us the life we know today.
The sum of £23,000 (£1,5000,000 in today's money) was raised to build the Carillon Tower. Taylor's Bell Foundry was commissioned to cast the 47 bells which are situated at the top of the tower and are often heard at various times of the year but especially at the Remembrance service which is held there every year.
The Tower was unveiled in 1923 and included a specially composed piece of music by Edward Elgar called Memorial Chimes.
The Tower contains a museum which is open to the public from Easter to the end of September and is full of interesting memorabilia including a life size statue of Songster, a magnificent horse who went to war and miraculously returned.
Now closed for the winter it is run entirely by volunteers who are on hand to give help and information when the Tower is open. Climb the 151 feet to the top and see spectacular views of the town and surrounding park.
Peter showed several photographs during the presentation which he had taken himself and culminated with a moving review of the Remembrance service set to music with a gun salute and the red poppies somberly floating down from the top of the tower.
A fitting Tribute indeed
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
Peter Minshall giving his speech on the Loughborough Carillon
Saturday 29th October 2016
Yet another accolade for our Club President, Arthur Murray at the National President's Awards Dinner in Preston. Each year the current National President of the association holds a dinner to celebrate his year in office and to present awards to people who have given their time to promote and further the aims of the association.
These awards are for Innovation, Education, Development or Public Relations, Unsung Hero, Outstanding Contribution to the ASC and Star of the Year or Team of the Year.
Arthur was chosen for his Outstanding Contribution to the ASC in respect of our club, in particular for his constant aim in recruiting new members which has seen the club membership increase from less than 10 when Arthur was elected to our current level of over 20 members.
These awards are for Innovation, Education, Development or Public Relations, Unsung Hero, Outstanding Contribution to the ASC and Star of the Year or Team of the Year.
Arthur was chosen for his Outstanding Contribution to the ASC in respect of our club, in particular for his constant aim in recruiting new members which has seen the club membership increase from less than 10 when Arthur was elected to our current level of over 20 members.
Arthur D. Murray receiving award at President's Dinner from Patricia Baker
Tuesday 25th October 2016
Returning visitors and several more newcomers took part in a lively topics session based on a "Time in your Life". When you were happy, lost, made a mistake, or late for something were some of the topics. Zak, now a member of the club won the best topic award for his description of winning an A star for his Art GCSE exam which was a proud moment in his life.
There were three fascinating prepared speeches. Two new members made their first speech which we call 'Making a Start' and is designed to tell us something about themselves.
Victoria Zhang spoke about life as an identical twin. Some of the benefits and some of the disadvantages. Currently studying at Loughborough High School, Victoria spoke with much humour. You could get blamed for wanting two deserts if you get to the lunch counter separately was one disadvantage. Its more economical to have twins, say their mother. One set of books, one bicycle, one musical instrument can all be shared. Learning to share gave both of them a grounding in mathematics early on in life. If there were 10 strawberries then they would have 5 each. However if there was only nine they had to learn to cut the ninth one in half and so learned about fractions.
Haesul Fagcang who came from the Philippines when she was twelve showed a humorous approach to her first speech with the title " A Taste of Haesul-nut"
They don't have nut allergies in the Philippines so was surprised to find some people have this serious allergy here in the UK.
Haesul is a PHD Engineering student at Loughborough University and is keen to improve her communication skills as it is so important when applying for jobs and getting on with people especially when travelling to different countries. Haesul is well travelled and this was realised especially on a visit to Japan.
James Gibson gave us the second part of his speech entitled "The Frozen Water Trade II - Queen Victoria's Girth".
He reminded us about the last boy he spoke about who became the man who introduced frozen water to the world. A vital ingredient to a gin and tonic !
This small boy found himself at Chatsworth House and wandered into the kitchens. Awed by the gleaming copper pans and shining silver he looked at everything until spotting a dusty recipe book on a lower shelf. He opened the book and found a recipe for Lark pie. Not being particularly interested in this he then found a section on iced deserts which was much more appealing.
Although frozen water was produced in the 1800's it wasn't until 1920 that commercial refrigeration became available. Ice Houses were built on many of the great Estates such as Haddon Hall, Longleat and Windsor. Queen Victoria heard about these Ice Houses and being very fond of iced deserts was keen to explore the development. James then described a typical rich desert of the day with syrups, brandy, cream, sultanas and mascapone, churned together and served on bowls of crushed ice. Queen Victoria was apparently so fond of this that she would often have three servings. This piece of information led neatly to his conclusion that the Queen was 5' 4" in both height and girth and the small boy in question was himself.
A clever use of memories and research made for an entertaining speech with a punch line no one was expecting.
There were three fascinating prepared speeches. Two new members made their first speech which we call 'Making a Start' and is designed to tell us something about themselves.
Victoria Zhang spoke about life as an identical twin. Some of the benefits and some of the disadvantages. Currently studying at Loughborough High School, Victoria spoke with much humour. You could get blamed for wanting two deserts if you get to the lunch counter separately was one disadvantage. Its more economical to have twins, say their mother. One set of books, one bicycle, one musical instrument can all be shared. Learning to share gave both of them a grounding in mathematics early on in life. If there were 10 strawberries then they would have 5 each. However if there was only nine they had to learn to cut the ninth one in half and so learned about fractions.
Haesul Fagcang who came from the Philippines when she was twelve showed a humorous approach to her first speech with the title " A Taste of Haesul-nut"
They don't have nut allergies in the Philippines so was surprised to find some people have this serious allergy here in the UK.
Haesul is a PHD Engineering student at Loughborough University and is keen to improve her communication skills as it is so important when applying for jobs and getting on with people especially when travelling to different countries. Haesul is well travelled and this was realised especially on a visit to Japan.
James Gibson gave us the second part of his speech entitled "The Frozen Water Trade II - Queen Victoria's Girth".
He reminded us about the last boy he spoke about who became the man who introduced frozen water to the world. A vital ingredient to a gin and tonic !
This small boy found himself at Chatsworth House and wandered into the kitchens. Awed by the gleaming copper pans and shining silver he looked at everything until spotting a dusty recipe book on a lower shelf. He opened the book and found a recipe for Lark pie. Not being particularly interested in this he then found a section on iced deserts which was much more appealing.
Although frozen water was produced in the 1800's it wasn't until 1920 that commercial refrigeration became available. Ice Houses were built on many of the great Estates such as Haddon Hall, Longleat and Windsor. Queen Victoria heard about these Ice Houses and being very fond of iced deserts was keen to explore the development. James then described a typical rich desert of the day with syrups, brandy, cream, sultanas and mascapone, churned together and served on bowls of crushed ice. Queen Victoria was apparently so fond of this that she would often have three servings. This piece of information led neatly to his conclusion that the Queen was 5' 4" in both height and girth and the small boy in question was himself.
A clever use of memories and research made for an entertaining speech with a punch line no one was expecting.
Zak Reilly receiving Topics trophy from Club President Arthur D. Murray
Tuesday 11th October 2016
The challenge was set. Pick an object and take ten minutes to prepare a five minute speech. Newer members and four new visitors bravely rose to the challenge.
Frank Rawson chose a touring map of Scotland and gave a colourful description of his travels there. Sam chose a calculator and took us back to our school days. Of course, some of us are too old to have had a calculator at school and she put plenty of humour into her speech.
This was followed by Emma Morris who conveyed her excitement at visiting Disney World in Paris and Orlando.
Peter Minshall chose a pack of cards with pictures of St Petersburg and as a seasoned traveller was able to take us all on a journey to Russia.
Haesul Fagcang chose a mobile phone and explored the modern means of communication.
Zac Reilly chose a ruler as it was an important piece of equipment in his art and design course. George Oliver chose the complete works of Shakespeare and gave us a great deal of food for thought. They all delivered very competent speeches and the change from the usual programme went down well with everyone taking part.
Frank Rawson chose a touring map of Scotland and gave a colourful description of his travels there. Sam chose a calculator and took us back to our school days. Of course, some of us are too old to have had a calculator at school and she put plenty of humour into her speech.
This was followed by Emma Morris who conveyed her excitement at visiting Disney World in Paris and Orlando.
Peter Minshall chose a pack of cards with pictures of St Petersburg and as a seasoned traveller was able to take us all on a journey to Russia.
Haesul Fagcang chose a mobile phone and explored the modern means of communication.
Zac Reilly chose a ruler as it was an important piece of equipment in his art and design course. George Oliver chose the complete works of Shakespeare and gave us a great deal of food for thought. They all delivered very competent speeches and the change from the usual programme went down well with everyone taking part.
George Oliver, Frank Rawson, Emma Morris with Club President Arthur D. Murray
Tuesday 27th September 2016
The club continues to attract visitors which is good news for us as once someone has achieved their goal they often move on to pastures new. New Jobs in new areas or students returning to their home towns after gaining their degrees.
We had five visitors at the last meeting and one person joined straight away. President Arthur Murray explained to the visitors about why you would join a Speakers Club and this was followed by a very lively warm up session of one minute topics based on what gave a person satisfaction!
The first prepared speech of about eight minutes by James Gibson had the intriguing title,
"The Frozen Water Trade". Who would think of selling ice and how did this come about.
Like many business ventures you first need the idea. Then the opportunity and then the action, the selling. Back in the 1800's, watching ships unload their cargo and returning to the home port empty except for rocks and rubble gave someone the idea of filling the hold with something useful.
The statement that there is nothing worse than a warm gin and tonic brought a sense of recognition. How about cutting up a large area of frozen lake into huge blocks, working out how long it would take to melt after packing it in the hold with hay and sawdust and how much would survive a sea journey, was explored.
A gentleman named Frederick Tudor arranged to fill a boat with ice blocks which four months later arrived in Calcutta with 120 tonnes of ice out of the 180 tonnes packed in the hold and the rest as they say is History. Ice cubes can readily be bought from a supermarket freezer section and anyone staying in the USA will know that ice machines are in every Hotel and Motel so that you can mix your own drinks.
So now, whenever we hear the chink of an ice cube, we can raise our glass and toast the "Ice King" as Frederick Tudor became known.
Sandra Burton followed this with a speech titled "Sooner rather than Later".
Naturally, there was a moral to this tale which was fully explored with humour and gave amusement to the audience. Two very different subjects, both very well received.
After an interval of tea and biscuits, we had the three minute topic session which is designed to help people learn to speak with little notice on a given subject. Patricia Baker prepared this by producing a cornucopia of small items collected from around the house, all of which could be in a de-cluttering box! (if only it were that easy). A mini screwdriver set, shells and paperweights, a guitar plectrum, a tape measure, various objects from holidays abroad were some of the items produced. Each person was allowed to choose an object to speak about and this was achieved by everyone who had a go. We were delighted to see the session won by Haesul Faecang and that she has become our latest member to join.
It was agreed that everyone had a fun evening. One of the most rewarding things for long standing members of the club is to see how new members improve during the season.
We had five visitors at the last meeting and one person joined straight away. President Arthur Murray explained to the visitors about why you would join a Speakers Club and this was followed by a very lively warm up session of one minute topics based on what gave a person satisfaction!
The first prepared speech of about eight minutes by James Gibson had the intriguing title,
"The Frozen Water Trade". Who would think of selling ice and how did this come about.
Like many business ventures you first need the idea. Then the opportunity and then the action, the selling. Back in the 1800's, watching ships unload their cargo and returning to the home port empty except for rocks and rubble gave someone the idea of filling the hold with something useful.
The statement that there is nothing worse than a warm gin and tonic brought a sense of recognition. How about cutting up a large area of frozen lake into huge blocks, working out how long it would take to melt after packing it in the hold with hay and sawdust and how much would survive a sea journey, was explored.
A gentleman named Frederick Tudor arranged to fill a boat with ice blocks which four months later arrived in Calcutta with 120 tonnes of ice out of the 180 tonnes packed in the hold and the rest as they say is History. Ice cubes can readily be bought from a supermarket freezer section and anyone staying in the USA will know that ice machines are in every Hotel and Motel so that you can mix your own drinks.
So now, whenever we hear the chink of an ice cube, we can raise our glass and toast the "Ice King" as Frederick Tudor became known.
Sandra Burton followed this with a speech titled "Sooner rather than Later".
Naturally, there was a moral to this tale which was fully explored with humour and gave amusement to the audience. Two very different subjects, both very well received.
After an interval of tea and biscuits, we had the three minute topic session which is designed to help people learn to speak with little notice on a given subject. Patricia Baker prepared this by producing a cornucopia of small items collected from around the house, all of which could be in a de-cluttering box! (if only it were that easy). A mini screwdriver set, shells and paperweights, a guitar plectrum, a tape measure, various objects from holidays abroad were some of the items produced. Each person was allowed to choose an object to speak about and this was achieved by everyone who had a go. We were delighted to see the session won by Haesul Faecang and that she has become our latest member to join.
It was agreed that everyone had a fun evening. One of the most rewarding things for long standing members of the club is to see how new members improve during the season.
Audience members show their appreciation for a well delivered speech
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Haesul Faecang receives trophy from James.
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Tuesday 13th September 2016
There was a good turn out for the first meeting of Loughborough Speakers Club. We were pleased to welcome five visitors who had visited our stand at the recent promotion in the Loughborough Library.
We were also pleased to see our friends from last season and to catch up after the summer break.
Still on great form, the evening was excellently chaired by James Davies who kept us all to time.
Topics Chair was Eric Baker who encouraged our visitors to take part in the impromptu three minute mini speeches on various "Favourites" .
There are three prepared speeches in the first part of the evening. Victoria and Chloe Zhang, who have chosen English names to make it easier for us, are twins from China currently living here with their parents. They performed their first speech as a Duo, something not seen in our club before.
This was truly a very good performance, choreographed very neatly, taking turns to speak and to show illustrations to enhance their subject.
Does anyone know what the symbol of Caduceus means? This is the first big sign you will see on entering the airport in China. It is the symbol of the Chinese Customs. It was designed by an English gentleman named Sir Robert Hart, 28 years of age at the time who made sweeping changes to laws and regulations during his 36 year leadership as Inspector General of the Maritime Customs Service in China. Famous also for introducing a British style letter box but painted green where ours are red.
Their mother Eva is our club competition winner and we are entertained and informed about Chinese culture and History which is very relevant to us now we have closer ties with China.
Shake, Rattle and Roll, taken from the song by Jerry Lee Lewis, was the title of a speech about vitamin tablets. You'll rattle if you take any more of those was the advice given by Patricia's grandma in this Mean What You Say speech. Do we need them and are we what we eat was considered.
In a lighter vane, David Hopkins was very entertaining telling us about his experiences learning how to play a Didgeridoo. Being unable to get a sound from it to begin with he impressed us with his efforts and had two examples on which he performed a successful sound. Perhaps not quite musical as yet, the moral is that you may think you can't do something, but if you spend time and effort practising you will be rewarded with success.
We were also pleased to see our friends from last season and to catch up after the summer break.
Still on great form, the evening was excellently chaired by James Davies who kept us all to time.
Topics Chair was Eric Baker who encouraged our visitors to take part in the impromptu three minute mini speeches on various "Favourites" .
There are three prepared speeches in the first part of the evening. Victoria and Chloe Zhang, who have chosen English names to make it easier for us, are twins from China currently living here with their parents. They performed their first speech as a Duo, something not seen in our club before.
This was truly a very good performance, choreographed very neatly, taking turns to speak and to show illustrations to enhance their subject.
Does anyone know what the symbol of Caduceus means? This is the first big sign you will see on entering the airport in China. It is the symbol of the Chinese Customs. It was designed by an English gentleman named Sir Robert Hart, 28 years of age at the time who made sweeping changes to laws and regulations during his 36 year leadership as Inspector General of the Maritime Customs Service in China. Famous also for introducing a British style letter box but painted green where ours are red.
Their mother Eva is our club competition winner and we are entertained and informed about Chinese culture and History which is very relevant to us now we have closer ties with China.
Shake, Rattle and Roll, taken from the song by Jerry Lee Lewis, was the title of a speech about vitamin tablets. You'll rattle if you take any more of those was the advice given by Patricia's grandma in this Mean What You Say speech. Do we need them and are we what we eat was considered.
In a lighter vane, David Hopkins was very entertaining telling us about his experiences learning how to play a Didgeridoo. Being unable to get a sound from it to begin with he impressed us with his efforts and had two examples on which he performed a successful sound. Perhaps not quite musical as yet, the moral is that you may think you can't do something, but if you spend time and effort practising you will be rewarded with success.
David plays his Didgeridoo
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Victoria and Chloe Zhang give their first speech
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Last Season 2015 - 2016
Tuesday 7th June 2016
We celebrated a very successful season with a summer supper. This was generously held at the home of our president, Arthur Murray, in Quorn. We were treated to an immaculately kept garden in which to mingle and chat with each other at leisure, and we enjoyed the delights of a shared supper. It was impressive that the tables did not collapse with the mass of delights laid out upon them!
Having enjoyed socialising, eating and drinking, we repaired inside (we had heard there was rain forecast, which in fact turned out to be a false alarm), to practise a few of the more formal speaking arts concerned with dining.
Patricia Baker taught us many of the exercises known to help a speaker relax and prepare mentally and physically for giving a speech. There was a good deal of laughter at some of the sounds she encouraged us to make to warm up our voices, and at our attempts to recite tongue twisters!
Beverly Gillman offered a toast to the organisation, in which she commented on how warm and friendly the club has been to her, and she looked forward to this continuing. Sandy Leong responded to this toast by telling us a story concerning a man rescuing starfish; there were far too many starfish for the man to rescue them all from dying on the beach of dehydration, but the ones he did manage to throw back in the water would be saved. From this we could learn that small actions do have an impact, and that by attending a club like ours, members can learn to improve their speaking one small step at a time. Of course, if we encounter a new member who can advance in huge leaps and bounds, we encourage that to happen too! Sandra Burton proposed a toast to our guests, in which she charmed everyone by both her stylish appearance – if there was a prize for most impressive hairstyle in the club, Sandra would win every time! - and the warmth and kindness of her speech. Peter Minshall responded to her toast, echoing and reinforcing all the positive sentiments expressed in the other toasts.
