News Archive 2005

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

14th December 2005

Present: David Smith, Steve Graham, James Wood, Westrow Cooper, Barry Mitchell, Peter McGeehan, Ann Evans, Shirley Thompson, Sue Challis, Catherine Gale, Gillian King (2nd half)
Guests: Hannah Challis, Darron Moss, Brian Greenwood, Vincent Kaluza, Vicky Corke, Ann Corke, Dave Brown, Hazel Montague
Reporter: Catherine Gale
TME: David Smith

This was our last meeting of the year and, huddled into the tiny Churchill Suite, we welcomed no fewer than eight new guests.

We were welcomed by James Wood, the Sergeant at Arms for the evening, who did the honours then handed over to the Toastmaster for the evening, David Smith, who explained a little about Toastmaster for the benefit of the numerous guests and introduced the evening's theme of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, inviting us to make reference to either Rudolph or any of the other reindeer during a speech.

David then welcomed Ann Evans to do the Warm up. Ann amused us all with the novel idea of animal spirits, and invited us to reveal what animal spirit we would choose to be, and what kind actions we would do as a result. This provoked plenty of laughter and was an excellent start to the evening.

Shirley Thompson was our Timekeeper for the evening and explained the Timekeeper's role.

It was then time for Steve Graham's fourth speech, entitled A Christmas Invitation. He began by outlining the perfect Christmas as it should be, continued with a description of Christmas as it has become, and ended by inviting us to consider what we might wish to do to bridge the gap between the two. He was evaluated by Peter McGeehan, who found much to praise in Steve's thought-provoking and fluent speech, suggesting only that an emphasis on Steve's own personal experience would have improved it further.

Our second speaker was Barry Mitchell, whose eighth speech required the use of props. Barry donned a chef's hat, uncovered a trolley laden with food and wine, then proceeded to enthral us with a demonstration of a Prawn and Pineapple salad, assisted by occasional sips of wine to spur him on, and caused a great deal of amusement.

His speech was evaluated by Westrow Cooper, who was almost lost for words… He commented on Barry's slight nervousness to begin with - which Barry then mastered - and the originality of the material, although he did wonder if it could truly be called a speech!

Shirley gave us the Timekeeper's Report, then it was time for a quick version of Table Topics. Sue Challis was our Topics master for the evening and her list of questions ran the theme of Red. James Wood spoke on the series Red Dwarf; Catherine Gale on learning that Christmas presents were not really delivered by Rudolph; Ann Corke on being a Lady In Red; David Smith on being a red-blooded male; Ann's daughter Vicky Corke delighted us all with a description of having been obliged to eat Red-Hot chilli peppers while in India, and finally Brian Greenwood spoke about the charms or otherwise of Red Nose Day.

Shirley evaluated all the Table Topics speakers and Barry Mitchell gave the Timekeeper's Report for them, then handed back to David Smith.

The best Table Topics speaker went to Vicky Corke; best evaluator was Shirley Thompson.

For the second half we adjourned to the hotel bar where spirits were high and plenty of laughter was enjoyed all round. Gillian King arrived to join us for this half, and the year ended with our president in good form, surrounded by our female guests, letting them in on the secrets of being a red-blooded male… !

Merry Christmas to everyone and best wishes for a very happy New Year.

Next meeting: Wednesday 11th January 2006

Catherine Gale

23rd November 2005

Present: David Smith, Steve Graham, Barry Mitchell, James Wood, Ann Evans, Sue Challis, Westrow Cooper, Shirley Thompson, Gillian King, Anthony Booth, Julie Pike, Catherine Gale, Keith Sheppard
Guests: Ann Corke
Reporter: Westrow Cooper
TME: Gillian King

The cold weather outside was quickly forgotten as another excellent Toastmasters evening unfolded with a lot of fun, and laughter. Steve started proceedings with a good strike of the gavel and introduced David, the Club President. He extended a warm welcome to our two new members:

Anthony Booth & Julie Pike

and, to applause, awarded them with membership certificates. David also carried out the necessary club business, the main feature of which was the election of Gillian as Sergeant-at-Arms. David then handed the floor to our Toastmaster of the Evening: Gillian.

