News Archive 2003

Click on any of the dates below to see the articles or click to return to the news archive home page

January

Three Cottonwood members travelled to Fareham to support a newly formed club in the area. It was a small affair (9 people in all) but that's how Toastmasters clubs grow, with initial support from other clubs until 'critical mass' is reached. All at Fareham were grateful for our support and felt they had benefitted from the feedback given by experienced Toastmasters.

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21st August

by Lyn Whiteside, Club President

12 members and guests shared an enjoyable evening at the Cottonwood Club on Wednesday.

Whilst everyone is always welcome, a special mention goes to the following people:-
Simon Blowers, President of Wessex Speakers Club, who took the trouble to travel down from Winchester to be with us.
Nick Greenwood, safely returned from his recent trip to Australia.
Pip Blacklock, back with us after a period of absence.

For the first time in ages we were lucky enough to have 3 speakers. Tony Kidd challenged us to 'Love Yourself' (and the environment), Richard Pollock thrilled us with a balloon ride in 'Beautiful Bournemouth' - with a firework finale- and Mark Tointon exhorted us to believe that we can be 'A perfect 10'.
In his role as Tabletopics Master, Chris Whiteside cast us adrift on a deserted island
where Ann Blacklock ate worms!

Recipients of the awards for the evening were:-

Tony Kidd, Best Speaker
Ann Blacklock, Best Tabletopics
Paul Hutchings, Best Evaluator.
Congratulations to these people who beat off stiff competition.

A special mention also goes to our newest member Barry Mitchell, who 'took the plunge' as grammarian. Well done Barry.

It is great to see our club thriving and people growing (metaphorically, of course. I don't actually want Chris to grow any more!). This can only beachieved by the efforts of our members, so give yourselves a pat on the back and keep up the good work.

We will be holding our annual 'Humorous Speech' and 'Tabletopics' contests on Wednesday 4th September in our normal venue at the Cottonwood Hotel (the next round will be in Winchester, provisional date Sunday 13th October). Every club member is eligible to enter these contests and I would encourage you to do so. If I have not yet spoken to you about this and you wish to enter, please let me know ASAP. Even if you do NOT wish to enter, please make every effort to attend on thenight as not only do we need people to officiate during the contests, but the contestants deserve the support of their fellow members on this occasion.

A big 'Thank you' to the people who helped make the evening successful. Were you one of them? If you were not there, just consider what you missed! The next meeting will be on August 21st, I look forward to seeing you all there.

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18th September

by Paul Hutchings, Vice President Education

Quality Not Quantity

That was the theme of the evening at the Cottonwood meeting on Wednesday, 18th September. The 11 of us who were there rallied together to produce an evening of education and entertainment, despite the disappointingly low turnout.

Ann Blacklock opened the meeting in her usual inimitable style and introduced Nick Greenwood, who, as ever, competently led us through the evening in an upbeat and motivational manner.

Next up was Tony Kidd, who did an excellent job in his first attempt at warm up, asking everyone "what makes us laugh?". Then Ann Blacklock was back for her second time as Grammarian, giving us the word 'castigate' to use in our speeches and delivering a highly entertaining evaluation of our grammar at the end of the evening.

The timekeeper role was kindly and ably performed by our only guest of the evening, Sue Hutchings.

Barry Mitchell ably completed his ice breaker speech, giving us some wonderful childhood anecdotes, then in the absence of our second scheduled speaker, Paul Hutchings and Nick Greenwood demonstrated their impromptu skills, by Paul giving an explanation of the Toastmasters hierarchy and Nick giving Louis Jarvis, our now redundant speech evaluator, the opportunity to speak on something that was 'really bugging him'.

Phil Wilton kindly stepped in to evaluate Barry's speech in the absence of our scheduled evaluator, then after the break, Paul entertained us with a Table Topics session, based around No.1 chart hits, which was excellently evaluated by Vanessa Ugatti.

At the end of the evening Malcolm Green gave us a thorough and hard hitting general evaluation, which we all went to the bar to recover from afterwards!

All in all a smashing evening, which could only have been made better by the attendance of more members, so let's see you all there on October 2nd !!!

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2nd October

by Lyn Whiteside, Club President

The Dynamic Dozen

Eleven members and one guest enjoyed a lively and dynamic meeting of the Cottonwood Speakers Club on Wednesday 2nd October. Grace White called us all to order in her role as Sergeant at Arms and
handed over to Vanessa, our Toastmaster for the evening. This was the first time that Grace has been Sergeant at Arms and she fulfilled her role admirably, whilst Vanessa was, as always, a warm and enthusiastic Toastmaster.

Malcolm Green acted both as warm-up master and Tabletopics master and set us challenges in both areas.If you have never seen grown adults forget how to count, you have missed a treat! Barry Mitchell was grammarian. He set the word for the evening, listened out for our use of verbal crutches and highlighted any particularly good grammar.

In a beautifully crafted icebreaker speech, Judith Bennett told us about some of the challenges she had faced in life whilst, in her number 9 speech, Lyn W tried to persuade us that prejudice is a good thing. These speeches were evaluated by Louis Jarvis and Nick Greenwood respectively. A special thanks to Nick for giving the more advanced speakers helpful and constructive evaluations. It was good to see Robert Sheridan again and he ably filled the role of Tabletopics evaluator. General evaluator was Chris W.

As President, it was my pleasure to present Toastmaster pins to Judith Bennett and Barry Mitchell in recognition of their recent 'Icebreaker' speeches. I'm sure that they will both be assets to the club and to
Toastmasters International as a whole.