There were prizes to be won too! Sophia Howard won a prize for offering the most accurate guess for the time the speeches would take that evening. Mark Harrison most deservedly won the Alan Fordyce trophy for being the most improved speaker this season. Arthur Murray drew the evening to a close with his usual flourish. Enjoy the summer break and we look forward to starting the new season on the 13th of September at 7:30pm at John Storer House.
Having enjoyed socialising, eating and drinking, we repaired inside (we had heard there was rain forecast, which in fact turned out to be a false alarm), to practise a few of the more formal speaking arts concerned with dining.
Patricia Baker taught us many of the exercises known to help a speaker relax and prepare mentally and physically for giving a speech. There was a good deal of laughter at some of the sounds she encouraged us to make to warm up our voices, and at our attempts to recite tongue twisters!
Beverly Gillman offered a toast to the organisation, in which she commented on how warm and friendly the club has been to her, and she looked forward to this continuing. Sandy Leong responded to this toast by telling us a story concerning a man rescuing starfish; there were far too many starfish for the man to rescue them all from dying on the beach of dehydration, but the ones he did manage to throw back in the water would be saved. From this we could learn that small actions do have an impact, and that by attending a club like ours, members can learn to improve their speaking one small step at a time. Of course, if we encounter a new member who can advance in huge leaps and bounds, we encourage that to happen too! Sandra Burton proposed a toast to our guests, in which she charmed everyone by both her stylish appearance – if there was a prize for most impressive hairstyle in the club, Sandra would win every time! - and the warmth and kindness of her speech. Peter Minshall responded to her toast, echoing and reinforcing all the positive sentiments expressed in the other toasts.
There were prizes to be won too! Sophia Howard won a prize for offering the most accurate guess for the time the speeches would take that evening. Mark Harrison most deservedly won the Alan Fordyce trophy for being the most improved speaker this season. Arthur Murray drew the evening to a close with his usual flourish. Enjoy the summer break and we look forward to starting the new season on the 13th of September at 7:30pm at John Storer House.
Mark Harrison receiving the Alan Fordyce Trophy from club President Arthur Murray
Tuesday 24th May 2016
This evening was the final meeting of the season. Our chairman, James Davies, set a warm friendly tone which carried throughout the evening, having offered a warm up in which Bird Boxes, The Hole in the Ground, Now, The Future and Happening were each expounded upon for one minute.
We then progressed to our two prepared speeches of the evening. Firstly we welcomed Paul Quinlan back to Speakers’ Club after a few years’ absence. He gave his icebreaker speech, “The Getaway”, an exciting adventurous tale of the perils of trying to escape from people who wish you ill when your motorbike refuses to be kick started.
Sandra Burton made a brave attempt at a speech using humour, in “The Day I Decided to Do Some Housework”. We learned that Sandra, like many of us, is far better at procrastination than at getting housework done.
We enjoyed our usual opportunity for refreshment and chatter before launching bravely into the topics session. Peter Minshall led this section of the evening, entitling it: “Has technology gone too far?” Many of us were invited to speak on subjects such as sat navs, what we did before television existed, were schooldays the best days, and we finished optimistically with a look at the benefits of technology. Mark Harrison was declared winner of the topics session, to great acclaim, as we agreed that Mark has made great efforts to improve his speaking skills since joining the club, and he has undoubtedly become a very confident and able speaker.
Our club members will now have the rest of the summer to practice their speeches and we will reconvene on the 13th of September at 7:30pm at John Storer House.
We then progressed to our two prepared speeches of the evening. Firstly we welcomed Paul Quinlan back to Speakers’ Club after a few years’ absence. He gave his icebreaker speech, “The Getaway”, an exciting adventurous tale of the perils of trying to escape from people who wish you ill when your motorbike refuses to be kick started.
Sandra Burton made a brave attempt at a speech using humour, in “The Day I Decided to Do Some Housework”. We learned that Sandra, like many of us, is far better at procrastination than at getting housework done.
We enjoyed our usual opportunity for refreshment and chatter before launching bravely into the topics session. Peter Minshall led this section of the evening, entitling it: “Has technology gone too far?” Many of us were invited to speak on subjects such as sat navs, what we did before television existed, were schooldays the best days, and we finished optimistically with a look at the benefits of technology. Mark Harrison was declared winner of the topics session, to great acclaim, as we agreed that Mark has made great efforts to improve his speaking skills since joining the club, and he has undoubtedly become a very confident and able speaker.
Our club members will now have the rest of the summer to practice their speeches and we will reconvene on the 13th of September at 7:30pm at John Storer House.
Mark Harrison receiving Golden Gavel Trophy from Patricia Baker.
Tuesday 10th May 2016
The late Tony Gale
This was our club's opportunity to enjoy an evening of humour, this event being in memory of Tony Gale, who was greatly fond of all things comical.
The evening was got under way by our chairman, Arthur Murray, who ran a warm up session focused on Leicester City’s recent Big Win. Much to Arthur’s surprise, most of those asked to speak expressed little interest in football!
Our three speeches of the evening were begun by James Davies, who discovered in his speech “Me and Mr Reynard” the hard way that the aroma of a fox will never inspire a scent created by the likes of Dior or Chanel. Vivek Ankolekar gave his first speech, with great confidence and unaided by notes, on the subject of marketing, particularly as it applies to voluntary organisations. Eva Weng spoke of “When West meets East”, telling us of her fondness for British films such as Great Expectations, and the television series of Sherlock Holmes. We learnt that part of Great Expectations was used in primary schools in China to show that people in the western hemisphere were having a miserable existence compared to those in the east, although Eva discovered via a classmate that this wasn’t true. Her revelation that the bikini glad James Bond girls where highly censored when they appeared on the screen in China brought a smile to many a face in the audience.
All of those present were invited to vote on which speech they considered the most humorous, and the outright winner was Eva Weng, who was presented with the Tony Gale Trophy.
After this excitement, we enjoyed our usual refreshments, and then returned for a topics session led by Helen Thomas. The topics chosen were subjects which were concerned with or related to humour, such as homonyms (words which sound the same, but are spelt differently and mean something different to each other, such as their and there, and where and wear), what happens when we smile or laugh, British weather and the medicinal power of laughter. Steven Chongfu Zhang won the award for the best topic, with his positive discussion of the effects of smiling. Peter Minshall neatly rounded up the evening in his role as general evaluator with an excellently delivered comic tongue twister!
Our final event of the season in Loughborough will be on the 24th of May. We would love to welcome you to join us then at 7:30pm at John Storer House.
The evening was got under way by our chairman, Arthur Murray, who ran a warm up session focused on Leicester City’s recent Big Win. Much to Arthur’s surprise, most of those asked to speak expressed little interest in football!
Our three speeches of the evening were begun by James Davies, who discovered in his speech “Me and Mr Reynard” the hard way that the aroma of a fox will never inspire a scent created by the likes of Dior or Chanel. Vivek Ankolekar gave his first speech, with great confidence and unaided by notes, on the subject of marketing, particularly as it applies to voluntary organisations. Eva Weng spoke of “When West meets East”, telling us of her fondness for British films such as Great Expectations, and the television series of Sherlock Holmes. We learnt that part of Great Expectations was used in primary schools in China to show that people in the western hemisphere were having a miserable existence compared to those in the east, although Eva discovered via a classmate that this wasn’t true. Her revelation that the bikini glad James Bond girls where highly censored when they appeared on the screen in China brought a smile to many a face in the audience.
All of those present were invited to vote on which speech they considered the most humorous, and the outright winner was Eva Weng, who was presented with the Tony Gale Trophy.
After this excitement, we enjoyed our usual refreshments, and then returned for a topics session led by Helen Thomas. The topics chosen were subjects which were concerned with or related to humour, such as homonyms (words which sound the same, but are spelt differently and mean something different to each other, such as their and there, and where and wear), what happens when we smile or laugh, British weather and the medicinal power of laughter. Steven Chongfu Zhang won the award for the best topic, with his positive discussion of the effects of smiling. Peter Minshall neatly rounded up the evening in his role as general evaluator with an excellently delivered comic tongue twister!
Our final event of the season in Loughborough will be on the 24th of May. We would love to welcome you to join us then at 7:30pm at John Storer House.
Trophy winners Steven Zhang and Eva Weng with Club President Arthur Murray centre.
Tuesday 26th April 2016
This evening was the occasion of our Annual General Meeting and all members were able to contribute in the future of our club.
Prior to the start of the meeting there was a surprise presentation to our club. At the ASC National Conference, which was held in Aberdeen last weekend, our club was awarded the Fraser trophy which is given for outstanding achievement. Eric Baker, who was elected National Vice-President at the same event, presented the trophy to Arthur Murray in recognition of all his hard work in promoting our club which has resulted in a 66 percent rise in membership in the last year.
Arthur Murray receiving the Fraser Trophy for Outstanding achievement from Eric Baker, newly elected National Vice-President.
Tuesday 12th April 2016
Our members and guests enjoyed a very enjoyable and informative evening again.
Sandra Burton admirably chaired the evening for her first time and got things underway with a warm up session all about holidays and travel. Next David Hopkins led us through a training session on Evaluation. This is a very important part of what we do at Speakers Club and he reminded us that the purpose of evaluations is to Encourage - by making the speaker want to come back and progress; to Educate by building on the skills the speaker already has; and to Elevate and take the speaker to the next level. David continued by explaining that it is all about ensuring the speech has a clear purpose and has good audience rapport. He told us that when you give an evaluation you need to treat it exactly as you would do a speech and to remember it is as much about the audience as it is for the speaker you are evaluating. David illustrated his session with a video of the evaluation speech from last year's ASC National contest which our own club members were then able to consider how they would have delivered the evaluation.
Following the training session we were able to hear a speech given by Steven C Zhang titled 'To Help, or Not to Help - That is the Question'. This was a fascinating tale which highlighted the pitfalls of offering help to an injured person in the street. Steven told us about the plight of a man in China who in 2006 had offered help to an elderly lady who was lying in the street by helping her to stand and then kindly taking her to hospital. His actions, instead of being applauded, led to him being sued by the lady and subsequently being found guilty of assault and fined the equivalent of his yearly salary! Steven then told us of an ingenious and highly amusing way he had overcome a similar situation when he had also found an old man lying in the street by using his mobile phone and filming himself asking questions of the man before giving assistance and thereby avoiding any false incrimination. Patricia Baker was happy to pass Steven's speech and for him to proceed with his next assignment.
After the coffee break it was time for Topics which were led by Arthur Murray who chose to use examples from the book called 'Has Britain gone Bonkers?' Peter Minshall was first to the lectern to answer the question - Have we become over reliant on Sat Navs? This was followed by several more intriguing subjects and resulted in Jim Matthews winning for his topic about the over abundance of Charity shops on the High Street. Jim had us all laughing as he recounted that he is always buying from these shops and has over 50 pairs of shoes and is always invariable dressed in dead man's clothes!
All members are encouraged to come to our next meeting at John Storer House on 26th April at 7:30pm which will be the AGM. This gives everybody the opportunity to have an input on how our club goes forward to achieving another successful year.
Sandra Burton admirably chaired the evening for her first time and got things underway with a warm up session all about holidays and travel. Next David Hopkins led us through a training session on Evaluation. This is a very important part of what we do at Speakers Club and he reminded us that the purpose of evaluations is to Encourage - by making the speaker want to come back and progress; to Educate by building on the skills the speaker already has; and to Elevate and take the speaker to the next level. David continued by explaining that it is all about ensuring the speech has a clear purpose and has good audience rapport. He told us that when you give an evaluation you need to treat it exactly as you would do a speech and to remember it is as much about the audience as it is for the speaker you are evaluating. David illustrated his session with a video of the evaluation speech from last year's ASC National contest which our own club members were then able to consider how they would have delivered the evaluation.
Following the training session we were able to hear a speech given by Steven C Zhang titled 'To Help, or Not to Help - That is the Question'. This was a fascinating tale which highlighted the pitfalls of offering help to an injured person in the street. Steven told us about the plight of a man in China who in 2006 had offered help to an elderly lady who was lying in the street by helping her to stand and then kindly taking her to hospital. His actions, instead of being applauded, led to him being sued by the lady and subsequently being found guilty of assault and fined the equivalent of his yearly salary! Steven then told us of an ingenious and highly amusing way he had overcome a similar situation when he had also found an old man lying in the street by using his mobile phone and filming himself asking questions of the man before giving assistance and thereby avoiding any false incrimination. Patricia Baker was happy to pass Steven's speech and for him to proceed with his next assignment.
After the coffee break it was time for Topics which were led by Arthur Murray who chose to use examples from the book called 'Has Britain gone Bonkers?' Peter Minshall was first to the lectern to answer the question - Have we become over reliant on Sat Navs? This was followed by several more intriguing subjects and resulted in Jim Matthews winning for his topic about the over abundance of Charity shops on the High Street. Jim had us all laughing as he recounted that he is always buying from these shops and has over 50 pairs of shoes and is always invariable dressed in dead man's clothes!
All members are encouraged to come to our next meeting at John Storer House on 26th April at 7:30pm which will be the AGM. This gives everybody the opportunity to have an input on how our club goes forward to achieving another successful year.
Jim Matthews receiving trophy from James Davies
Tuesday 22nd March 2016
Our meeting this evening was ably chaired by James Gibson. We began with a warm up session in which four speakers each talked for a minute on matters which related to the coming of Spring. The first prepared speech of the evening was given by Ross Tomlyn. In “Is digital best?” he talked about the pervasive nature of digital goods and explained how digital systems work differently to their analogue equivalents. Helen Thomas gave us a demonstration of several different accents in “Macbeth tours Britain”, in which she speculated on how the first act of Macbeth would sound depending on the voices chosen by the actors. Sandra Burton asked us “Why is it beneficial to join a public speaking club?” and went on to tell us about several advantages that can be gained through learning to improve speaking skills.
As usual, we were pleased to follow the speeches with an interval, during which there was lively conversation and enthusiastic tea and coffee drinking.
Our chairman then called us to order, and Patricia Baker led us into a springtime themed topics session. She encouraged each speaker to speak for up to three minutes on a theme related to significant days during the Easter period, such as Ash Wednesday, Mothering Sunday and Pancake Day. The winner of this session was Sophia Howard, who spoke about how she would find it difficult to give up exercise for Lent.
Mention also needs to be made of Eva Weng, who represented Loughborough in the Midlands District speaking contest held on the 13th of March at Leamington Spa. Loughborough Speakers’ Club also won a trophy there for the greatest increase of new members of any club in Britain, which is something we’re very proud of.
Our next evening will include a training session on how to evaluate others’ speeches. We would love to welcome you to join us on Tuesday 12th April, 7:30pm at John Storer House.
(Click on 'NEXT MEETING' above for the full programme of the forthcoming evening)
As usual, we were pleased to follow the speeches with an interval, during which there was lively conversation and enthusiastic tea and coffee drinking.
Our chairman then called us to order, and Patricia Baker led us into a springtime themed topics session. She encouraged each speaker to speak for up to three minutes on a theme related to significant days during the Easter period, such as Ash Wednesday, Mothering Sunday and Pancake Day. The winner of this session was Sophia Howard, who spoke about how she would find it difficult to give up exercise for Lent.
Mention also needs to be made of Eva Weng, who represented Loughborough in the Midlands District speaking contest held on the 13th of March at Leamington Spa. Loughborough Speakers’ Club also won a trophy there for the greatest increase of new members of any club in Britain, which is something we’re very proud of.
Our next evening will include a training session on how to evaluate others’ speeches. We would love to welcome you to join us on Tuesday 12th April, 7:30pm at John Storer House.
(Click on 'NEXT MEETING' above for the full programme of the forthcoming evening)
Sophia Howard receiving best impromptu topics award from Vice President Peter Minshall
Tuesday 8th March 2016
Tuesday evening saw the annual Adams Apple and Topics contests chaired by District President Eric Baker. These are inter-club challenges between the Speakers’ clubs in the North East Midlands area, and we were joined by guests from Shepshed, Derby, Newark and Nottingham clubs. The judging panel included William Warren, National President of the Association of Speakers’ Clubs, and Mervyn Jones and Val Hammond of Barwell Speakers’ Club.
Firstly the Topics contest was held. A representative from each of the clubs was asked to produce an impromptu speech for between two and three minutes on “Snap shot”. We subsequently learnt that the winner of this competition was Shepard Kheswa from Nottingham, with the runner up being Tim Metcalfe-Kemp from Newark.
An interval was held after the Topics contest, to allow the judges time to deliberate, and to provide all present with the chance to talk to with one another while enjoying tea and biscuits.
Next it was the Adams’ Apple Contest which is entered by teams of four people, one of whom acts as the chair of the group, and the other three each present a speech about one of the words in the subject title, which this year was “Longest reigning monarch”. It is always intriguing how each club comes up with a different interpretation of the those three linked words. Although Loughborough had a strong team, they were just one point behind the winners from Derby Speakers' Club.
To give the judges time to consider their verdict, a raffle was held, with a huge number and variety of prizes, meaning several people won more than one to take home!
We were delighted to have been joined by the Mayor of Charnwood, Councillor John Capleton, who presented the trophies and complimented all competitors on their speaking skills. William Warren also addressed the meeting to offer the judges’ pleasure at the speeches they had judged, and to present interim certificates of achievement to two of our members, Eva Weng and Helen Thomas, and a certificate of advanced achievement to David Hopkins. Area President David Knox concluded the meeting by offering a vote of thanks for the evening.
Firstly the Topics contest was held. A representative from each of the clubs was asked to produce an impromptu speech for between two and three minutes on “Snap shot”. We subsequently learnt that the winner of this competition was Shepard Kheswa from Nottingham, with the runner up being Tim Metcalfe-Kemp from Newark.
An interval was held after the Topics contest, to allow the judges time to deliberate, and to provide all present with the chance to talk to with one another while enjoying tea and biscuits.