Sue Challis presided over the warm-up. Her subject of 'your most significant holiday' gave everyone great scope for talking about significant and memorable moments in their life with plenty of good anecdotes.

David, now in the role of Grammarian for the evening, pointed up the often confused words: complimentary - meaning praising or approving - and complementary - describing two things that relate to or enhance each other.

The first speaker of the evening was Ann, who gave a No. 2 speech on The Importance of An Inventory. She gave a very clear and well thought out speech regarding the changes in landlord and tenant law, and what these mean for the lettings industry and for anyone letting property or renting property. Under the new regulations an inventory will be very important in securing the deposit and protecting rights.

Ann followed her well received speech with handouts which provided additional information regarding the changes in the law regarding lettings that are soon to be introduced.

The second speaker was Westrow who, for speech No. 9, spoke on Politeness - what it is, whether it's important, and whether you can have too much of it.

Keith evaluated Ann's speech, complimenting her on her clarity and confident delivery. Barry, in turn, gave a full appraisal of Westrow's speech.

After the break it was on to Table Topics, with Catherine Gale as Topics Master (another first, I believe). Catherine gave a good and clear introduction to the purpose and nature of table topics and then, very impressively, gave us nine (count 'em!) excellent topics:
Anthony spoke on Guy Fawkes and tradition
Sue, speaking on her topic of politeness and etiquette with regard to mobile phones, gave us an excellent phone-on-train anecdote
Julie spoke on Xmas - she's a fan, but not too early
Steve, speaking on national identity, commented that we're not losing it, but getting a new one (identity, that is)
Keith on the whole tought the Govt. shouldn't be telling us what to eat, and made a plea for personal responsibility
Westrow spoke about mobile phones and walkmans (men?) on trains, and whether you should politely ask an offender to TURN IT DOWN
Shirley considered the matter and decided that, probably, it is not fair to discriminate against obese people with regard to hospital treatment
David, on nuclear power, gave a brilliant Tony Blair impression which had everyone laughing uproariously - and carried off the Table Topics prize for the evening
and Gillian told us what would be on her plate this Xmas - a box of local vegetables (or 2).

Steve gave an exemplary performance as Topics Evaluator, with commendations and recommendations for every speaker - and was a very worthy winner of the Best Evaluator award.

David, in his Grammarians report, found much to compliment (with an 'i') about the use of language during the evening, highlighting phrases that had particularly caught his attention - 'deck their front gardens with garish lights' (Julie on Xmas) was one. He then very imaginatively turned the 'um' count into a horse race, which provided a lot of fun whilst nevertheless getting the point across.

Shirley, as General Evaluator, showed she had paid close attention throughout the evening with some careful analysis and well-chosen comments. She also wondered whether we may spend too much time worrying about ourselves, as opposed to our audience, and that this leads to self-consciousness and nervousness. She counseled less hand-wringing, more relaxation.

And so another very fine meeting, which once again proved just how much fun speaking in public can be (I never thought I would write those words!), was brought to a conclusion by David, in his role as Club President.

9th November 2005

Present: Steve Graham, Barry Mitchell, James Wood, Helen Crawford, Peter McGeehan, Shirley Thompson, Anthony Booth, Russell Hart, Westrow Cooper
Guests: Charmaine Holloway, Julie Pike, Graham Edwards, Chris Whiteside
Reporter: Helen Crawford TME: Shirley Thompson

It was another great Cottonwood evening on a fairly cold night. We warmed ourselves up thinking of millions of dollars and walking through autumnal leaves.