It was lovely for Chris and I to be back in our home club after our recent holiday, but it was also great to attend two Toastmasters meetings whilst we were in Canada. We were made very welcome and were able to participate in both meetings. Visiting other clubs really brings home the 'International' role of Toastmasters and I would encourage everyone to do this if you have the chance.

I'm sure that many of you will remember Judit Garwood, who joined the club a little while ago. Unfortunately, due to a family bereavement, Judit is currently not able to attend meetings. I am sure that you will all join with me in offering Judit our condolences, and in assuring her that there will always be a warm welcome for her at the Cottonwood Club. Stalwart Mark Tointon is also currently taking a break from Toastmasters. We look forward to seeing him again in the new year. Russell Roberts Spears assures me that he will be back with us soon - I have threatened to send 'the boys' round to him if I don't see him soon! Trelawney Dampney has been working away but is still a member of the club and we hope to persuade him back amongst us in the future.

The Area Contest is on Sunday 13th October. My very best wishes to Ann Blacklock and Chris Whiteside who will be representing the club (along with myself).

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 16th October. I look forward to seeing you all there.

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16th October

by Lyn Whiteside, Club President

13 members (apologies were received from Paul and Vanessa)and 4 guests sampled the facilities of a new room at the Cottonwood Hotel.

Next time you come, please turn RIGHT after the main entrance, rather than left, and the room is the 1st on the right. It was rather warm on Wednesday so I think we will need to dress accordingly.

It was particularly good to welcome our guests, namely John, Sarah, Jill and Norman. Please continue to bring guests along to meetings. Not only are they potential new members, it's also good for us to have a larger audience when we speak.

There were some notable 'firsts' during the evening. Judith Bennett was warm up master for the first time and asked us to speak for 15 seconds about our most memorable sporting occasion. Grace White gave her 'Icebreaker' speech which was evaluated by Barry Mitchell - his first speech evaluation, and Malcolm Green delivered his first 'advanced' speech (which was also his first speech at the Cottonwood Club,his previous ones having been done in Zimbabwe). Anni Blacklock gave her first educational session , telling us about the role of 'Sergeant at Arms' and encouraging us all to think of ways to get the meetings started on time. Special Congratulations to these people. If you have ideas for Anni, please e-mail her or speak to her at the next meeting.

It was good to see Russell Roberts Spears back with us after a break, and also Tim Brewster who had been unable to attend for a few weeks. We do miss people when they are not able to be with us, and appreciate those who attend regularly.

Robert Sheridan pulled no punches in his general evaluation. He reminded us of the importance of being business-like during meetings and of 'doing things properly'.

As you can see, I have tried to give the flavour of the meeting, rather than telling you everything which happened. The only way you will find that out is to attend in person!

I look forward to seeing you - and your guests- on Wednesday 6th November. The meeting will start promptly at 7.30.

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6th November

by Lyn Whiteside, Club President

It was good to see a room full of people at the last meeting of the Cottonwood Speakers Club, and an especially warm welcome was extended to our guests John, Norman and Gillian. Apologies were received from Vanessa, Robert, Judith and Phil.

Ann Blacklock, as Sergeant at Arms, did a good job in getting the evening started on time, and also conducted the warm-up session where we were asked to speak for 15 seconds about what we do to stay healthy.

Paul Hutchings was Toastmaster for the evening and led us through the evening in his usual, warm, inimitable style.

Grammarian Grace White challenged us to include the word 'Allegorical' in our contributions to the evening. Well done Grace on your first outing as Grammarian.

Prepared speeches were given by Barry Mitchell, who asked why pilots should be made to retire at 60, and Chris Whiteside who got us thinking about how different people might view the use of cannabis.

The Tabletopics session was expertly conducted by Nick Greenwood, who showed us how difficult it can be to speak on a one word topic, and evaluated by Russell Roberts Spears whilst Malcolm Green was General Evaluator.

Throughout the evening, all the evaluators gave very balanced feedback with a good mix of commendations (what I liked was....) and recommendations (I thought you could have improved in this way....), something which is essential to constructive evaluation.

Lyn Whiteside told us about changes which have been made to the way the forward planner is used. From now on, the forward planner will be drawn up 3 months in advance and circulated to members. If you are allocated a role and will be unable to attend, it is up to you to arrange for someone to take your place and to notify the Toastmaster for the evening that you have done so. Of course, you may find yourself unable to attend at short notice. In this case please contact the Toastmaster and inform him/her that you are not able to attend and haven't arranged a replacement. The Toastmaster will then take over and contact someone to fill this role. This system not only brings us into line with other clubs, it also frees the Vice President of Education to concentrate on scheduling varied meetings and ensuring that members meet their objectives regarding speeches etc.
Lyn also asked members to look at the supply catalogue and make suggestions as to which educational materials should be purchased out of club funds. Input is needed as soon as possible please, to allow an order to be sent to Headquarters without delay (it can take up to 120 days for things to arrive from America).
A 'Member's feedback' form was distributed so that everyone can have their say regarding the club. If you were not there (shame on you!!) and would like a copy of this form, please let Lyn know.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 20th November at 7.30. I look forward to seeing you there,

Lyn Whiteside,
Club President

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For Public Speaking, Effective Presentations and Presentation Skills, Confidence to Speak in Public and Building Self-Esteem: Cottonwood Speakers, Bournemouth (Poole Christchurch Wimborne Dorset Ringwood Hampshire)

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