Next it was the Adams’ Apple Contest which is entered by teams of four people, one of whom acts as the chair of the group, and the other three each present a speech about one of the words in the subject title, which this year was “Longest reigning monarch”. It is always intriguing how each club comes up with a different interpretation of the those three linked words. Although Loughborough had a strong team, they were just one point behind the winners from Derby Speakers' Club.
To give the judges time to consider their verdict, a raffle was held, with a huge number and variety of prizes, meaning several people won more than one to take home!
We were delighted to have been joined by the Mayor of Charnwood, Councillor John Capleton, who presented the trophies and complimented all competitors on their speaking skills. William Warren also addressed the meeting to offer the judges’ pleasure at the speeches they had judged, and to present interim certificates of achievement to two of our members, Eva Weng and Helen Thomas, and a certificate of advanced achievement to David Hopkins. Area President David Knox concluded the meeting by offering a vote of thanks for the evening.
William Warren (ASC National President) presenting
Advanced Assignments certificate to David Hopkins
Helen Thomas receiving Interim Certificate from William Warren (ASC National President)
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Eva Weng receiving Interim
Certificate from William Warren
(ASC National President)
Mayor of Charnwood Cllr John Capelton congratulating
winners of the Area contests
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Tuesday 23rd February 2016
To set the mood before the speeches began, our chairman Peter Minshall chose three people to talk spontaneously for 1 minute; one of these people was Stuart, who was on his first visit to the club. He confessed afterwards to feeling nervous – the comments he received in response were that he did very well and we wouldn’t have known that he was nervous if he hadn’t confessed!
The first speech was given by James Gibson, in which he led us ”From nought to Zero”, describing how both of these numerical abstractions came to be important to mankind. Steven Chongfu Zhang gave his first speech on “Cinema under the Stars”, in which he evoked beautifully the atmosphere of attending the annual open-air film show in his small village in China, the film, projector and screen arriving on the back of a bicycle. He had the audience enthralled as he recounted his frightening journey home afterwards through the spookily dark graveyard! Mark Harrison asked us “Are we alone?” and methodically explored the nature of extra-terrestrial phenomena and UFOs. Ivy Huang, also giving her first speech, asked us “Where is it better to be ill?” She compared healthcare in the UK and China, covering well the advantages and disadvantages of both.
After this cavalcade of speeches, we were glad to enjoy a tea break, and offer encouragement and congratulations to the speakers. Reinvigorated, we devoted our attention to a rehearsal for a forthcoming competition. This is the Adam’s Apple Contest, in which teams of speakers from several East Midlands clubs converge, this year in Loughborough, and impress us with their verbal skills.
Arthur Murray, our president, made a presentation to Carol Abbott, who has been with Loughborough Speakers for 25 years, and Education Director with the club for the past 12 years. Carol has been at the heart of the club compiling the programme and encouraging speakers as they progressed through their assignments. She will be leaving the area, and all members were wholehearted in wishing her well for the future - Carol will be truly missed.
The first speech was given by James Gibson, in which he led us ”From nought to Zero”, describing how both of these numerical abstractions came to be important to mankind. Steven Chongfu Zhang gave his first speech on “Cinema under the Stars”, in which he evoked beautifully the atmosphere of attending the annual open-air film show in his small village in China, the film, projector and screen arriving on the back of a bicycle. He had the audience enthralled as he recounted his frightening journey home afterwards through the spookily dark graveyard! Mark Harrison asked us “Are we alone?” and methodically explored the nature of extra-terrestrial phenomena and UFOs. Ivy Huang, also giving her first speech, asked us “Where is it better to be ill?” She compared healthcare in the UK and China, covering well the advantages and disadvantages of both.
After this cavalcade of speeches, we were glad to enjoy a tea break, and offer encouragement and congratulations to the speakers. Reinvigorated, we devoted our attention to a rehearsal for a forthcoming competition. This is the Adam’s Apple Contest, in which teams of speakers from several East Midlands clubs converge, this year in Loughborough, and impress us with their verbal skills.
Arthur Murray, our president, made a presentation to Carol Abbott, who has been with Loughborough Speakers for 25 years, and Education Director with the club for the past 12 years. Carol has been at the heart of the club compiling the programme and encouraging speakers as they progressed through their assignments. She will be leaving the area, and all members were wholehearted in wishing her well for the future - Carol will be truly missed.
Carol Abbott receiving her gift from Arthur Murray
Tuesday 9th February 2016
As usual, Speakers’ Club had a warm, informative and entertaining tour around the world by spoken word. Chaired with panache by Patricia Baker, the evening began with 5 people speaking for a minute on an impromptu subject; one of those to speak was a visitor to the group, Neville Bancroft. Our first prepared speech, given by Sandra Burton, took us “Holidaying in the Caribbean”, creating images of white sandy beaches and clear blue water. Sofiya Yerokhina took us on a thoughtful tour of her efforts to become a student of law in her speech “Positive Discrimination? No thanks”, where she cautioned on the dangers of choosing candidates to fill a quota rather than because they are the most able people. David Hopkins led us through “The Science of Happiness”, a subject clearly dear to his heart. David has received a certificate for advanced speaking, and was congratulated on this by Carol Abbott, education director.
Our president, Arthur Murray, mentioned the positive feedback received from Nottingham Speakers’ Club president and the national Association of Speakers president for the contributions of two Loughborough speakers at the area meeting in Nottingham on the 4th of February. James Davies gave a very measured and constructive evaluation of another participant’s speech, and Helen Thomas gave a speech entitled “Macbeth tours Britain”. This speech will visit Loughborough soon!
After a welcome refreshment break, Carol Abbott led an unusual topics session. Each topic was inspired by one of Carol’s collection of commemorative £2 coins. We covered subjects such as Trinity House lighthouses, Florence Nightingale and civil engineering. The topics winner was Steven Jown, who spoke on the difference between sport in the UK and China. The evening was beautifully rounded to a close by Eva Weng, who gave her first whole evening evaluation.
Our president, Arthur Murray, mentioned the positive feedback received from Nottingham Speakers’ Club president and the national Association of Speakers president for the contributions of two Loughborough speakers at the area meeting in Nottingham on the 4th of February. James Davies gave a very measured and constructive evaluation of another participant’s speech, and Helen Thomas gave a speech entitled “Macbeth tours Britain”. This speech will visit Loughborough soon!
After a welcome refreshment break, Carol Abbott led an unusual topics session. Each topic was inspired by one of Carol’s collection of commemorative £2 coins. We covered subjects such as Trinity House lighthouses, Florence Nightingale and civil engineering. The topics winner was Steven Jown, who spoke on the difference between sport in the UK and China. The evening was beautifully rounded to a close by Eva Weng, who gave her first whole evening evaluation.
Steven Jown with Eric Baker
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Steven Jown, Neville Bancroft & Steven Zhang
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Congratulations to Steven Jown for winning the evening's topics session at his very first time at the lectern.
Tuesday 26th January 2016
Every seat was taken at our meeting on Tuesday evening. We were pleased to host our annual Club Topics Competition, and to welcome a panel of evaluators from Shepshed Speakers’ Club. Eric Baker chaired the evening with aplomb, inviting 3 speakers to talk on television, the internet and mobile phones, each for a minute, before the competition began. Our topics contest requires speakers to make an impromptu speech lasting three minutes; our topic was “Time”. James Davies, Arthur Murray, Sofiya Yerokhina, David Hopkins and Mark Harrison were the contestants, and all spoke about the meaning time has for them, and how precious it is. James Davies, who spoke a good deal about the history of measuring time, won the competition, and David Hopkins, who encouraged us to consider living more in the present time, was the runner up.
We’re also delighted at Loughborough Club’s successes at the Area Speech & Evaluation Contest hosted by Shepshed Club on the 21st. Eva Weng won the Speech contest and David Hopkins was runner up in the Evaluation contest.
Eva will now represent the Area at the District Speech Contest in March.
Refreshments were gratefully enjoyed, including some treats brought from China by one of our members. Invigorated, we enjoyed Ross Tomlyn’s first speech in the group, “The biggest machine in the world”, which we learned is the international telecommunications network; our minds were boggled by the vastness of Ross’ descriptions! Sofiya Yerokhina gave her third speech, “Learn from other people’s mistakes”, a very positive speech in which she showed us how mistakes can be creative, purposeful and some of our best learning opportunities.
There was time for a short topics session, giving people the opportunity to imagine how their lives would be altered by getting a surprise piece of news, such as being selected to travel to Mars or discovering they were related to royalty. It was good to see a newcomer, Sophia Howard, prepared to speak on her first visit to the club.
We’re also delighted at Loughborough Club’s successes at the Area Speech & Evaluation Contest hosted by Shepshed Club on the 21st. Eva Weng won the Speech contest and David Hopkins was runner up in the Evaluation contest.
Eva will now represent the Area at the District Speech Contest in March.
Refreshments were gratefully enjoyed, including some treats brought from China by one of our members. Invigorated, we enjoyed Ross Tomlyn’s first speech in the group, “The biggest machine in the world”, which we learned is the international telecommunications network; our minds were boggled by the vastness of Ross’ descriptions! Sofiya Yerokhina gave her third speech, “Learn from other people’s mistakes”, a very positive speech in which she showed us how mistakes can be creative, purposeful and some of our best learning opportunities.
There was time for a short topics session, giving people the opportunity to imagine how their lives would be altered by getting a surprise piece of news, such as being selected to travel to Mars or discovering they were related to royalty. It was good to see a newcomer, Sophia Howard, prepared to speak on her first visit to the club.
David Knox presenting the Topics Contest trophy to James Davies
Tuesday 12th January 2016
Our first meeting after the Christmas and New Year festivities. Carol Abbott, our chair, had compiled an excellent programme for us. Our first speaker, Caroline Rogers, shared with us the “Wonderment” of everyday activities. Helen Thomas explained how “Everyday ergonomics” can help us improve how we use chairs, and David Hopkins encouraged us to bring “Mindfulness” into our lives, even managing to take us through a meditation during his speech. The evaluators, David Hopkins, Arthur Murray and Eva Weng gave enthusiastic and useful commentary on all the speeches.
The refreshment break was most welcome, although the chocolate biscuits were less popular than usual – maybe people were still recovering from Christmas excess! Arthur Murray alluded to this in his chairing of the topics session, which was based on New Year resolutions. We gained intriguing insights into people’s plans for new activities and challenges this year, and the topics session prize was awarded to Steve Philpott, who surprised himself by easily filling the 3 minutes talking about his pastimes. Steve’s best time in the topics session has been about a minute and a half until now, so congratulations to him on this achievement! Both James Gibson, topic evaluator, and Peter Minshall, general evaluator, enthused on the skills demonstrated by all those who make the club so enjoyable.
The refreshment break was most welcome, although the chocolate biscuits were less popular than usual – maybe people were still recovering from Christmas excess! Arthur Murray alluded to this in his chairing of the topics session, which was based on New Year resolutions. We gained intriguing insights into people’s plans for new activities and challenges this year, and the topics session prize was awarded to Steve Philpott, who surprised himself by easily filling the 3 minutes talking about his pastimes. Steve’s best time in the topics session has been about a minute and a half until now, so congratulations to him on this achievement! Both James Gibson, topic evaluator, and Peter Minshall, general evaluator, enthused on the skills demonstrated by all those who make the club so enjoyable.
Steve Philpott (right) receiving the Golden Gavel trophy from James Gibson for best topics speech
Tuesday 8th December 2015
We held our last meeting before Christmas on Tuesday the 8th, and all of the speeches and readings had a suitably festive theme. Many people chose to wear seasonal headgear too! Sofiya Yerokhina told us how “We do things differently” in Ukraine, telling us about the traditions there which reflect aspects of their communist history. Helen Thomas spoke about “Christmas in Bradgate” which concerned the experiences of a person who is sectioned in a mental health unit over Christmas. Eva Weng took us overseas again to describe her experiences of Christmas in China, and how this has changed over time. The speeches were punctuated by readings from a parody of “The night before Christmas” which told us how we were likely to feel overfed by the end of the Yuletide season.
In honour of Christmas, our refreshment break had mince pies and mulled wine as well as tea and coffee. We also enjoyed a Christmas raffle, in which there were far more prizes than contestants, with the result that just about everyone got two prizes each!
Suitably refreshed, we tackled the seasonal topics session, in which most aspects of Christmas were spoken about. The winner of the topics session was new member, Jim Matthews, who spoke about Christmas presents, and how he is very fortunate to have a family in which everyone is pleased to get the same presents every year! Sandy Leong, our summariser for the evening, commented on how enjoyable the evening had been, and how fortunate we are to have such cultural diversity in our group, so that we learn from listening to others’ speeches as well as learning about speaking.
In honour of Christmas, our refreshment break had mince pies and mulled wine as well as tea and coffee. We also enjoyed a Christmas raffle, in which there were far more prizes than contestants, with the result that just about everyone got two prizes each!
Suitably refreshed, we tackled the seasonal topics session, in which most aspects of Christmas were spoken about. The winner of the topics session was new member, Jim Matthews, who spoke about Christmas presents, and how he is very fortunate to have a family in which everyone is pleased to get the same presents every year! Sandy Leong, our summariser for the evening, commented on how enjoyable the evening had been, and how fortunate we are to have such cultural diversity in our group, so that we learn from listening to others’ speeches as well as learning about speaking.
Jim Matthews receiving award from Sandy Leong
Tuesday 24th November 2015
It’s been a busy week for Loughborough Speakers! We enjoyed a warm and friendly meeting at John Storer House on Tuesday 24th November, ably chaired by James Davies. Steve Philpott gave his second speech, “Help”, in which he talked about the difficulty sometimes of giving and receiving help. Caroline Rogers made her debut icebreaker speech, “Zero to fifty”, with an accomplished whirlwind tour of the significant events in her life so far. Carol Abbott described “An invitation to afternoon tea”, based on the unusual request she received to take tea at the crematorium when an American company took over its management.
The essential part of the evening, tea and biscuits, was heartily enjoyed, and it took quite a lot of persuasion for people to finish their conversations and continue the evening’s schedule.
The second part of the evening was devoted to the topics session, where we were invited to speak spontaneously on a subject for up to 3 minutes. Sandy Leong led the topics, asking each speaker to imagine how the world would be if it was run by a different species than humans. The different species varied from ants up to elephants, encompassing creatures of various sizes in between. The winner of the topics session was Helen Thomas, who imagined the world if spiders were in charge. We all agreed that it had been a very enjoyable evening, with plenty of opportunities for speaking and listening.
Loughborough Speakers were also represented at Derby Speakers’ Club on Thursday 26th November, where an area gathering was held. James Davies spoke on “A day at the seaside”, a delightful nostalgic journey from the days when there was far more of an art to persuading a car to start and to go uphill laden with a family and seaside essentials. We were also represented by Arthur Murray and Eric Baker who carried out evaluations of speeches.
The essential part of the evening, tea and biscuits, was heartily enjoyed, and it took quite a lot of persuasion for people to finish their conversations and continue the evening’s schedule.
The second part of the evening was devoted to the topics session, where we were invited to speak spontaneously on a subject for up to 3 minutes. Sandy Leong led the topics, asking each speaker to imagine how the world would be if it was run by a different species than humans. The different species varied from ants up to elephants, encompassing creatures of various sizes in between. The winner of the topics session was Helen Thomas, who imagined the world if spiders were in charge. We all agreed that it had been a very enjoyable evening, with plenty of opportunities for speaking and listening.
Loughborough Speakers were also represented at Derby Speakers’ Club on Thursday 26th November, where an area gathering was held. James Davies spoke on “A day at the seaside”, a delightful nostalgic journey from the days when there was far more of an art to persuading a car to start and to go uphill laden with a family and seaside essentials. We were also represented by Arthur Murray and Eric Baker who carried out evaluations of speeches.
James, Caroline & Helen
Tuesday 10th November 2015
Competitions winners David Hopkins & Eva Weng with Chief Judge Peter Minshall.
It was competition time for Loughborough Speakers’ Club on Tuesday evening, and a hearty crowd gathered to help the evening run well. Assessing the competitions were two judges from Loughborough club, Peter Minshall (Chief Judge) and Patricia Baker, and two from Shepshed club, John Brown and David Knox. The meeting was chaired by Arthur Murray.
Straightaway we launched into the Speech contest. The first competitor was David Hopkins who spoke about “Manscaping”, the process of a man altering aspects of his appearance in order that he more closely fits the contentious ideal of the way women would like men to be. Sandra Burton’s title was “And Suddenly”, in which she spoke of the way that one’s life can alter all in a moment, flamboyantly illustrating the suddenness with a physical gesture. The third speech was “Masterly Inactivity”, in which Helen Thomas argued the case for introducing more laziness into one’s life. Ably assisted by a beautiful fan, Eva Weng taught us about “The Language of the Fan”, both in Chinese and English culture, and warned that fan gestures in one culture have very different meanings in the other! Sofiya Yerokhina spoke about the “The Magic of the Green Lights”, in which she described going to what at first seemed a rather lacklustre bonfire night firework display, which had transformed into a magical evening by its conclusion. The final speech was entrancingly titled “Yolande and Napoleon”in which James Davies likened the return to consciousness after an anaesthetic and subsequent self-administered pain relief to the feeling of swimming with beautiful fish. He continued by describing his genuine diving experiences where he got to see the wreck of a cargo ship called "The Yolande", and had a very close encounter with an enormous purple fish, called a Napoleon.
After this maelstrom of speeches, we were all glad of an interval for tea and biscuits. Possibly the judges found the break less restful, as this was their time for cogitation and consultation, and the choosing of a winner and two runners up. The outcome was to be announced at the end of the evening.