James Woods started off the evening in his role as Sergeant at Arms and welcomed Shirley Thompson as Toastmaster for the evening, whose theme for the evening was "Million dollars - what does it feel like". Shirley imagines being wrapped in a fur coat although we are not allowed them anymore.
The warm up was presided by Westrow who gave an excellent introduction as we all needed warming up due to the colder weather now creeping in, talked of autumn and how his thoughts are of walking through millions of autumnal leaves. The warm up was "What type of leaf or fruit would you be and why?" Answers ranged from Barry's tomato, James Sycamore seeds and Julie, one of our guests, leaves of her favourite book.

James doubled up his role as Sergeant at Arms and covered the timekeeping role with his disco lights explanation to help the guests understand the importance of keeping to within the required times. Unfortunately there was no grammarian for the evening but newly joined Anthony Booth stepped in to take notes of any grammatical points we may have fallen down on. Shirley introduced "egregious" as the word for the evening which means 'a bit of folly, silly, absurd, standing out".

There was no education slot but Shirley explained that Margaret would not be able to continue her Sergeant at Arms Role so if anyone would like to put their name forward.

The 1st speaker was Russell Hart on speech number 2 called "The Greatest Show on Earth", all about the Olympics and its benefits not only to London but to Dorset too. Weymouth will be hosting the sailing and there will be both intangible and intangible benefits and local businesses should get ready and aim high.

Peter McGeehan followed with his 6th speech called "Cold calling for Chickens" where he talked about his quest for improving his sales techniques. We were advised to formulate a plan and turn rejection into a positive even saying he could be "egregious" to get his sale.

Steve Graham evaluated Russell's speech advising that there is nothing wrong with referring to notes especially as Russell had clearly carried out a lot of research into his topic with good depth. A very inspiring speech!

Westrow evaluated Peter's speech highlighting his great vocal variety, strong pace and accompanying hand gestures to dramatise the speech. The only concern was using the word "crap" and perhaps these colloquialisms should be eliminated.

James reported that Russell spoke for 6.38 secs, Peter 7.02 secs, Steve 3.14 secs and Westrow 3.43.

After the break, I presented the table topics using advertisements from various newspapers from lingerie, cars to a burial ground. Our guests Julie (burial ground), Charmaine (Labrador puppies) and Graham (Ford Fiesta) joined members James (lingerie), Steve (Ryanair) and Barry (Personal injury) and did exceptionally well with the topics they were given.

Another guest, Chris evaluated the table topics advising that it may have been clearer to people if an overhead projector had been used and there should have been more clarity about what they had to do with the adverts to start the table topic speech.

Anthony gave an excellent précis of everyone's good and bad grammar and use of illustrative language.

As general evaluator, Barry suggested James should use the gavel assertively to call the meeting to order as we were 2 minutes late to start. He also told us not to apologise too much and to move the lectern if we need to, especially for table topics.

Our guests all were invited to say how they thought the evening went and Julie was pleased to say it had exceeded her expectations and would like to join. All the others also found the evening most enjoyable and we hope to see them all again.

Winner of best Table Topics was Graham and Best evaluator was Westrow.

26th October 2005

Present: David Smith, Steve Graham, Barry Mitchell, James Wood, Ann Evans, Sue Challis, Helen Crawford, James Coakes, Peter McGeehan, Shirley Thompson, Gillian King, Russell Hart
Guests: Anthony Booth
Reporter: James Wood TME: Barry Mitchell

Well another great toastmasters evening was had last Wednesday - lots of fun and in the words of an 'alliteration' the usual mix of education, evaluation, experimentation and elation ! Thanks to everyone for contributing and making it work so well - here's the review of the evening....

Steve Graham brought the meeting to order as Sergeant At Arms and introduced Barry Mitchell as Toastmaster for the evening.

Barry gave a lively introduction, surprising us all by shouting out "Relax!", which captured our attention from the off! He then related a story of his vicar using the same approach at the church last week. He used this as means of introducing the theme of "experimentation", encouraging us to try out new things during our speeches. Barry also welcomed Anthony who was a first time guest for the evening.

Warm up
To warm up the evening I asked the question "What do you enjoy about Winter or what fond memories do you have of Winter?" This brought forward a wide range of responses, such as coming into nice warm Pub after being really cold, walking the dog on Hengistbury Head, having a BBQ in Australia and even a singer with the name of Winter got a mention !

Education Slot - Evaluate to Motivate !
David Smith presented the Education Slot with an overview of speech evaluation techniques with the emphasis on how to build up the self esteem of the speaker.
One of the most important aspects of Toastmasters is positive re-inforcement - very specific feedback on what you are doing well with pointers for what can be improved on. It is important to give feedback immediately so the recipient can relate your comments directly to their speech in a fresh context.

To evaluate effectively show the speaker that you are interested. A good idea is to speak to them before and after their speech so you can understand the speakers objectives and get a feel for how they feel about it. It re-inforces the understanding between the speaker and the evaluator and will show that they are being cared about.

Evaluate the speech, not the person, and personalise your language so you are telling them "this is what I saw", "this is what I thought" etc.
Avoid the white-wash and use the "feedback sandwich" where you describe the bits you liked, areas for improvement and overall thoughts.

Grammarian
James Coakes chose a different approach as grammarian by not selecting a specific word for the evening but introducing us to the concept of "alliteration". This is a repitition of the same consonants in the same sentence, such as "She sells sea shells on the sea shore". This is used in text and poetry, and by making words poetic it can be very powerful in helping to underline what you are saying. This set the scene for some comical and interesting attempts at alliterations throughout the evening.

Speech #1 - Sue Challis - "Degree of Success"
This was Sue's ice-breaker speech which was both interesting and captivating.
She took us on a personal journey, beginning with a fond memory she had about fishing for peas with her grandfather when she was a little girl. They would sit on crates with peasticks and lines, trying to cast the line to knock peas on to the ground.
She described this moment with her grandfather as an oasis of happiness in her childhood, in contrast to her home life which was cold and austere. She was forced to study Latin and felt convinced by the age of twelve that she was an academic failure.
After school she began training as a nurse partly because she liked biology but also because she could leave home and be paid. There she met her husband and they went on to have 4 children.
She was determined to acquire the education she missed out on and in 1999 started studying at Southampton Uni where she eventually graduated with honours in 2003. Her graduation photo is now on the wall with the childrens!

Speech #2 - Helen Crawford - "Town Centre Management"
This was Helen's second speech and she gave us an interesting insight into her role as a Town Centre Manager in Poole.
To give us an idea of how varied her role is, she mentioned she was up that very morning removing graffitti herself.
She described the functions of Town Center Management and how it is involved with shopping, leisure and transport within the town and is a focal point for government. The importance of managing developments to ensure that these do not cause social issues, such as shutting off high streets that may become ghettos.
Helen managed to get in her own alliteration with the marketing theme of the 4 P's - product, place, price and promotion.
She added in interesting local details such as the promotion 'Splashout in Poole' which covers events going on over the winter period, as well as the one billion pounds of private investment that will go in if the new Poole bridge goes ahead.

Evaluations
Steve Graham evaluated Sues speech and desribed the story as a rollercoaster of emotions, managing to squeeze in "a superb, sensational speech from Sue worthy of Champagne!".
Peter McGeehan evaluated Helen's speech and gave a great description of it having lushness, fruit, vigor and zing !

Table Topics
After the break, Peter brought forth a varied selection of topics:
First up, he had Russell talking about cross-dressing, and Russell, in between fits of laughing, took us back to ancient times where the men used to wear hessian skirts.
Next up, Shirley spoke about congestion charges which she thought were great as she doesn't live in London and does not have to pay them. She even managed to refer to local issues, mentioning local residents getting parking clocks in Ringwood.
Gillian then gave us a dose of bird flu and posed the question "Will it ever happen here?". She debated whether we would really be affected by it and mentioned that the Queen was to be the first one to have the anti-bird flu jab.
Then Anthony spoke at length about "female soldiers", and gave a great speech for his first time at Toastmasters. He mentioned that women have key skills such as multitasking, as they are able to shop for multiple things at once !