The second part of the evening was concerned with assessing the ability of club members as speech evaluators. Eric Baker gave a talk entitled “Wonderful life”, which took us on a journey of exploration of the many marvellous creatures that live on earth, and then went one step beyond with a consideration of extremophiles, creatures which are able to survive in extreme conditions that would kill off almost everything else. The task of the four contestants here, Helen Thomas, Sandra Burton, David Hopkins and James Davies, was to evaluate his speech. While the judges retired to confer on their decisions, an impromptu topics session was held, which started with The Fair, appropriately enough as it was then getting set up in Loughborough, and jumping through topics such as exams, the world cup and opportunity.
It was now time for the results which we all had eagerly been anticipating. Chief Judge Peter Minshall gave some helpful advice about both competitions before announcing the results. In the Speech competition the runners up were Sofiya Yerokhina in third place and David Hopkins in second place. The unanimous decision was that the winner of this contest was Eva Weng. The judges also commented that they were delighted with the number of competition entrants, and the wide variety and quality of the speeches delivered.
In the Evaluation competition the runner up was Helen Thomas, and the winner was David Hopkins. Both Eva and David will now represent our club at the Area Competitions in the New year. We wish them every success.
Straightaway we launched into the Speech contest. The first competitor was David Hopkins who spoke about “Manscaping”, the process of a man altering aspects of his appearance in order that he more closely fits the contentious ideal of the way women would like men to be. Sandra Burton’s title was “And Suddenly”, in which she spoke of the way that one’s life can alter all in a moment, flamboyantly illustrating the suddenness with a physical gesture. The third speech was “Masterly Inactivity”, in which Helen Thomas argued the case for introducing more laziness into one’s life. Ably assisted by a beautiful fan, Eva Weng taught us about “The Language of the Fan”, both in Chinese and English culture, and warned that fan gestures in one culture have very different meanings in the other! Sofiya Yerokhina spoke about the “The Magic of the Green Lights”, in which she described going to what at first seemed a rather lacklustre bonfire night firework display, which had transformed into a magical evening by its conclusion. The final speech was entrancingly titled “Yolande and Napoleon”in which James Davies likened the return to consciousness after an anaesthetic and subsequent self-administered pain relief to the feeling of swimming with beautiful fish. He continued by describing his genuine diving experiences where he got to see the wreck of a cargo ship called "The Yolande", and had a very close encounter with an enormous purple fish, called a Napoleon.
After this maelstrom of speeches, we were all glad of an interval for tea and biscuits. Possibly the judges found the break less restful, as this was their time for cogitation and consultation, and the choosing of a winner and two runners up. The outcome was to be announced at the end of the evening.
The second part of the evening was concerned with assessing the ability of club members as speech evaluators. Eric Baker gave a talk entitled “Wonderful life”, which took us on a journey of exploration of the many marvellous creatures that live on earth, and then went one step beyond with a consideration of extremophiles, creatures which are able to survive in extreme conditions that would kill off almost everything else. The task of the four contestants here, Helen Thomas, Sandra Burton, David Hopkins and James Davies, was to evaluate his speech. While the judges retired to confer on their decisions, an impromptu topics session was held, which started with The Fair, appropriately enough as it was then getting set up in Loughborough, and jumping through topics such as exams, the world cup and opportunity.
It was now time for the results which we all had eagerly been anticipating. Chief Judge Peter Minshall gave some helpful advice about both competitions before announcing the results. In the Speech competition the runners up were Sofiya Yerokhina in third place and David Hopkins in second place. The unanimous decision was that the winner of this contest was Eva Weng. The judges also commented that they were delighted with the number of competition entrants, and the wide variety and quality of the speeches delivered.
In the Evaluation competition the runner up was Helen Thomas, and the winner was David Hopkins. Both Eva and David will now represent our club at the Area Competitions in the New year. We wish them every success.
Tuesday 27th October 2015
A cheerful crowd gathered on Tuesday evening at John Storer House to enjoy Loughborough Speakers’ Club meeting. Peter Minshall chaired the meeting with aplomb, keeping all aspects of the evening nicely to time, ably assisted by Arthur Murray as timekeeper. To get us warmed up, there were minute long impromptu speeches given on the theme of ‘The Definite Article’, a cunning title which allowed for subjects as diverse as 'appropriate wisdom to pass on to a child', 'the misapprehension about yourself you most wish you could erase', and 'the crime you would commit if you could get away with it'.
We moved smoothly on to the three prepared speeches of the evening. "The Paradox of Choice” by Harish Pesala explained that freedom of choice, when there are more than a certain number of options to choose from, can sometimes lead to confusion and a kind of mental paralysis about which option to go with. Harish warmed to his subject as he started to give examples to explain his argument.
Sofiya Yerokhina admirably gave her first speech on only her third visit to the group. Entitled “I am sorry, did I offend you?”, she spoke confidently about the narrow divide between being helpful and unwittingly causing offence, calling first on her own self confidence as an art critic aged six. She informed us of the way that throughout history there have been times when people have needed to cause offence, such as by opposing an injustice, to enable progress to a better state of society.
James Gibson was his usual flamboyant self, choosing the innocent-sounding theme of “Seven” and taking us on a journey of quantum leaps from films such as 'The Magnificent Seven' to the numbers on faces of dice, to the way in which the number seven is significant in the world of cakes and biscuits.
To give the evaluators time to assess the speeches, as usual we heard a reading after each speech. These were given by Caroline Rogers, Ivy Huang, who deserves a particular mention as English is not her native language, yet she was still prepared to give the reading a go, and Sandra Burton.
The refreshment break seemed all too short, judging by the animated conversations taking place during it. We returned refreshed and launched ourselves into a Halloween themed topics session, led by David Hopkins. We considered thorny issues, such as:
· Is trick or treating harmless fun?
· Who would you scare and with what if you had the choice?
· If you were a witch, what spell would you cast and on whom? (It was felt that slightly too much relish was expressed in the response given to this topic!)
· Where would you go and what would you do if you had a flying broomstick?
Lots of fun and imagination were exercised by all participants, who drew the audience into their stories and caused a good deal of laughter. The well-deserved winner of the topics session was Carol Abbott, who vividly recalled a practical joke played on her by a colleague – we certainly understood how unnerving it must have been at the time!
Helen Thomas was general evaluator for the evening, and she thanked everyone for a very entertaining evening. She was delighted to say that every single person present had stood at the lectern to make a contribution. The success of the club comes from the enthusiasm and skills shown by all of the club’s members, and it is notable how many people improve every time they come to a meeting. It was great that the evening had given us all many opportunities to enjoy ourselves while learning more about the art of speaking in public.
We moved smoothly on to the three prepared speeches of the evening. "The Paradox of Choice” by Harish Pesala explained that freedom of choice, when there are more than a certain number of options to choose from, can sometimes lead to confusion and a kind of mental paralysis about which option to go with. Harish warmed to his subject as he started to give examples to explain his argument.
Sofiya Yerokhina admirably gave her first speech on only her third visit to the group. Entitled “I am sorry, did I offend you?”, she spoke confidently about the narrow divide between being helpful and unwittingly causing offence, calling first on her own self confidence as an art critic aged six. She informed us of the way that throughout history there have been times when people have needed to cause offence, such as by opposing an injustice, to enable progress to a better state of society.
James Gibson was his usual flamboyant self, choosing the innocent-sounding theme of “Seven” and taking us on a journey of quantum leaps from films such as 'The Magnificent Seven' to the numbers on faces of dice, to the way in which the number seven is significant in the world of cakes and biscuits.
To give the evaluators time to assess the speeches, as usual we heard a reading after each speech. These were given by Caroline Rogers, Ivy Huang, who deserves a particular mention as English is not her native language, yet she was still prepared to give the reading a go, and Sandra Burton.
The refreshment break seemed all too short, judging by the animated conversations taking place during it. We returned refreshed and launched ourselves into a Halloween themed topics session, led by David Hopkins. We considered thorny issues, such as:
· Is trick or treating harmless fun?
· Who would you scare and with what if you had the choice?
· If you were a witch, what spell would you cast and on whom? (It was felt that slightly too much relish was expressed in the response given to this topic!)
· Where would you go and what would you do if you had a flying broomstick?
Lots of fun and imagination were exercised by all participants, who drew the audience into their stories and caused a good deal of laughter. The well-deserved winner of the topics session was Carol Abbott, who vividly recalled a practical joke played on her by a colleague – we certainly understood how unnerving it must have been at the time!
Helen Thomas was general evaluator for the evening, and she thanked everyone for a very entertaining evening. She was delighted to say that every single person present had stood at the lectern to make a contribution. The success of the club comes from the enthusiasm and skills shown by all of the club’s members, and it is notable how many people improve every time they come to a meeting. It was great that the evening had given us all many opportunities to enjoy ourselves while learning more about the art of speaking in public.
Carol Abbott receiving the Golden Gavel for Best Topic of the Evening from Eric Baker
Saturday 17th & 24th October 2015
The ASC National Presidents Dinner took place on Saturday 24th October in Oxford and was enjoyed by three of our members (see photo below). St Cross College, Oxford was the exciting venue for the Association of Speakers' Clubs National President Dinner. There were some exceedingly entertaining After Dinner speeches by no less than eight speakers on a variety of subjects.
This was followed by the National President awards given for outstanding service to the Association. Arthur Murray, President of Loughborough Speakers' Club was honoured to be one of three short listed for the inaugural award of the National Brian Driscoll Trophy for encouraging public speaking amongst young people. Also honoured by national colleagues was Eric Baker, Midland's District President and a member of Loughborough Speakers' Club who received the National Executive Committee’s nomination for Vice National President for 2016/17.
The ASC National Executive also repeated the Seminars that were held in Loughborough on the 17th October at which members were able to gain some first class training from the National Officers.
Gwyneth Millard – National Education Director, showed delegates how you can make your meetings more of a “learning environment” and how to gain confidence and competence.
Concurrently Erica Woods – National Public Relations Officer ran a seminar titled
“10 Elements of Excellent Public Relations”
She remarked on the fact that this is a tremendous time to be involved in communications. The rapid pace of change is having a profound effect on public relations, marketing and bringing new improved ways of working. Those members present from all the clubs in our District were able to compare the efforts of how to attract more members into our clubs. Everyone agreed that the lessons learnt will help us to achieve that aim.
There was also time for club members to enjoy the many interesting museums, colleges and sights that Oxford has to offer. It was certainly a successful weekend for both Loughborough members and their partners in the City of Dreaming Spires.
This was followed by the National President awards given for outstanding service to the Association. Arthur Murray, President of Loughborough Speakers' Club was honoured to be one of three short listed for the inaugural award of the National Brian Driscoll Trophy for encouraging public speaking amongst young people. Also honoured by national colleagues was Eric Baker, Midland's District President and a member of Loughborough Speakers' Club who received the National Executive Committee’s nomination for Vice National President for 2016/17.
The ASC National Executive also repeated the Seminars that were held in Loughborough on the 17th October at which members were able to gain some first class training from the National Officers.
Gwyneth Millard – National Education Director, showed delegates how you can make your meetings more of a “learning environment” and how to gain confidence and competence.
Concurrently Erica Woods – National Public Relations Officer ran a seminar titled
“10 Elements of Excellent Public Relations”
She remarked on the fact that this is a tremendous time to be involved in communications. The rapid pace of change is having a profound effect on public relations, marketing and bringing new improved ways of working. Those members present from all the clubs in our District were able to compare the efforts of how to attract more members into our clubs. Everyone agreed that the lessons learnt will help us to achieve that aim.
There was also time for club members to enjoy the many interesting museums, colleges and sights that Oxford has to offer. It was certainly a successful weekend for both Loughborough members and their partners in the City of Dreaming Spires.
National Officers Erica Woods, William Warren & Gwyneth Millard at the Loughborough Seminars
Arthur Murray, Eric & Patricia Baker with National President William Warren at The President's dinner in Oxford
Tuesday 13th October 2015
Sofiya Yerokhina receiving the Golden Gavel for best Topic of the evening from Peter Minshall
What an enjoyable meeting we had last Tuesday. Eric Baker, our Chair for the evening, gave a warm welcome to members including one new member and two guests.
The evening started with its usual warm-up session when four members were asked to speak for one minute only on a given topic. The end of each minute was signal by a resounding hoot of the horn by James Davies, Timekeeper for the evening.
Once everyone was settled the prepared speeches commenced. First to the lectern was Eva Weng who with the use of a beautiful Chinese fan, delighted her audience by telling them about the language of the fan in China and how this differs from Western ways.
Next came Helen Thomas with her speech ‘A Look inside My Head’. She quickly reassured everyone that they weren’t to take her literally! Instead she spoke about how the mind worked when someone was asked to give an impromptu speech. With some people the words just seemed to tumble out while with others they retreated into the darkest recesses of the brain resisting all attempts to release them. Helen gave some thought about how the brain could be encouraged to relax and bring forth those words.
The final speaker was Carol Abbott who had recently returned from Singapore after attending her son’s wedding there. She gave a humorous account of the misunderstandings, pitfalls and joys of a cross-cultural marriage and courtship.
After the interval when tea, coffee and chocolate biscuits were shared out, our members and guests were treated to a fun topics session chaired by Patricia Baker. The theme for the night was ‘austerity’ a highly topical subject! Each speaker was asked how they would ensure that their money was used to the greatest effect in a variety of situations ranging from supporting a charity, budgeting for a Christmas party, to using supermarket own branded goods. Sofiya Yerokhina, our latest new member, was awarded the Golden Gavel by Peter Minshall, the Topics Evaluator, for her entertaining topic on choosing a budget holiday. The evening was perceptively summed up by the General Evaluator, James Gibson.
All in all, everyone had a most enjoyable evening and went away looking forward to the next meeting of Speakers' Club on 27th October.
The evening started with its usual warm-up session when four members were asked to speak for one minute only on a given topic. The end of each minute was signal by a resounding hoot of the horn by James Davies, Timekeeper for the evening.
Once everyone was settled the prepared speeches commenced. First to the lectern was Eva Weng who with the use of a beautiful Chinese fan, delighted her audience by telling them about the language of the fan in China and how this differs from Western ways.
Next came Helen Thomas with her speech ‘A Look inside My Head’. She quickly reassured everyone that they weren’t to take her literally! Instead she spoke about how the mind worked when someone was asked to give an impromptu speech. With some people the words just seemed to tumble out while with others they retreated into the darkest recesses of the brain resisting all attempts to release them. Helen gave some thought about how the brain could be encouraged to relax and bring forth those words.
The final speaker was Carol Abbott who had recently returned from Singapore after attending her son’s wedding there. She gave a humorous account of the misunderstandings, pitfalls and joys of a cross-cultural marriage and courtship.
After the interval when tea, coffee and chocolate biscuits were shared out, our members and guests were treated to a fun topics session chaired by Patricia Baker. The theme for the night was ‘austerity’ a highly topical subject! Each speaker was asked how they would ensure that their money was used to the greatest effect in a variety of situations ranging from supporting a charity, budgeting for a Christmas party, to using supermarket own branded goods. Sofiya Yerokhina, our latest new member, was awarded the Golden Gavel by Peter Minshall, the Topics Evaluator, for her entertaining topic on choosing a budget holiday. The evening was perceptively summed up by the General Evaluator, James Gibson.
All in all, everyone had a most enjoyable evening and went away looking forward to the next meeting of Speakers' Club on 27th October.
Tuesday 22nd September 2015
Jim Malthews receives Golden Gavel from Patricia Baker
Following a successful week of promoting the Loughborough Speakers Club, both at the Town Library and at John Storer House, we were pleased to welcome several visitors to our Open Evening. The Club President, Arthur Murray gave a welcoming address and an explanation of the Club’s aims. He hoped everyone would enjoy the experience and take part if they felt they could, although he reassured guests that there was no pressure on anyone to speak unless they were ready to do so.
Topics Chair for the evening, James Davies, explained what happens in a Topics Session which this time was based on the mellow fruitfulness of autumn. Autumn leaves, autumn bonfires, conkers and frosty mornings were some of the topics covered. Our visitors delivered some excellent topics with colourful word pictures and showed surprising confidence for their first time with us. So much so that visitor Jim Malthews, won the best topic for his description of ‘Autumn Bonfires’.
After a pleasant interval, chatting to everyone and enjoying a welcome cup of tea with delicious chocolate biscuits, two members delivered a prepared speech.
Eva Weng, who when giving a speech, not only entertains us but informs us of her Chinese culture, gave a speech entitled "My Guts are Thinking". Exploring the notion that our thoughts are not always in our heads but more often in our gut, we were given lots of examples of how our gut feelings and gut reactions are perceived in various cultures.
Sandy Leong gave an interesting speech about where our names come from. Examples like Eric Bloodaxe and Eric the Red, based on what our occupation or hair colour might be. Surnames based on occupations like Smith, Carpenter, Baker made it easier to recognise certain people especially if they had the same first or Christian name. Other names based on where they lived like Brook, Field, Hampshire were among lots of other examples. A great deal of humour was used describing some of the more obscure and unusual names.
It was agreed that we had an enjoyable and entertaining evening before the Chair for the evening wished us a good journey home and hoped we would have the pleasure of seeing our visitors on future occasions.
Topics Chair for the evening, James Davies, explained what happens in a Topics Session which this time was based on the mellow fruitfulness of autumn. Autumn leaves, autumn bonfires, conkers and frosty mornings were some of the topics covered. Our visitors delivered some excellent topics with colourful word pictures and showed surprising confidence for their first time with us. So much so that visitor Jim Malthews, won the best topic for his description of ‘Autumn Bonfires’.
After a pleasant interval, chatting to everyone and enjoying a welcome cup of tea with delicious chocolate biscuits, two members delivered a prepared speech.
Eva Weng, who when giving a speech, not only entertains us but informs us of her Chinese culture, gave a speech entitled "My Guts are Thinking". Exploring the notion that our thoughts are not always in our heads but more often in our gut, we were given lots of examples of how our gut feelings and gut reactions are perceived in various cultures.