Gillian evaluated the table topics which was difficult as she was one of the speakers. She highlighted many good points from the speeches, in particular Russell's fits of giggles and also praised Anthony's first time table topics.

Grammarian's report
James's report picked up some great uses of alliteration such as Barry's "Titilating table-topics tittle-tattle". He jokingly mentioned he wouldn't choose this topic again as it was hard to scan for alliterations along with trying to pick up on all the other grammatical problems / good phrases etc.
James pointed out a few verbal crutches that were used such as "basically" and mentioned how we should try to avoid these.

General Evaluation
Shirley evaluated the evaluators, summing up the evening's proceedings. She complimented Barry on being an excellent Toastmaster and liked the theme "experimenting with intros".
She highlighted that the alliteration idea was great, making an interesting change and encouraging us to think.
Shirley reviewed David's Education Slot and mentioned that it was a useful insight for us all, in particular the spam sandwich of recommendations and commendations.

The evening concluded with the prizes: Anthony our guest won the best Table Topics and Steve was voted best evaluator.
Overall a fabulous, fantastic, fulfilling, flamboyant, fun time was had by all !!

12th October 2005

Present: David Smith, David Mattocks, Russell Hart, Steve Graham, Shirley Thompson, Ann Evans, Catherine Gale, Barry Mitchell, Gillian King, Peter McGeehan
Guests: Sue Adams
Reporter: Russell Hart TME: Peter McGeehan

Our Sergeant At Arms, Ann Evans started the meeting on time and with great style, warmth and friendliness, before welcoming the Toastmasters and introducing our President, Mr David Smith.

David carried on the friendly baton (what a cheerful lot we all are), welcomed our guest, Sue, before introducing our Toastmaster for the evening, Peter McGeehan. Peter also welcomed everyone, explained the various roles that everyone had and introduced the Timekeeper, Russell Hart who explained what the green, amber and red light bulbs were for! Peter went onto explain that these were key indicators for speakers particularly in a competitive environment when taking too much time or not enough, could result in disqualification. It was important for speakers to note the intervals of time they were taking.

Peter then welcomed back to the floor Ann Evans for the warm up speeches. Ann's theme was "What would get us on a protest march" and everyone present gave their 15 second opinion. Ann handed back to Peter who then introduced our Grammarian for the evening, Shirley Thompson whose word for the evening was "Delicious". Peter then introduced our 1st speaker for the evening Catherine Gale who was delivering her 1st speech, the Icebreaker entitled " A place in the sun". Catherine talked about her search for paradise, her living in France and desire to feel connected when living by the sea. Catherine went onto explain that our bodies are made up of 70% water which was possibly a reason she felt so drawn to water. Catherine now lives in Christchurch.

Peter then introduced our second speaker for the evening Steve Graham who was delivering his 3rd speech entitled "Stop before you start". Steve explained that he had just read a book by Timothy Gallwey, the father of modern coaching. Steve then outlined a techniques he'd learnt called STOP. Stop was in fact an acronym for (S) step back, (T) think (O) organise (P) proceed. Steve then went onto explain in an insightful manner how we could all use this technique in our lives, even somehow working our word of the evening "delicious" into his speech when dealing with rabbits ! (can't remember the context)

Barry then evaluated Catherine's speech enlightening us how he grew out of the sea into what he is now! before passing back to Peter who introduced Gillian King to evaluate Steve Graham's speech. Gillian in turn was able to use "delicious" on a number of occasions when evaluating Steve's speech noting particularly his improvement in body language, superb perspective, no obvious signs of nerves and using no notes.