Sandy Leong gave an interesting speech about where our names come from. Examples like Eric Bloodaxe and Eric the Red, based on what our occupation or hair colour might be. Surnames based on occupations like Smith, Carpenter, Baker made it easier to recognise certain people especially if they had the same first or Christian name. Other names based on where they lived like Brook, Field, Hampshire were among lots of other examples. A great deal of humour was used describing some of the more obscure and unusual names.
It was agreed that we had an enjoyable and entertaining evening before the Chair for the evening wished us a good journey home and hoped we would have the pleasure of seeing our visitors on future occasions.
Tuesday 8th September 2015
Carol Abbott, Education Director, welcomes new member Caroline Rogers (left) and guest Shumi Syed.
Tonight saw the start of our new season. What a pleasure to meet up again with friends and to welcome a new guest, Shumi Syed.
Patricia Baker, Chair for the evening started proceedings with a short warm up session. Three ladies sitting in the front row were asked to come up to the lectern and tell the audience what they had done in the summer. This included two birthdays, one being the ‘big 50’!
The Topics Session was chaired by Peter Minshall, and took people into the realms of murder and mystery. Each speaker was given a spine chilling introduction which they then had to develop into a story over three minutes. However there was a twist! Each member was encouraged to weave a local Loughborough element into their tale. Not for the faint hearted! Thespians amongst the audience fared well with this novel approach to story-telling and the winner of the Golden Gavel for the evening’s best horror story was Eric Baker with his tale of a lost traveller, creepy cottage and deranged hostess.
After a pleasant interval break, when everyone socialised and caught up on news, we moved into the second half of the evening when the audience listened to three great speeches. The first speech was given by James Gibson who intrigued his audience by speaking about ‘Nothing’. He argued that nothing was not nothing but something, and gave as an example, John Cage’s symphony that was a silent piece of music lasting 4 minutes and 33 seconds. It was performed by a full orchestra who sat in total silence for that period of time. Yet, it still received a round of applause by the audience. Ladies and Gentlemen – was that something or nothing? It is, as James concluded, for you to decide!
The next two speeches were from new members giving their first speech at the Club. Steve Philpot took members on a journey across thousands of years as he related the mesmerising history of coracles – a life-long passion of his. These little, round boats made from skin and wood are so light-weight they can be carried on your back, yet they have served man-kind across the world and are still in use today. Steve delighted his audience with his humorous account of building his first coracle, built from polystyrene. On the water, as it broke up and quickly sank, Steve recounted that although soaking wet, his enthusiasm for these quirky boats was not dampened!
Mark Harrison then in his speech ‘From Tyneside to Pitch Side’, gave a fascinating account of his early life, when having been born in Tyneside, he moved at a few months old, with his family to places all over the world. This gave him a love of travel and sport. Now living in Leicestershire with a young family, he trained as a junior football coach and spends most weekends pitch side, enjoying the challenges that life brings with his young team.
Patricia Baker, Chair for the evening started proceedings with a short warm up session. Three ladies sitting in the front row were asked to come up to the lectern and tell the audience what they had done in the summer. This included two birthdays, one being the ‘big 50’!
The Topics Session was chaired by Peter Minshall, and took people into the realms of murder and mystery. Each speaker was given a spine chilling introduction which they then had to develop into a story over three minutes. However there was a twist! Each member was encouraged to weave a local Loughborough element into their tale. Not for the faint hearted! Thespians amongst the audience fared well with this novel approach to story-telling and the winner of the Golden Gavel for the evening’s best horror story was Eric Baker with his tale of a lost traveller, creepy cottage and deranged hostess.
After a pleasant interval break, when everyone socialised and caught up on news, we moved into the second half of the evening when the audience listened to three great speeches. The first speech was given by James Gibson who intrigued his audience by speaking about ‘Nothing’. He argued that nothing was not nothing but something, and gave as an example, John Cage’s symphony that was a silent piece of music lasting 4 minutes and 33 seconds. It was performed by a full orchestra who sat in total silence for that period of time. Yet, it still received a round of applause by the audience. Ladies and Gentlemen – was that something or nothing? It is, as James concluded, for you to decide!
The next two speeches were from new members giving their first speech at the Club. Steve Philpot took members on a journey across thousands of years as he related the mesmerising history of coracles – a life-long passion of his. These little, round boats made from skin and wood are so light-weight they can be carried on your back, yet they have served man-kind across the world and are still in use today. Steve delighted his audience with his humorous account of building his first coracle, built from polystyrene. On the water, as it broke up and quickly sank, Steve recounted that although soaking wet, his enthusiasm for these quirky boats was not dampened!
Mark Harrison then in his speech ‘From Tyneside to Pitch Side’, gave a fascinating account of his early life, when having been born in Tyneside, he moved at a few months old, with his family to places all over the world. This gave him a love of travel and sport. Now living in Leicestershire with a young family, he trained as a junior football coach and spends most weekends pitch side, enjoying the challenges that life brings with his young team.
9th June 2015
Tuesday 9th June saw the end of a successful season for our club. Arthur Murray, President and his wife Freda welcomed members and guests to their house for the President’s Summer Supper. The weather was kind, so the garden played its part in providing a scenic backdrop to the gathering.
Once Arthur had welcomed everyone he asked Carol Abbott to conduct a warm-up session. Carol doubled as timekeeper and hooter blaster. Starting with the word ‘hooter’ for the first topic, each member took it in turns to speak on the last word uttered by the previous speaker who had just been stopped after a minute’s topic by a loud blast of the hooter.
Once the warm-up session had been completed and taken effect, the Summer Supper buffet commenced. A sumptuous array of finger food followed by mouth-watering desserts and cakes were enjoyed by everyone.
Being a Speakers Club, this special type of meeting gave members the opportunity to hone their after-dinner speaking skills. ‘The Toast to the Organisation’ was given by one of our newer members, James Gibson. Members and guests were entertained by James’ recollection of his first encounter with Speakers Club, on a windy afternoon outside the Town Hall, when a sheet of newspaper wrapped itself around his legs. Picking up the paper he was intrigued to see a photo of two Club members and wanting to find out more, he took himself off for a cup of coffee and a read of ‘Club Call’. And as they say, ‘The rest is history!’
Patricia Baker then gave a ‘Reply on Behalf of the Organisation’. An experienced speaker, Patricia could look back over 20 years of being a member of Speakers Club. To give her inspiration for her after-dinner talk, she had found some old Club speeches. What struck her about these speeches was that so many gave a personal insight into the speaker’s life. Yes, they entertained, informed, and were interesting, but what made them so special was the opening of a window into another age, another culture, or one of life’s dramas.
Tim Patmore ‘Proposed the Toast to the Guests’. Tim, one of the Club’s newest members, confessed that this after-dinner speech was not only his first speech at the Club but also his last as his job was being relocated and he would not be able to return for next season. What a shame! Not only did Tim welcome the Club’s guests, he also told us how Loughborough is unflatteringly perceived by Leicester University students. A perception he hastened to add, that as an ex-Leicester student now living in Loughborough, he no longer held!
The final after dinner speech of the evening was given by David Hopkins who ‘Replied on Behalf of the Guests’. Although an experienced member rather than a guest, David reminded us of what it was like that very first time we had visited the Club as a guest before deciding to join as a member. How terrifying the decision to come had been, yet how quickly the friendliness and support found at the Club had reduced those nerves and built the confidence. The message? All and every guest is welcome!
Before the speeches started each person was asked to guess how long the combined length of the four speeches would be. Eric Baker’s guess was deemed the closest to the actual time of 23 minutes 19 seconds, and for this he received the President’s Gift of a bottle of whisky.
At the end of the evening, Arthur gave a short summary of his first year of Presidency and thanked everyone for coming.
We will now be taking a summer break from our regular meetings. The first session of our new season will be on Tuesday 8th September, 7.15pm for 7.30pm start at John Storer House.
Once Arthur had welcomed everyone he asked Carol Abbott to conduct a warm-up session. Carol doubled as timekeeper and hooter blaster. Starting with the word ‘hooter’ for the first topic, each member took it in turns to speak on the last word uttered by the previous speaker who had just been stopped after a minute’s topic by a loud blast of the hooter.
Once the warm-up session had been completed and taken effect, the Summer Supper buffet commenced. A sumptuous array of finger food followed by mouth-watering desserts and cakes were enjoyed by everyone.
Being a Speakers Club, this special type of meeting gave members the opportunity to hone their after-dinner speaking skills. ‘The Toast to the Organisation’ was given by one of our newer members, James Gibson. Members and guests were entertained by James’ recollection of his first encounter with Speakers Club, on a windy afternoon outside the Town Hall, when a sheet of newspaper wrapped itself around his legs. Picking up the paper he was intrigued to see a photo of two Club members and wanting to find out more, he took himself off for a cup of coffee and a read of ‘Club Call’. And as they say, ‘The rest is history!’
Patricia Baker then gave a ‘Reply on Behalf of the Organisation’. An experienced speaker, Patricia could look back over 20 years of being a member of Speakers Club. To give her inspiration for her after-dinner talk, she had found some old Club speeches. What struck her about these speeches was that so many gave a personal insight into the speaker’s life. Yes, they entertained, informed, and were interesting, but what made them so special was the opening of a window into another age, another culture, or one of life’s dramas.
Tim Patmore ‘Proposed the Toast to the Guests’. Tim, one of the Club’s newest members, confessed that this after-dinner speech was not only his first speech at the Club but also his last as his job was being relocated and he would not be able to return for next season. What a shame! Not only did Tim welcome the Club’s guests, he also told us how Loughborough is unflatteringly perceived by Leicester University students. A perception he hastened to add, that as an ex-Leicester student now living in Loughborough, he no longer held!
The final after dinner speech of the evening was given by David Hopkins who ‘Replied on Behalf of the Guests’. Although an experienced member rather than a guest, David reminded us of what it was like that very first time we had visited the Club as a guest before deciding to join as a member. How terrifying the decision to come had been, yet how quickly the friendliness and support found at the Club had reduced those nerves and built the confidence. The message? All and every guest is welcome!
Before the speeches started each person was asked to guess how long the combined length of the four speeches would be. Eric Baker’s guess was deemed the closest to the actual time of 23 minutes 19 seconds, and for this he received the President’s Gift of a bottle of whisky.
At the end of the evening, Arthur gave a short summary of his first year of Presidency and thanked everyone for coming.
We will now be taking a summer break from our regular meetings. The first session of our new season will be on Tuesday 8th September, 7.15pm for 7.30pm start at John Storer House.
Eric Baker receives the prize from Arthur Murray.
19th May 2015
This was the penultimate meeting of the season. Ably chaired by Peter Minshall, the evening started with a warm-up session of one minute speeches to enable everyone to relax and look forward to the coming evening.
A presentation using PowerPoint was given by Keith Schou. ‘Enhanced Shear Micro-filtration’ was the snappy title. All was revealed when Keith explained that the research he was involved in was about using shear forces to change a liquid from cloudy into clear. Suddenly, it all made sense when we realised that what he was really talking about was how to produce that perfect glass of beer!
Hari Bhogaita entertained members with a humorous speech. ‘So Do You!’ was his title, and he used this to good effect to tell us how, as someone brought up in Kenya, he had great difficulty understanding all the English colloquialisms when he first arrived at Loughborough University. His only understanding of pickle was as a relish, so he was mystified when people told him that they were actually in one! He quickly learnt that what was said, wasn’t always what was meant!
A first speech was given by Helen Thomas. ‘Finding My Voice’ was her title and what delight she gave her audience as she took them along on her learning journey,when as a child in the South West of England, she had started to really listen to all the different voices that made up her world. So began her understanding of the unique character of people’s speech patterns and what makes them sound the way they do. Helen’s talent for mimicry came to the fore as she entertained us all by demonstrating how people’s accents from around the country were based on vowel sounds.
Following a pleasant interval, Arthur Murray - the Club’s President, gave a short tribute to Helen Isaac, a former member of the Club who had sadly passed away.
The Alan Fordyce Trophy for the most improved speaker of the year was awarded to Hari Bhogaita. Although this was Hari’s first year at the Club he has shown remarkable progress in the development and presentation of his speeches.
A short Topics Session was then chaired by Carol Abbott. Carol professed to having a love of commemorative coins, and she produced a selection of 50p coins all of which commemorated an event, recent or in the past. The Olympics in 2012, Girl Guiding founded in 1910 and the start of the NHS in 1948 were among the topics that gave rise to a number of enjoyable three minute speeches with James Davies being awarded the Golden Gavel by Patricia Baker, Topics Evaluator, for best topic of the evening.
David Hopkins, the General Evaluator summed up the session before Peter Minshall, Chair for the evening, sent us all on our way home.
A presentation using PowerPoint was given by Keith Schou. ‘Enhanced Shear Micro-filtration’ was the snappy title. All was revealed when Keith explained that the research he was involved in was about using shear forces to change a liquid from cloudy into clear. Suddenly, it all made sense when we realised that what he was really talking about was how to produce that perfect glass of beer!
Hari Bhogaita entertained members with a humorous speech. ‘So Do You!’ was his title, and he used this to good effect to tell us how, as someone brought up in Kenya, he had great difficulty understanding all the English colloquialisms when he first arrived at Loughborough University. His only understanding of pickle was as a relish, so he was mystified when people told him that they were actually in one! He quickly learnt that what was said, wasn’t always what was meant!
A first speech was given by Helen Thomas. ‘Finding My Voice’ was her title and what delight she gave her audience as she took them along on her learning journey,when as a child in the South West of England, she had started to really listen to all the different voices that made up her world. So began her understanding of the unique character of people’s speech patterns and what makes them sound the way they do. Helen’s talent for mimicry came to the fore as she entertained us all by demonstrating how people’s accents from around the country were based on vowel sounds.
Following a pleasant interval, Arthur Murray - the Club’s President, gave a short tribute to Helen Isaac, a former member of the Club who had sadly passed away.
The Alan Fordyce Trophy for the most improved speaker of the year was awarded to Hari Bhogaita. Although this was Hari’s first year at the Club he has shown remarkable progress in the development and presentation of his speeches.
A short Topics Session was then chaired by Carol Abbott. Carol professed to having a love of commemorative coins, and she produced a selection of 50p coins all of which commemorated an event, recent or in the past. The Olympics in 2012, Girl Guiding founded in 1910 and the start of the NHS in 1948 were among the topics that gave rise to a number of enjoyable three minute speeches with James Davies being awarded the Golden Gavel by Patricia Baker, Topics Evaluator, for best topic of the evening.
David Hopkins, the General Evaluator summed up the session before Peter Minshall, Chair for the evening, sent us all on our way home.
Hari Bhogaita being presented with the Alan Fordyce Trophy by Arthur Murray, Club President,
for the most improved speaker of 2014/15.
for the most improved speaker of 2014/15.
12th May 2015
Tuesday evening was the setting for a great session of speeches, impromptu speaking and education. James Davies, our Chair for the evening welcomed Henrik Huschka as a first time guest. Then to warm up the evening, James produced a hooter and a bag of coloured goodies. Members of the audience had to speak on whatever colour they picked from the bag – but for one minute only. When their time was up, the hooter was sounded by Keith Schou the Timekeeper, and the bag was passed to someone else and a new colour pulled out.
The first speech of the evening was given by Harish Pesala on ‘The Paradox of Choice’. He told the audience not only about the virtues of choice but also the downside; how people, rather than feeling liberated by a dazzling array of choice could instead become paralysed by having too much choice and therefore find it hard to choose – and when they did, feel dissatisfied because they did not know if they had made the right choice or if another one might have been better.
James Gibson then gave a speech on ‘Did He Fall, or Was He Pushed?’ This intriguing title was soon explained as James talked about the legions of angels that are purported to exist and how a monk in the Vatican proposed a thesis about the role that one of these angels played in becoming Satan.
Our third speaker of the first half was David Hopkins, our National Finalist in the 2015 Topics Competition. David explained how he prepared for a Topics Competition and the rules he set for himself to ensure that he delivered a good topic speech. Listen to the question, engage your audience and leave them with a memorable ending were his tips for winning.
After a pleasant interval break, David returned as Topics Chair. ‘Imagine yourself as the inanimate object. What would you say to the person using you?’ That was David’s innovative theme for the evening and what riches it brought to the audience! How would you feel if you were a computer always being blamed for going wrong, or a mobile phone, or even a cream cake in a shop window? Great fun was the order of the evening as speakers reinvented themselves. The winner of the Golden Gavel for the best topic of the evening was Helen Thomas whose squeaky belly button as a much loved teddy bear was one of the session’s highlights.
The first speech of the evening was given by Harish Pesala on ‘The Paradox of Choice’. He told the audience not only about the virtues of choice but also the downside; how people, rather than feeling liberated by a dazzling array of choice could instead become paralysed by having too much choice and therefore find it hard to choose – and when they did, feel dissatisfied because they did not know if they had made the right choice or if another one might have been better.
James Gibson then gave a speech on ‘Did He Fall, or Was He Pushed?’ This intriguing title was soon explained as James talked about the legions of angels that are purported to exist and how a monk in the Vatican proposed a thesis about the role that one of these angels played in becoming Satan.
Our third speaker of the first half was David Hopkins, our National Finalist in the 2015 Topics Competition. David explained how he prepared for a Topics Competition and the rules he set for himself to ensure that he delivered a good topic speech. Listen to the question, engage your audience and leave them with a memorable ending were his tips for winning.
After a pleasant interval break, David returned as Topics Chair. ‘Imagine yourself as the inanimate object. What would you say to the person using you?’ That was David’s innovative theme for the evening and what riches it brought to the audience! How would you feel if you were a computer always being blamed for going wrong, or a mobile phone, or even a cream cake in a shop window? Great fun was the order of the evening as speakers reinvented themselves. The winner of the Golden Gavel for the best topic of the evening was Helen Thomas whose squeaky belly button as a much loved teddy bear was one of the session’s highlights.
Helen Thomas (right) receives the Golden Gavel for the best Topic speech of the evening.
28th April 2015
Late April was the setting for our Annual General Meeting. How times have changed for the Club in one year. Meetings during the 2013/14 season were beset with small attendances, as not only was membership low but several members had long-term illnesses and were therefore too unwell to attend. What a difference 11 new members plus 2 past members re-joining made to attendances at all meetings throughout the 2014/15 season. With so many new speakers wanting to give prepared speeches, an extra session has been slotted into May and the Club’s new season will start two weeks early on 8th September 2015.
Following the business of the AGM, a short one minute topic session was held with people talking about objects in the room. The topics ranged from biscuits, glasses, venetian blinds, identity badges and fire escapes! You can never say that any member of Loughborough Speakers' Club lacks imagination!
At the close of the meeting, members gathered around David Hopkins to congratulate him for representing the Midlands District at the Association of Speakers Club National Topics Competition held in Southport last weekend. The topic David talked for three minutes on, was 'Is it better to be born lucky than to be born rich?' For participating in the competition, David was awarded an inscribed blue crystal paperweight in a satin lined presentation box.
Although our season is fast coming to an end do give yourself a treat by coming along on the 12th of May and why not come to our extra session on 19th May. You'll be warmly welcomed to an evening that’s fun, entertaining and sociable.
Following the business of the AGM, a short one minute topic session was held with people talking about objects in the room. The topics ranged from biscuits, glasses, venetian blinds, identity badges and fire escapes! You can never say that any member of Loughborough Speakers' Club lacks imagination!
At the close of the meeting, members gathered around David Hopkins to congratulate him for representing the Midlands District at the Association of Speakers Club National Topics Competition held in Southport last weekend. The topic David talked for three minutes on, was 'Is it better to be born lucky than to be born rich?' For participating in the competition, David was awarded an inscribed blue crystal paperweight in a satin lined presentation box.
Although our season is fast coming to an end do give yourself a treat by coming along on the 12th of May and why not come to our extra session on 19th May. You'll be warmly welcomed to an evening that’s fun, entertaining and sociable.
David Hopkins being congratulated by fellow members of the Club upon being awarded an inscribed blue crystal paperweight following his representation of the Midlands District in the Association of Speakers Club National Topics Competition.
14th April 2015
Following a welcome break for Easter, members regrouped for their meeting on Tuesday 14th April. Ably chaired by Arthur Murray, the evening started with a warm-up session where members were reminded that the past week had seen a great few days of sport. Those whose names were picked out of the hat were invited to speak for one minute on that topic, and over the next 10 minutes, everyone who was called did just that.
Three wonderful prepared speeches were then delivered. Who says that Speakers Club doesn’t keep up with modern technology? Hari Bhogaita didn’t use paper notes for his speech ‘Hey Sugar’ – no, it was an iPad that he placed on the lectern out of sight of the audience, and how well he used it. If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t have guessed that his speech was to Assignment 7 – the Use of Notes!
Our next speaker, Eva Weng took her audience into an unknown world of Chinese manners and etiquette with her speech ‘To speak as a Chinese Lady’. Eva explained how hard it was for a Chinese lady to adapt to a Western lifestyle. In China, anyone smiling, giving eye contact or using a voice above a whisper was considered disrespectful, and anyone behaving like this in a working environment would be considered unsuitable for promotion. How different from the advice we give our speakers – smile at your audience, look directly at them and above all talk in a loud clear voice. Eva caused great hilarity when she described how she used to recite Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be’ speech each morning so that she would enter her work place suitably gloomy and downcast.
Our final speaker James Davies, also contributed to the entertaining and humorous mood of the evening with his speech ‘Manual or Automatic’ in which he described the trials and tribulations of an elderly ex-Headmistress as she took charge of her brand new automatic car, having always had cars with a manual gear stick. Her first outing ended in the near destruction of her house, garage and garden as stuck in reverse she had to be eventually rescued from the fish pond!
A pleasant interval then followed, during which Caroline Rogers, our guest from the Club’s last meeting, joined as a member.
After the break, John Brown, our guest Topics Chair from Shepshed Club, conducted an intriguing topics session. Members were each given a proverb and then asked if they agreed or disagreed with it. These proverbs included ‘A Stich in Time’, ‘The Hand that Rocks the Cradle Rules the World, and ‘He who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune’. The winner of the Golden Gavel for the evening, presented by Topics, Evaluator David Hopkins for the best topic of the evening, was Peter Minshall. A worthy winner as Peter’s proverb ‘Absence makes the Heart grow Stronger’ struck a chord with his entire audience as he recounted how being away with his work for weeks at a time had caused him to miss his wife and children so much, that one day when in Australia, he had used his one allowed phone call of the week to play the entire tape of ‘I just called to say I love you’. Oohs and aahs all round!
Russ Ince, the General Evaluator summed up the evening, giving helpful advice on any improvements needed – a hard job as it was all so enjoyable.
Three wonderful prepared speeches were then delivered. Who says that Speakers Club doesn’t keep up with modern technology? Hari Bhogaita didn’t use paper notes for his speech ‘Hey Sugar’ – no, it was an iPad that he placed on the lectern out of sight of the audience, and how well he used it. If you didn’t know, you wouldn’t have guessed that his speech was to Assignment 7 – the Use of Notes!
Our next speaker, Eva Weng took her audience into an unknown world of Chinese manners and etiquette with her speech ‘To speak as a Chinese Lady’. Eva explained how hard it was for a Chinese lady to adapt to a Western lifestyle. In China, anyone smiling, giving eye contact or using a voice above a whisper was considered disrespectful, and anyone behaving like this in a working environment would be considered unsuitable for promotion. How different from the advice we give our speakers – smile at your audience, look directly at them and above all talk in a loud clear voice. Eva caused great hilarity when she described how she used to recite Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be’ speech each morning so that she would enter her work place suitably gloomy and downcast.
Our final speaker James Davies, also contributed to the entertaining and humorous mood of the evening with his speech ‘Manual or Automatic’ in which he described the trials and tribulations of an elderly ex-Headmistress as she took charge of her brand new automatic car, having always had cars with a manual gear stick. Her first outing ended in the near destruction of her house, garage and garden as stuck in reverse she had to be eventually rescued from the fish pond!
A pleasant interval then followed, during which Caroline Rogers, our guest from the Club’s last meeting, joined as a member.
After the break, John Brown, our guest Topics Chair from Shepshed Club, conducted an intriguing topics session. Members were each given a proverb and then asked if they agreed or disagreed with it. These proverbs included ‘A Stich in Time’, ‘The Hand that Rocks the Cradle Rules the World, and ‘He who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune’. The winner of the Golden Gavel for the evening, presented by Topics, Evaluator David Hopkins for the best topic of the evening, was Peter Minshall. A worthy winner as Peter’s proverb ‘Absence makes the Heart grow Stronger’ struck a chord with his entire audience as he recounted how being away with his work for weeks at a time had caused him to miss his wife and children so much, that one day when in Australia, he had used his one allowed phone call of the week to play the entire tape of ‘I just called to say I love you’. Oohs and aahs all round!
Russ Ince, the General Evaluator summed up the evening, giving helpful advice on any improvements needed – a hard job as it was all so enjoyable.
Peter Minshall receiving the Best Topics Award from David Hopkins
24th March 2015
The evening started with a new venture - a 10 minute mini-topics session to ‘warm up’ those present before the start of the main activities. The subject chosen by Carol Abbott, Chair for the evening, after witnessing the near total eclipse of the sun the previous week, was ‘solar system’. Each speaker was asked to speak on this subject for one minute. The subject may have been the same for all but the space journeys taken by the 10 speakers were weird and wonderful.
Everyone, including two new guests, were then ready to warmly welcome three speakers each giving a prepared speech. First to talk was Harishankar Bhogaita giving a speech entitled ‘The Thorn’ that focused on audience rapport. Did we see thorns when we saw a rose? Or did we see a rose when surrounded by thorns? the audience was asked as Hari explored with them his thoughts on radicalism. A subject that today, strikes terror in the hearts of many, yet in the past, has brought about change for the good of mankind such as the abolition of slavery.
Next to speak was Eva Weng with her first speech at the Club. ‘Foreign Wizards Play Magic Better’ was the fascinating title of Eva’s speech which lived up to all expectations. Eva painted a picture of ancient China when her grandmother was a young child, condemned to have her feet bound, remain uneducated and to stay housebound throughout her entire life. The Christian missionaries, known as wizards and witches, gained the trust of the village when they nursed the inhabitants through a cholera epidemic. The missionaries persuaded the elders not to bind their daughters’ feet and to let them, and their sons attend the village school that the missionaries had built for the children. These missionaries were called ‘foreign wizards’ and their ‘magic’ helped save Eva’s grandmother from a life of disability, constant pain and ignorance.
The final speech of the evening was given by Sandra Burton 'Effective Communication’. Fittingly, her speech focused on the effective use of her voice, and Sandra gave us a master class on how, why and when to communicate effectively with family, work colleagues and friends.
A pleasant, sociable interval was followed by an enjoyable topics session, chaired by Russ Ince. The theme was dates – brought about by Russ’ birthday that week and his daughters asking him what had happened in the year he was born. (1957 in case you want to know!) The dates he gave members to talk about for three minutes ranged across the centuries and started with 1492, when Columbus sailed to America. We walked on the moon in 1969, endured the 1976 drought and celebrated the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990. Keith Schou for his account of the Millennium and the non-event of the fabled 'Millennium Bug' brought him the Golden Gavel award from Peter Minshall, Topics Evaluator.
The whole of the Club session was evaluated by James Davies who agreed with everyone that a good time had been had by all.
Everyone, including two new guests, were then ready to warmly welcome three speakers each giving a prepared speech. First to talk was Harishankar Bhogaita giving a speech entitled ‘The Thorn’ that focused on audience rapport. Did we see thorns when we saw a rose? Or did we see a rose when surrounded by thorns? the audience was asked as Hari explored with them his thoughts on radicalism. A subject that today, strikes terror in the hearts of many, yet in the past, has brought about change for the good of mankind such as the abolition of slavery.
Next to speak was Eva Weng with her first speech at the Club. ‘Foreign Wizards Play Magic Better’ was the fascinating title of Eva’s speech which lived up to all expectations. Eva painted a picture of ancient China when her grandmother was a young child, condemned to have her feet bound, remain uneducated and to stay housebound throughout her entire life. The Christian missionaries, known as wizards and witches, gained the trust of the village when they nursed the inhabitants through a cholera epidemic. The missionaries persuaded the elders not to bind their daughters’ feet and to let them, and their sons attend the village school that the missionaries had built for the children. These missionaries were called ‘foreign wizards’ and their ‘magic’ helped save Eva’s grandmother from a life of disability, constant pain and ignorance.
The final speech of the evening was given by Sandra Burton 'Effective Communication’. Fittingly, her speech focused on the effective use of her voice, and Sandra gave us a master class on how, why and when to communicate effectively with family, work colleagues and friends.
A pleasant, sociable interval was followed by an enjoyable topics session, chaired by Russ Ince. The theme was dates – brought about by Russ’ birthday that week and his daughters asking him what had happened in the year he was born. (1957 in case you want to know!) The dates he gave members to talk about for three minutes ranged across the centuries and started with 1492, when Columbus sailed to America. We walked on the moon in 1969, endured the 1976 drought and celebrated the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990. Keith Schou for his account of the Millennium and the non-event of the fabled 'Millennium Bug' brought him the Golden Gavel award from Peter Minshall, Topics Evaluator.
The whole of the Club session was evaluated by James Davies who agreed with everyone that a good time had been had by all.
Eva Weng successfully completed her first speech seen here with Arthur Murray who evaluated the speech.
Keith Schou (right) receiving the Golden Gavel for the best Topics speech of the evening from Peter Minshall
Club Success at Midlands District Contests & Awards
The Midlands District Speaker Competitions,were held at the Quorn Country Hotel on 21st March. The Midlands District President, Eric Baker,who is a long standing member of our club, had organised an enjoyable evening of three contests. Success was in store for another of our members, David Hopkins, who won the Topics Contest and will now represent the Midlands District at the ASC National Contest to be held from 24th to 26th of April 2015 in Southport. Our club President, Arthur Murray also received a well-deserved accolade when he was presented with the Brian Driscoll Trophy by the ASC National President, Margaret Robertson, for his work with young speakers.
Hari Bhogaita gives Evaluation Speech.
David Hopkins receives certificate for winning the Topics contest from ASC National President Margaret Robertson.
Arthur Murray receiving the Brian Driscoll Trophy for work with Young Speakers from ASC National President Margaret Robinson.
Eric Baker (centre) with ASC National President Margaret Robinson (right) and ASC National Vice-President William Warren (left).
Congratulations to the winning Adam's Apple team - James, Keith, Sandra & Patricia
Loughborough Speakers Club reign supreme when it comes to competing across the North and East Area for the Adams Apple Trophy. The Club’s winning team (L to R: James Davies, Keith Schou, Sandra Burton & Patricia Baker (Chair)) swept the board for the fifth year running when they beat Shepshed, Nottingham and Newark Speakers Clubs on 16th March to retain the Adams Apple Trophy. The team had to deliver a 15 minute speech that linked a set of three words together: ‘Crazy, Patchwork, Sunburn’. The audience – and the judges were spellbound as they listened to the tale of Amelia Earhart, one of the first women to fly solo, who vanished over the Pacific in 1937. The team described how they investigated her disappearance, searched for clues and found evidence that she had crashed and died on an uninhabited island. A sad tale, but one that celebrated the bravery, courage and fortitude of this amazing woman.
March 10th 2015
This evening was the setting for three excellent speeches and a superb rehearsal for the Adams Apple Team.
It started with Hari Bhogaita giving a speech entitled ‘Lord Allium Cepa’. All was revealed when Hari explained that he was talking about the humble onion although its place in history, recipe books and basic cooking gives it a modern-day majesty that it well deserves. We learnt why we cry when peeling onions and were given a host of remedies to stem our tears, some well-known and some new.
Peter Minshall intrigued us with the title of his speech, ‘Friggatriskaidekaphobia or Paraskevidekatriaphobia’. The audience soon discovered that both words meant fear of Friday the 13th which would be upon us all in three days time. Peter explained why Friday and the number 13 were considered unlucky so of course it was no surprise to learn that when combined, Friday the 13th was a day of appalling ill omen.
James Gibson, a new member, gave his first speech to the Club. Another intriguing title ‘Why the 5th April’ subtitled, ‘Give us back our 11 days’. James displayed many speaking skills as he took us along a journey of time and events covering many centuries, during which the Gregorian calendar was introduced to the Western world by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. The adjustment to the new from the old calendar meant that there was a loss of 11 days when the change happened. The Gregorian calendar’s introduction was not universally popular leading to an uprising of protest when people marched in the streets with placards inscribed with ‘Give us back our 11 days’.
At the interval, two guests were made welcome, Terry Purkiss and Godelieve Benatar. Tim Patmore joined the Club to become the 10th new member this season.
The second half of the evening saw a polished performance of the Club’s Adams Apple team. This competition is an Area event when teams consisting of a Chair (Patricia Baker) and three speakers (Keith Schou, Sandra Burton & James Davies) compete against each other to deliver a 15 minute speech that links a set of three words together. This year the words are ‘Crazy, Patchwork, Sunburn’. The team used these words to great effect to tell the audience the story of Amelia Earhart and her final doomed flight when she mysteriously disappeared when flying over the Pacific in 1937. Feedback from the audience was well received and will contribute to perfecting the team’s speech for the competition in Newark later this month.
David Hopkins was Chair for the evening and capably controlled each section of the programme so that everything ran to time. Sandy Leong was General Evaluator and fed back to everyone at the end of the meeting how well she thought the evening had gone. A sentiment echoed by everyone there.
It started with Hari Bhogaita giving a speech entitled ‘Lord Allium Cepa’. All was revealed when Hari explained that he was talking about the humble onion although its place in history, recipe books and basic cooking gives it a modern-day majesty that it well deserves. We learnt why we cry when peeling onions and were given a host of remedies to stem our tears, some well-known and some new.
Peter Minshall intrigued us with the title of his speech, ‘Friggatriskaidekaphobia or Paraskevidekatriaphobia’. The audience soon discovered that both words meant fear of Friday the 13th which would be upon us all in three days time. Peter explained why Friday and the number 13 were considered unlucky so of course it was no surprise to learn that when combined, Friday the 13th was a day of appalling ill omen.
James Gibson, a new member, gave his first speech to the Club. Another intriguing title ‘Why the 5th April’ subtitled, ‘Give us back our 11 days’. James displayed many speaking skills as he took us along a journey of time and events covering many centuries, during which the Gregorian calendar was introduced to the Western world by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. The adjustment to the new from the old calendar meant that there was a loss of 11 days when the change happened. The Gregorian calendar’s introduction was not universally popular leading to an uprising of protest when people marched in the streets with placards inscribed with ‘Give us back our 11 days’.
At the interval, two guests were made welcome, Terry Purkiss and Godelieve Benatar. Tim Patmore joined the Club to become the 10th new member this season.
The second half of the evening saw a polished performance of the Club’s Adams Apple team. This competition is an Area event when teams consisting of a Chair (Patricia Baker) and three speakers (Keith Schou, Sandra Burton & James Davies) compete against each other to deliver a 15 minute speech that links a set of three words together. This year the words are ‘Crazy, Patchwork, Sunburn’. The team used these words to great effect to tell the audience the story of Amelia Earhart and her final doomed flight when she mysteriously disappeared when flying over the Pacific in 1937. Feedback from the audience was well received and will contribute to perfecting the team’s speech for the competition in Newark later this month.
David Hopkins was Chair for the evening and capably controlled each section of the programme so that everything ran to time. Sandy Leong was General Evaluator and fed back to everyone at the end of the meeting how well she thought the evening had gone. A sentiment echoed by everyone there.
New speaker James Gibson (right) being congratulated by his evaluator Eric Baker on having ably completed his first speech at the Club.