After the break Gillian King introduced the Table Topics section which everyone enjoyed. David Mattocks then evaluated the table topics before passing onto Shirley Thompson who gave the Gramarrian's report. The evening was brought to a close by our President David Smith who thanked everyone for coming. The evening ended at 9.40 pm.

Rusesell Hart

28th September 2005

Present: Ann Evans, James Coakes, Vanessa Ugatti, Catherine Gale, David Smith, Steve Graham, Sue Challis, Shirley Thompson, Russell Hart
Guests: Alun Oliver
Reporter: Ann Evans TME: Shirley Thompson

We all had a warm and fluffy moment before the meeting as James has given birth - father and baby are doing well! The baby is gorgeous as the photos on James' cell phone show.

Shirley's theme for the evening was 'busy-ness'. This made us all think about how we fill up every single moment of the day. Do we take on too much? And what would it take to stop us in our tracks - illness maybe? Interestingly I heard several members greeting each other on arrival - and then speaking about how busy and tired they were. I think Shirley's theme must have hit the spot!

There was an original tree warm up from Sue. It was amazing what we all knew about trees - and amusing when we had to pick one! My favourite was Steve's Sliver Birch and the bush craft connection. There's something about a man who knows how to survive in the forest!! (I think I've been watching too many Ray Mears programmes on the television).

Westrow treated us to REFULGENT - the word of the evening. Nearly everyone managed to use it in the correct context.

Two new members gave their Icebreaker speeches; myself and Russell. I cannot think of another organisation that is able to give such constructive, honest and encouraging feedback. I found the whole first speech experience very helpful and constructive.

The Table Topics were very lively and lots of fun (won by Westrow).. Steve picked topical subjects from newspapers ranging from Kate Moss to Food Labelling. There were nine speakers in all so David had to use all his experience to evaluate in a limited time (however he impressed us all and won the Best Evaluator for his performance).

I think all the members would agree that the evening was friendly, fun and informative.

Kind regards
Ann Evans

14th September 2005

Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contests !!

Steve Graham receives his prizes from
Club President David Smith and
Area Governor Jan Collings for winning
both Table Topics and Humorous Speech Contests///
...well done Steve !

Present: Sue Challis,Westrow Cooper, Catherine Gale, Steve Graham, Russell Hart, Paul Hutchings CTM, David Mattocks, Barry Mitchell, David Smith CTM, Shirley Thompson CTM, Lee Vallely, James Wood
Guests: Jan Collings (Area Governor), David and Audrey Cook from Oxford
Apologies: James Coakes, Ruth Chubb, Margaret Edmondson, Ann Evans, Gillian King CTM, Peter McGeehan, Ruby Sandhu, Keith Sheppard, Vanessa Ugatti CTM
Reporter: Sue Challis TME: Shirley Thompson & David Smith

Lee Vallely opened the meeting as Sergeant at Arms and covered the health and safety and comfort items of emergency exits, location of toilets and a reminder to switch off mobile phones. Lee then introduced David Smith as Club President. David welcomed Jan Collings and David and Audrey Cook, and introduced Russell Hart and Sue Challis as new members, presenting them with new member certificates. A CTM certificate was also presented to Shirley Thompson. David concluded by thanking Paul Hutchings for being Chief Judge for the contest and introduced Shirley as the Chair for the first half.

Shirley shared that she was tingling with excitement in anticipation of the evening! She invited the audience to volunteer for the table topics at the break and introduced David Mattocks for the warm up. David chose the theme comedy to warm us up for the humorous evening ahead. We were asked to speak for 15seconds on our favourite comedian. One of the guests, David Cook, intrigued us by saying he is a personal friend of Ronnie Barker and went to school with him. There was a wide range of favourites ranging from present day comics to comedians from past decades.

Shirley introduced Paul Hutchings who explained the judging criteria for the speeches, followed by Barry Mitchell explaining the timings, which would not be made public. Steve Graham and Westrow Cooper were introduced as the speakers, the order of speeches having previously been determined by the contestants picking a number.