February 24th 2015
Tonight was a first for Loughborough Speakers Club as three new members gave their Icebreaker Speeches on the same evening. Keith Schou, Tony Luck and Hari Bhogaita each gave a speech that told the Club audience a little bit about themselves. Keith’s speech ‘Time and Terror’ talked about what scared him, with his biggest terror being that of public speaking. Apparently, this is the second greatest fear amongst the population – and this was reflected in the audience when over 50% of them admitted to joining Speakers Club to overcome their own fear of public speaking. No one would have guessed that Keith was terrified. He delivered his speech with aplomb and looks set to become a confident speaker of the future. Following close on Keith’s heels was Tony Luck. His speech ‘Who’s that Guy’ also talked about his fear of public speaking. Tony cleverly used the term ‘Icebreaker’ to explain how easy it was when a child to break ice on a frozen puddle, but how in a social environment, as he became older, he found ‘breaking the ice’ more and more difficult. Now having joined Speakers Club, that ‘wall of ice’ that he always found looming large, was beginning to melt as he felt his confidence and speaking skills increase. Our third new speaker was Hari Bhogaita who delivered an ‘Icebreaker’ speech that was also combined with the second speaking assignment ‘Construction of a Speech’. Hari showed great poise, confidence and professionalism as he delivered a speech entitled ‘My Vanilla Army’ which took the audience along a philosophical journey in which Hari’s dreams and everyone else’s dreams could all be achieved if only they joined forces. Why vanilla for the name of his army? Why not? said Hari – he liked the flavour and his army represented a flavoursome approach to meeting the challenges of life!
Prior to the speeches, Arthur Murray led a topics session of impromptu speaking. His theme for the evening was controversial news items. These ranged from the price of milk, too frequent use of antibiotics, IT communications, tattoos, to the proposed addition of lithium to our drinking water. The winner of the golden gavel for the best topic was James Davies who talked about the decline of high street shops. The proliferation of double yellow lines, he argued, was the reason people no longer came into town.
Seven guests were welcomed by our Chair, Eric Baker, three returning from the Club’s previous meeting on 27th January, and by the end of the evening, these three had joined our growing band of new members.
The whole of the Club session was evaluated by David Hopkins who agreed that the evening had been a great success. There was a buzz in the air with so many new members of all ages and backgrounds.
Tonight was a first for Loughborough Speakers Club as three new members gave their Icebreaker Speeches on the same evening. Keith Schou, Tony Luck and Hari Bhogaita each gave a speech that told the Club audience a little bit about themselves. Keith’s speech ‘Time and Terror’ talked about what scared him, with his biggest terror being that of public speaking. Apparently, this is the second greatest fear amongst the population – and this was reflected in the audience when over 50% of them admitted to joining Speakers Club to overcome their own fear of public speaking. No one would have guessed that Keith was terrified. He delivered his speech with aplomb and looks set to become a confident speaker of the future. Following close on Keith’s heels was Tony Luck. His speech ‘Who’s that Guy’ also talked about his fear of public speaking. Tony cleverly used the term ‘Icebreaker’ to explain how easy it was when a child to break ice on a frozen puddle, but how in a social environment, as he became older, he found ‘breaking the ice’ more and more difficult. Now having joined Speakers Club, that ‘wall of ice’ that he always found looming large, was beginning to melt as he felt his confidence and speaking skills increase. Our third new speaker was Hari Bhogaita who delivered an ‘Icebreaker’ speech that was also combined with the second speaking assignment ‘Construction of a Speech’. Hari showed great poise, confidence and professionalism as he delivered a speech entitled ‘My Vanilla Army’ which took the audience along a philosophical journey in which Hari’s dreams and everyone else’s dreams could all be achieved if only they joined forces. Why vanilla for the name of his army? Why not? said Hari – he liked the flavour and his army represented a flavoursome approach to meeting the challenges of life!
Prior to the speeches, Arthur Murray led a topics session of impromptu speaking. His theme for the evening was controversial news items. These ranged from the price of milk, too frequent use of antibiotics, IT communications, tattoos, to the proposed addition of lithium to our drinking water. The winner of the golden gavel for the best topic was James Davies who talked about the decline of high street shops. The proliferation of double yellow lines, he argued, was the reason people no longer came into town.
Seven guests were welcomed by our Chair, Eric Baker, three returning from the Club’s previous meeting on 27th January, and by the end of the evening, these three had joined our growing band of new members.
The whole of the Club session was evaluated by David Hopkins who agreed that the evening had been a great success. There was a buzz in the air with so many new members of all ages and backgrounds.
Tony Luck, Arthur Murray (President), Hari Bhogaita and Keith Schou
February 10th 2015
This was the occasion for a highly enjoyable evening as we hosted our Club Topics Contest. Six members of the Club, ranging from new to experienced, took it in turns to give a three minute impromptu speech on ‘A Day by the Sea’. Childhood memories featured loud in all the six speeches, yet the tales, humour and style differed widely amongst each contestant.
A Panel of judges from Shepshed Speakers Club announced the winner to be James Davies and the runner up, Sandy Leong. James will now represent Loughborough Speakers Club at the Area Topics Contest in March.
Seven guests were welcomed by our Chair, Patricia Baker, four returning from the Club’s previous meeting in January, and by the end of the evening, three more members had joined our growing band of newcomers.
Following a pleasant interval during which everyone could meet and chat, the second half commenced. First to give a prepared speech was Harish Pesala. Harish is one of our new members and this was his first speech. He thrilled the audience not just with the title of his talk ‘Why did I jump off the Cliff?’ but also by his account as a novice paraglider with the Territorial Army in Bavaria.
Next up was Sandra Burton who is rapidly becoming an accomplished speaker. Her speech entitled ‘The Power of the Mind’ illustrated how a chaotic mind reflected itself in a chaotic lifestyle. We were then entertained and empowered by tips on how to strengthen the mind so that we remained in control of our life and behaviours. ‘You can achieve whatever you want to’, was the uplifting message Sandra left with us at the end of her speech.
To round off the evening, there was 15 minutes of one minute topics. Carol Abbott started off by talking for one minute on hypochondria. At exactly one minute she was stopped and the last word she spoke – ‘lethargy’ - was the topic for the next one minute topic. Words for the resulting one minute topics ranged from ‘kitchen’ to ‘belly’ to ‘bed’ to ‘playing’ and so on. As you can guess many of the topics caused a great deal of fun and laughter.
The evening was ably summarised by Peter Minshall, following which, the Contest judges, David Knox, John Brown and Ron Ingle were thanked by the President, Arthur Murray and presented with a gift of wine. Everyone agreed the evening to have been a success and went away looking forward to our next meeting on 24th February.
This was the occasion for a highly enjoyable evening as we hosted our Club Topics Contest. Six members of the Club, ranging from new to experienced, took it in turns to give a three minute impromptu speech on ‘A Day by the Sea’. Childhood memories featured loud in all the six speeches, yet the tales, humour and style differed widely amongst each contestant.
A Panel of judges from Shepshed Speakers Club announced the winner to be James Davies and the runner up, Sandy Leong. James will now represent Loughborough Speakers Club at the Area Topics Contest in March.
Seven guests were welcomed by our Chair, Patricia Baker, four returning from the Club’s previous meeting in January, and by the end of the evening, three more members had joined our growing band of newcomers.
Following a pleasant interval during which everyone could meet and chat, the second half commenced. First to give a prepared speech was Harish Pesala. Harish is one of our new members and this was his first speech. He thrilled the audience not just with the title of his talk ‘Why did I jump off the Cliff?’ but also by his account as a novice paraglider with the Territorial Army in Bavaria.
Next up was Sandra Burton who is rapidly becoming an accomplished speaker. Her speech entitled ‘The Power of the Mind’ illustrated how a chaotic mind reflected itself in a chaotic lifestyle. We were then entertained and empowered by tips on how to strengthen the mind so that we remained in control of our life and behaviours. ‘You can achieve whatever you want to’, was the uplifting message Sandra left with us at the end of her speech.
To round off the evening, there was 15 minutes of one minute topics. Carol Abbott started off by talking for one minute on hypochondria. At exactly one minute she was stopped and the last word she spoke – ‘lethargy’ - was the topic for the next one minute topic. Words for the resulting one minute topics ranged from ‘kitchen’ to ‘belly’ to ‘bed’ to ‘playing’ and so on. As you can guess many of the topics caused a great deal of fun and laughter.
The evening was ably summarised by Peter Minshall, following which, the Contest judges, David Knox, John Brown and Ron Ingle were thanked by the President, Arthur Murray and presented with a gift of wine. Everyone agreed the evening to have been a success and went away looking forward to our next meeting on 24th February.
James Davies receiving the Topics Trophy from David Knox.
January 27th 2015
Following Club Competitions, an Open Evening and Story Telling Delights at Christmas, Tuesday 27th January saw an enjoyable return by the club to its usual type of evening – speeches and impromptu topics. Sandy Leong, our Chair for the evening gave a warm welcome to members and guests. Congratulations to Keith Schou, who as a guest at the start of the meeting on his second visit to the Club, had joined as a member by the end of the evening. For our other four guests this was their first time visiting the Club, and hopefully they will soon join Keith as new members.
The evening started with three excellent prepared speeches by experienced members, David Hopkins, Russ Ince and Carol Abbott. Themes ranged from the skills needed to be a good evaluator of speeches, to the trials and tribulations of constantly being on the receiving end of a ‘smart’ phone, and finally, to the beginning of the New Year and the joys and delights this can bring.
After the interval, our members and guests were treated to a fun topics session chaired by Eric Baker. What an inventive session it proved to be! Each person talked for three minutes on what they would do after they had just found out that something astonishing had happened to them. What that was, according to Eric Baker, was no less than incredible. Being selected for a space flight, belonging to Mensa, being the star of a block buster movie, finding out that they belonged to the Royal family were just some of the amazing things that happened to members and guests that evening. James Davies evaluated everyone who gave a topic with special praise and encouragement for those guests who spoke – all five of them! Eva Weng, on her first visit to our Club, was awarded the Golden Gavel for her impressive and entertaining topic. The evening was capably summed up by the General Evaluator, Arthur Murray.
All in all, everyone had a most enjoyable evening and went away looking forward to the next meeting.
Feel inspired to come along and learn how to talk with confidence, humour and style? Or do you just want to see what the Club is like? Do come along!
Following Club Competitions, an Open Evening and Story Telling Delights at Christmas, Tuesday 27th January saw an enjoyable return by the club to its usual type of evening – speeches and impromptu topics. Sandy Leong, our Chair for the evening gave a warm welcome to members and guests. Congratulations to Keith Schou, who as a guest at the start of the meeting on his second visit to the Club, had joined as a member by the end of the evening. For our other four guests this was their first time visiting the Club, and hopefully they will soon join Keith as new members.
The evening started with three excellent prepared speeches by experienced members, David Hopkins, Russ Ince and Carol Abbott. Themes ranged from the skills needed to be a good evaluator of speeches, to the trials and tribulations of constantly being on the receiving end of a ‘smart’ phone, and finally, to the beginning of the New Year and the joys and delights this can bring.
After the interval, our members and guests were treated to a fun topics session chaired by Eric Baker. What an inventive session it proved to be! Each person talked for three minutes on what they would do after they had just found out that something astonishing had happened to them. What that was, according to Eric Baker, was no less than incredible. Being selected for a space flight, belonging to Mensa, being the star of a block buster movie, finding out that they belonged to the Royal family were just some of the amazing things that happened to members and guests that evening. James Davies evaluated everyone who gave a topic with special praise and encouragement for those guests who spoke – all five of them! Eva Weng, on her first visit to our Club, was awarded the Golden Gavel for her impressive and entertaining topic. The evening was capably summed up by the General Evaluator, Arthur Murray.
All in all, everyone had a most enjoyable evening and went away looking forward to the next meeting.
Feel inspired to come along and learn how to talk with confidence, humour and style? Or do you just want to see what the Club is like? Do come along!
Eva Weng receiving the Golden Gavel from James Davies.
Club Speech and Evaluation contests 20th January 2015
'Going Forward To the Area Knock-Out'
The evening started with a warm greeting to fellow club members and visitors from the chairman for the evening Russ Ince.
Then it was straight into the Business Session taken by the Club President Arthur Murray, who concurred with Russ's sentiments and continued by wishing the membership a happy and successful New Year. Continuing his address Arthur spoke of his aspirations for the club and with new members such as Sandra Burton, who tonight was taking part in the club contests. He believed that this showed true commitment and signified a bright future for the club. He expressed the opinion that we are fortunate that the membership, which have a vast experience and ability in the art of public speaking, together with a large number who are past presidents, including the present District President Eric Baker, can give a lot of support and expertise to new members. With plans to up-date and stream-line presentations, which is an on-going process, Arthur is positive that the future prospects for the club are definitely encouraging.
The Speech Competition
First to the podium was Arthur Murray with his speech titled “The Literature of Possibility”.
The theme was "Why not start the New Year with good intentions?" 'Be Resolute' by using 'Self Help' books. Arthur explored the literature of possibility and how success can be achieved for your chosen subject; to tap into that vast reservoir of untapped ability waiting to be developed, and prove or disprove the myth of genetically born talent as opposed to the power of practice. It’s about commitment, sheer will-power and persistence which Arthur is convinced that it takes to succeed.
'Going Forward To the Area Knock-Out'
The evening started with a warm greeting to fellow club members and visitors from the chairman for the evening Russ Ince.
Then it was straight into the Business Session taken by the Club President Arthur Murray, who concurred with Russ's sentiments and continued by wishing the membership a happy and successful New Year. Continuing his address Arthur spoke of his aspirations for the club and with new members such as Sandra Burton, who tonight was taking part in the club contests. He believed that this showed true commitment and signified a bright future for the club. He expressed the opinion that we are fortunate that the membership, which have a vast experience and ability in the art of public speaking, together with a large number who are past presidents, including the present District President Eric Baker, can give a lot of support and expertise to new members. With plans to up-date and stream-line presentations, which is an on-going process, Arthur is positive that the future prospects for the club are definitely encouraging.
The Speech Competition
First to the podium was Arthur Murray with his speech titled “The Literature of Possibility”.
The theme was "Why not start the New Year with good intentions?" 'Be Resolute' by using 'Self Help' books. Arthur explored the literature of possibility and how success can be achieved for your chosen subject; to tap into that vast reservoir of untapped ability waiting to be developed, and prove or disprove the myth of genetically born talent as opposed to the power of practice. It’s about commitment, sheer will-power and persistence which Arthur is convinced that it takes to succeed.
Next came David Hopkins with a speech titled “Are You Real?”
He used a puppet dog as a prop with a very convincing loud bark. He asked the audience "Is Chuksie the dog a puppet or is it real?" David certainly made it appear to be almost a real dog with its extremely lifelike bark and facial gestures.
David spoke then about the famous Walt Disney, who struggled to secure a 300 dollar loan to start his empire, with the only collateral he could offer the bank being a “mouse”. David continued his speech with a great deal of entertainment value.
He used a puppet dog as a prop with a very convincing loud bark. He asked the audience "Is Chuksie the dog a puppet or is it real?" David certainly made it appear to be almost a real dog with its extremely lifelike bark and facial gestures.
David spoke then about the famous Walt Disney, who struggled to secure a 300 dollar loan to start his empire, with the only collateral he could offer the bank being a “mouse”. David continued his speech with a great deal of entertainment value.
Then it was the turn of James Davies with a speech titled “Mail shot Memories.”
He gave us a light hearted nostalgic journey back to the days of vinyl records, and the enjoyment of ownership of discs in those days, and with the conclusion that when compared with modern digital downloads that if something is free does it have any real value?
It was a gutsy performance which is what we have come to expect from James.
He gave us a light hearted nostalgic journey back to the days of vinyl records, and the enjoyment of ownership of discs in those days, and with the conclusion that when compared with modern digital downloads that if something is free does it have any real value?
It was a gutsy performance which is what we have come to expect from James.
Our final contestant for this competition was our new member, Sandra Burton, who titled her speech "Clean up your Life and Remove Toxic People from your Lives”.
She told us that toxic people come from all sections of society, often from close family, and that our association with people good or bad has an influence in our lives - positively if good people, negatively if toxic. So unless we intervene our lives are in the hands of chance - be it good or bad luck.
I believe Sandra has a great future in life because she is so positive in all her attitudes.
She told us that toxic people come from all sections of society, often from close family, and that our association with people good or bad has an influence in our lives - positively if good people, negatively if toxic. So unless we intervene our lives are in the hands of chance - be it good or bad luck.
I believe Sandra has a great future in life because she is so positive in all her attitudes.
The Evaluation Competition.
The evaluation speech was delivered by John Brown, a member of Shepshed Speakers', Club titled “The Price of everything and the Value of Nothing”.
This title was used in the introduction and was an arresting quote from Oscar Wilde. John used the rule of three principle to good effect and to illustrate the point of what is real value.
The three examples he gave – 'The true cost of houses' where asking price depends on market value not building cost but the market will stand this inflated price. Over paid celebrities such as David Beckham, yet they still make money for their Clubs, and thirdly books. They can be cheap, but if they are out of print people will pay silly money to acquire them. John gave a personal example when his wife bought him a poetry book which he treasured but unfortunately lost and then years later found it in a charity shop for a £1.00!
The Speech was delivered with confidence, with John using a number of 'Visual Aids' to good effect. His timing was impeccable at 7.45 minutes - that is as near as it gets.
The contest was then for the speech to be evaluated by the four contestants taking part who had been given 8 minutes to complete their evaluations before presenting it at the podium.
Both competitions were judged by a panel from Shepshed club and in conclusion of the evening the chief judge, Ian Briggs - our Area President, gave an excellent account of both the speech and the evaluation contests. His analysis was superbly and constructively delivered before he announced the winners, which were :-
David Hopkins - winner in both the Main Speech and Evaluation competitions.
(Seen below receiving the Evaluation Contest award from Chief Judge Ian Briggs, Area President)
The evaluation speech was delivered by John Brown, a member of Shepshed Speakers', Club titled “The Price of everything and the Value of Nothing”.
This title was used in the introduction and was an arresting quote from Oscar Wilde. John used the rule of three principle to good effect and to illustrate the point of what is real value.
The three examples he gave – 'The true cost of houses' where asking price depends on market value not building cost but the market will stand this inflated price. Over paid celebrities such as David Beckham, yet they still make money for their Clubs, and thirdly books. They can be cheap, but if they are out of print people will pay silly money to acquire them. John gave a personal example when his wife bought him a poetry book which he treasured but unfortunately lost and then years later found it in a charity shop for a £1.00!
The Speech was delivered with confidence, with John using a number of 'Visual Aids' to good effect. His timing was impeccable at 7.45 minutes - that is as near as it gets.
The contest was then for the speech to be evaluated by the four contestants taking part who had been given 8 minutes to complete their evaluations before presenting it at the podium.
Both competitions were judged by a panel from Shepshed club and in conclusion of the evening the chief judge, Ian Briggs - our Area President, gave an excellent account of both the speech and the evaluation contests. His analysis was superbly and constructively delivered before he announced the winners, which were :-
David Hopkins - winner in both the Main Speech and Evaluation competitions.
(Seen below receiving the Evaluation Contest award from Chief Judge Ian Briggs, Area President)
Ian Briggs presenting the Evaluation competition trophy to David Hopkins.
James Davies - again runner up in both contests.
James Davies - runner-up in both cometitions
So well done to all our contestants and we wish David good luck in the forthcoming Area Contest.
The evening as a whole was enjoyed by all present and we are grateful to the visitors from Shepshed, who contributed immensely, and helped make it into a memorable occasion.
The chairmanship by Russ Ince was excellent and succeeded in making the evening such an entertaining and enjoyable event.
The evening as a whole was enjoyed by all present and we are grateful to the visitors from Shepshed, who contributed immensely, and helped make it into a memorable occasion.
The chairmanship by Russ Ince was excellent and succeeded in making the evening such an entertaining and enjoyable event.
The late Tony Gale and Arthur Murray, Club President
December 9th 2014
A Christmas Festive Evening
The Club President, Arthur Murray, opened the meeting with a tribute to Tony Gale who was one of our most valued members and will always be remembered for the joy and laughter he brought to our club.
As a Christmas break from our normal meetings this evening we were entertained with a selection of stories on a winter theme by the Soar Valley Tellers.
Sandra gave us a story about a miser, just like Ebenezer Scrooge in The Christmas Carol, who found a widow’s child asleep in front of his fire. This experience transformed him to become a gentle and kinder man. He brought food, Christmas decorations and stocking fillers for the widow, which resulted in her having the best Christmas ever, and gave us a child happy ending.
Next Brian told us about 'Black Friday' the modern commercial concept, which was turned around by the Salvation Army’s gift to a child.
Finally Sheila and John told a traditional story about a Christmas tree, and posed the question - Where do we put the fairy? The carol sang by John complimented the importance of the Christmas tree, showing it to be a strong symbol of Christianity.
The evening continued with a prepared speech by Carol Abbott titled 'Times Legacy'. This brought us back to reality with a bang and was about real family life. The morale being the importance of the family through the generations and how relevant it is to today's society.
After a coffee break with mulled wine and mince pies, James Davies chaired the Topics Session where each member has to do a short impromptu speech. James had a selection of small Christmas themed presents wrapped and placed in a bag. Each club member or visitor called to the podium had to select a present and then give a short speech about the item.
Nick was first up, and pulled a box of crackers from the bag, he explained their significance – Hats, Questions, and a small present. It was a well delivered topic.
Several others members were called up subsequently and all rose to the occasion, but it was another of our visitors, Shelia, who had unwrapped a traditional orange and an apple to give us a short speech that the topics evaluator, Russ Ince, awarded the Golden Gavel as the winner on the night because the topic had been described in such great detail and delivered in a fascinating manner.
Finally it the task of the General Evaluator for the evening, Patricia Baker, to tell us how we had all performed. This she did in a light hearted manner in keeping with the spirit of the evening, but as time was running late she summed up the evening briefly but in an elegant manner and concluded by thanking the Story Tellers and all concerned for making the evening such an enjoyable and fun evening.
Report by Arthur Murray
A Christmas Festive Evening
The Club President, Arthur Murray, opened the meeting with a tribute to Tony Gale who was one of our most valued members and will always be remembered for the joy and laughter he brought to our club.
As a Christmas break from our normal meetings this evening we were entertained with a selection of stories on a winter theme by the Soar Valley Tellers.
Sandra gave us a story about a miser, just like Ebenezer Scrooge in The Christmas Carol, who found a widow’s child asleep in front of his fire. This experience transformed him to become a gentle and kinder man. He brought food, Christmas decorations and stocking fillers for the widow, which resulted in her having the best Christmas ever, and gave us a child happy ending.
Next Brian told us about 'Black Friday' the modern commercial concept, which was turned around by the Salvation Army’s gift to a child.
Finally Sheila and John told a traditional story about a Christmas tree, and posed the question - Where do we put the fairy? The carol sang by John complimented the importance of the Christmas tree, showing it to be a strong symbol of Christianity.
The evening continued with a prepared speech by Carol Abbott titled 'Times Legacy'. This brought us back to reality with a bang and was about real family life. The morale being the importance of the family through the generations and how relevant it is to today's society.
After a coffee break with mulled wine and mince pies, James Davies chaired the Topics Session where each member has to do a short impromptu speech. James had a selection of small Christmas themed presents wrapped and placed in a bag. Each club member or visitor called to the podium had to select a present and then give a short speech about the item.
Nick was first up, and pulled a box of crackers from the bag, he explained their significance – Hats, Questions, and a small present. It was a well delivered topic.
Several others members were called up subsequently and all rose to the occasion, but it was another of our visitors, Shelia, who had unwrapped a traditional orange and an apple to give us a short speech that the topics evaluator, Russ Ince, awarded the Golden Gavel as the winner on the night because the topic had been described in such great detail and delivered in a fascinating manner.
Finally it the task of the General Evaluator for the evening, Patricia Baker, to tell us how we had all performed. This she did in a light hearted manner in keeping with the spirit of the evening, but as time was running late she summed up the evening briefly but in an elegant manner and concluded by thanking the Story Tellers and all concerned for making the evening such an enjoyable and fun evening.
Report by Arthur Murray
Eric Baker & Arthur Murray
Inter Club Meeting 25th November 2014
The five clubs from the East Midlands Association of Speakers Clubs got together for a joint meeting this week. Members from Loughborough, Shepshed, Derby, Nottingham and Newark met at the Loughborough venue, John Storer House for an enjoyable and informative evening of entertainment.
Welcoming the visitors, President Arthur Murray told them that Loughborough is a town to be proud of. The University which is 13th in the Times guide is a Sports Centre of Excellence and has produced many well known figures in the sports world, among them Sebastian Coe, Paula Radcliffe and Clive Woodward. We are lucky to have students who come to our club to gain experience and confidence in presentation and public speaking skills.
The University plays a large part in the life of the town and is at the forefront of Energy and Technology, Engineering and Textiles. We are fortunate to have the Great Central Railway which puts on many events, also the Carillon Tower in Queens Park and the well known Taylors Bell Foundry who produced the great bell in St Pauls Cathedral.
To start the evening, speeches were given by members of Shepshed, Derby and Nottingham. From Shepshed we had an excellent example of a Linear Development Speech taking us back through time to the 11th century. Who would have thought that so much could have been changed by the invention of the stirrup!
From Nottingham, an Impromptu speech. Given a choice of three titles, the speaker has a short time to choose a title and prepare an eight minute speech which he presents to the waiting audience.
From Derby, a speech based on the premise that The Greatest Danger in Life is not taking the Adventure.
A spooky poem and a reading from the Times, took us to the interval for welcome tea and biscuits.
The second half of the programme is a Topics Session. Each speaker is given a word to speak about for 2 or 3 minutes without any preparation. Quite a test of skills but one which is acquired over time and so it gets easier!
Our guest from Newark made us feel rather smug and relaxed as she told us we were going to choose our own word on this occasion. She gave everyone a card on which to write their word then collected them in. Of course as we watched her put all the cards in a bag and mix them up our smug and relaxed demeanour changed as we realised we would not actually be getting our own word to speak about. Needless to say, it went very well and was enjoyed by all. This was the first group meeting of the recently formed North East Area of the Association of Speakers Clubs, but because it was such an entertaining, enjoyable and interesting evening it certainly will not be the last !
Report by Eric Baker
The five clubs from the East Midlands Association of Speakers Clubs got together for a joint meeting this week. Members from Loughborough, Shepshed, Derby, Nottingham and Newark met at the Loughborough venue, John Storer House for an enjoyable and informative evening of entertainment.
Welcoming the visitors, President Arthur Murray told them that Loughborough is a town to be proud of. The University which is 13th in the Times guide is a Sports Centre of Excellence and has produced many well known figures in the sports world, among them Sebastian Coe, Paula Radcliffe and Clive Woodward. We are lucky to have students who come to our club to gain experience and confidence in presentation and public speaking skills.
The University plays a large part in the life of the town and is at the forefront of Energy and Technology, Engineering and Textiles. We are fortunate to have the Great Central Railway which puts on many events, also the Carillon Tower in Queens Park and the well known Taylors Bell Foundry who produced the great bell in St Pauls Cathedral.
To start the evening, speeches were given by members of Shepshed, Derby and Nottingham. From Shepshed we had an excellent example of a Linear Development Speech taking us back through time to the 11th century. Who would have thought that so much could have been changed by the invention of the stirrup!
From Nottingham, an Impromptu speech. Given a choice of three titles, the speaker has a short time to choose a title and prepare an eight minute speech which he presents to the waiting audience.
From Derby, a speech based on the premise that The Greatest Danger in Life is not taking the Adventure.
A spooky poem and a reading from the Times, took us to the interval for welcome tea and biscuits.
The second half of the programme is a Topics Session. Each speaker is given a word to speak about for 2 or 3 minutes without any preparation. Quite a test of skills but one which is acquired over time and so it gets easier!
Our guest from Newark made us feel rather smug and relaxed as she told us we were going to choose our own word on this occasion. She gave everyone a card on which to write their word then collected them in. Of course as we watched her put all the cards in a bag and mix them up our smug and relaxed demeanour changed as we realised we would not actually be getting our own word to speak about. Needless to say, it went very well and was enjoyed by all. This was the first group meeting of the recently formed North East Area of the Association of Speakers Clubs, but because it was such an entertaining, enjoyable and interesting evening it certainly will not be the last !
Report by Eric Baker
Carol Abbott presents the Golden Gavel to Sheila Lewis.
23rd September 2014
Tuesday evening saw the start of a new season for our club.
Members arrived back after a summer of sun, fun and light evenings to a warm welcome from our Chairman for the evening, James Davies.
Everyone was pleased to see our newest members, Victor Ajayl and Sandra Burton, back for their second season with the club and our guest that evening, Graham Cooper, was quickly put at ease in the warm and friendly atmosphere.
The evening started with three excellent prepared speeches by experienced members Arthur Murray, Sandy Leong and David Hopkins. These speeches covered such diverse topics - genetic engineering, superstitions and how to make life easy or hard. All three speeches were skilfully evaluated by Peter Minshall.
After the interval members and our guests were treated to a fun topics session, chaired by Sandy Leong. Each person had to talk for three minutes about the place in which they were born. Surprisinlgy, no one in the room had been born in the same place. Some people were local - Loughborough and Coalville; others not so local but still in the UK - Aberdeenshire, Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, St Albans, Southend; some most exotically were born in such far flung places as - India, Nigeria and Jamaica. What a tale everyone had to tell about their birthplace.
Carol Abbott ended the evening as summariser for the whole session and awarded the Golden Gavel to Sheila Lewis for her funny rendition of what it was like to have been born and brought up in Southend.
All in all, everyone had had a most enjoyable evening and went away looking forward to our next meeting on October 14th.
Tuesday evening saw the start of a new season for our club.
Members arrived back after a summer of sun, fun and light evenings to a warm welcome from our Chairman for the evening, James Davies.
Everyone was pleased to see our newest members, Victor Ajayl and Sandra Burton, back for their second season with the club and our guest that evening, Graham Cooper, was quickly put at ease in the warm and friendly atmosphere.
The evening started with three excellent prepared speeches by experienced members Arthur Murray, Sandy Leong and David Hopkins. These speeches covered such diverse topics - genetic engineering, superstitions and how to make life easy or hard. All three speeches were skilfully evaluated by Peter Minshall.
After the interval members and our guests were treated to a fun topics session, chaired by Sandy Leong. Each person had to talk for three minutes about the place in which they were born. Surprisinlgy, no one in the room had been born in the same place. Some people were local - Loughborough and Coalville; others not so local but still in the UK - Aberdeenshire, Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, St Albans, Southend; some most exotically were born in such far flung places as - India, Nigeria and Jamaica. What a tale everyone had to tell about their birthplace.
Carol Abbott ended the evening as summariser for the whole session and awarded the Golden Gavel to Sheila Lewis for her funny rendition of what it was like to have been born and brought up in Southend.
All in all, everyone had had a most enjoyable evening and went away looking forward to our next meeting on October 14th.
Arthur Murray receives chain of office from Sandy Leong.
Our new Club President is Arthur Murray who formally took up the post at the start of our new season. In his acceptance speech he acknowledged the tremendous three year's undertaken by the previous President Sandy Leong and personally invited her to remain on the committee as Past President.. One of Arthur's primary objectives will be to make every effort to increase club membership.
He has had a new poster produced and has asked all members to display them around the area. He has organised a recruitment table at John Storer House and held a promotion drive at Loughborough University to encourage students to join our club to gain a 'Certificate of Achievement' which is regognised as part of the University's Employability Award.
He has had a new poster produced and has asked all members to display them around the area. He has organised a recruitment table at John Storer House and held a promotion drive at Loughborough University to encourage students to join our club to gain a 'Certificate of Achievement' which is regognised as part of the University's Employability Award.
Adams Apple Team - Peter Minshall, David Abbott, Arthur Murray & David Hopkins.
It was an evening of celebration in March, as we successfully defended our title at the annual Adams Apple competition against Shepshed and Derby Speakers Clubs for the 4th consecutive year.
The Adam’s Apple Contest centres on a three word phrase and this year the theme was “Cool, Calm and Collective”. Each team was made up of 4 speakers who were instructed to focus on the theme and provide a 15 minute speech made up of 3 mini speeches, one for each word, with the chair cleverly linking everything together to reflect the 3 word phrase. As usual the interpretation of the theme was different between the three clubs and the audience was kept guessing on who would eventually triumph as the competition winner.
Loughborough’s team were made up of David Abbott, Arthur Murray, David Hopkins and Peter Minshall (Chair). The team included 3 members who had completed their Master Speeches over previous seasons as part of their development in effective communication via public speaking. Arthur Murray said “This is the third time I have done this competition and again I have had a great time as I love working with people to produce a team speech”.
Peter Minshall as Chairman introduced the team to the audience collectively and set the theme for the three following speeches and then introduced each team member when it was their turn to speak.
David Abbott said “This year’s theme was really tough but eventually we decided to focus on the Great War as we felt it was current and relevant, with this year being the centenary year. We created fictional characters to help bring our speeches to life, then took the audience on each character’s journey around how they might view the Great War. Dressing up in clothes suitable to the time period certainly helped us to try to keep in character and convey a sensitive but moving story of being 'cool, calm and collected'”.
David Abbott played the character of a young man signing up on the day that war was declared and thinking it was pretty cool to go overseas for the first time and fight in a land he had only read about in school books.
Arthur Murray retold a story of a serving solider who witnessed men from both sides of the conflict, who calmly laid down their arms for one brief moment in time to have a game of football and to share stories on Christmas Day 1914.
David Hopkins brought us up to 2014 and reflected on the fact that as a nation we all share a collected belief that we should never forget the sacrifices that our brave men made for us all those years ago and in all the subsequent conflicts around the world.
Finally Peter summarised the team’s characters to ensure the audience were left mesmerised and entertained. It was just enough to head off a very strong challenge from Shepshed and Derby.
The Adam’s Apple Contest centres on a three word phrase and this year the theme was “Cool, Calm and Collective”. Each team was made up of 4 speakers who were instructed to focus on the theme and provide a 15 minute speech made up of 3 mini speeches, one for each word, with the chair cleverly linking everything together to reflect the 3 word phrase. As usual the interpretation of the theme was different between the three clubs and the audience was kept guessing on who would eventually triumph as the competition winner.
Loughborough’s team were made up of David Abbott, Arthur Murray, David Hopkins and Peter Minshall (Chair). The team included 3 members who had completed their Master Speeches over previous seasons as part of their development in effective communication via public speaking. Arthur Murray said “This is the third time I have done this competition and again I have had a great time as I love working with people to produce a team speech”.
Peter Minshall as Chairman introduced the team to the audience collectively and set the theme for the three following speeches and then introduced each team member when it was their turn to speak.
David Abbott said “This year’s theme was really tough but eventually we decided to focus on the Great War as we felt it was current and relevant, with this year being the centenary year. We created fictional characters to help bring our speeches to life, then took the audience on each character’s journey around how they might view the Great War. Dressing up in clothes suitable to the time period certainly helped us to try to keep in character and convey a sensitive but moving story of being 'cool, calm and collected'”.
David Abbott played the character of a young man signing up on the day that war was declared and thinking it was pretty cool to go overseas for the first time and fight in a land he had only read about in school books.
Arthur Murray retold a story of a serving solider who witnessed men from both sides of the conflict, who calmly laid down their arms for one brief moment in time to have a game of football and to share stories on Christmas Day 1914.
David Hopkins brought us up to 2014 and reflected on the fact that as a nation we all share a collected belief that we should never forget the sacrifices that our brave men made for us all those years ago and in all the subsequent conflicts around the world.
Finally Peter summarised the team’s characters to ensure the audience were left mesmerised and entertained. It was just enough to head off a very strong challenge from Shepshed and Derby.