Steve Graham's speech was entitled "It's a dangerous world!" Steve gave an amusing and inventive talk involving terror situations with: suitcases, guns, cameras, a shark and a toucan! The venues for these terror situations were as widespread as Peru and the Maldives. On the advice of the Foreign Office regarding terrorism he and his wife decided not to go to Istanbul but went to London instead where there was no similar advice!

Westrow gave an interesting speech on "The last thing you want to hear". This speech covered: doctors, religion, sales and romance. There were a couple of jokes, one of which created a guffaw of laughter from the audience! About a friend's romance, which almost went disastrously wrong but had a happy ending. Westrow ended his speech with the last thing you want to hear on the day of reckoning "You made that sale".

The judges deliberated while David Mattocks spoke about his experience working in computers in the 1970s. This was very amusing and comments were made that this could have also been a humorous speech.

The break followed while the contestants refreshed themselves in the bar!

David Smith took over as contest chair for the second half and announced the names of the four table topics speakers, again numbers were picked for the speaking order. Paul Hutchings introduced the scoring method for the table topics session. Our guest from Oxford Speakers, David Cook ATMG, spoke briefly more about his friendship with Ronnie Barker who had a mentor, and a passion for studying people.

David Smith asked the four contestants: David Mattocks, Westrow Cooper, Steve Graham and Shirley Thompson to leave the room, they were then called back in the order of speaking.

The topic David had chosen was: Binge Drinking and 24 hour Pub Opening. The contestants all shared their views on the subject. David Mattocks thought that as many pubs are not opting for the longer opening hours there would still be plenty of choice of pubs with either 24 hour or traditional opening hours. Westrow ended his speech with "Mine's a pint of Guiness"! Steve worried about the problem of policing 24 hour drinking. Shirley loves 24 hour shopping so would like 24 hour drinking as long as it is accompanied by education in sensible drinking. The speeches were followed by well deserved applause.

David introduced the area governor, Jan Collings, who gave an extremely interesting talk on the structure of Toastmasters. This gave clarity of the organisation to the newer members. The theme of the speech was: the benefits of Toastmaster to the individual if they maximise their opportunities. Jan ended her talk with a mantra: "Forget your limitations - think only of opportunities".

Paul Hutchings handed the results of the judges' deliberations to David Smith who announced the prize winners, with certificates being presented by Area Governor Jan Collings::
Table Topics Contest Awards
2nd prize David Mattocks; 1st prize Steve Graham
Humorous Speech Contest Awards:
2nd prize Westrow Cooper; 1st prize Steve Graham

David Smith ended the evening by thanking everyone by name for their involvement in the evening. The Area Contest, where the Club will be represented by Steve Graham in both Humorous Speech and Table Topics, will be held in Fairford, Gloucs, on Sunday 9th October 2:30pm-4:30pm. Come along and support Steve!

Sue Challis

24th August 2005

Present: David Smith CTM (President), Shirley Thompson (VPE), Peter McGeehan (VPM), Westrow Cooper, Steve Graham, Ruby Sandhu, Lee Vallely, Ann Evans, David Mattocks(VPR), Ian Harman, Helen Crawford.
Guests: Sue Challis, Russell Hart, Ian Harrison, Frank Harrison, Jennifer Crawford.
Apologies: Stephanie Kenney, James Coakes, Keith Sheppard, Ruth Chubb, Barry Mitchell, Vanessa Ugatti CTM (IPP), Catherine Gale, Margaret Edmondson (SAA), James Wood (Treasurer), Gillian King CTM
Reporter: Shirley Thompson TME: David Mattocks

Another great evening with 5 very welcome guests (Russell and Sue about to become members!)

Lee started the meeting well as Sergeant at Arms, introducing our President, who presented an 'Ice-Breaker' pin to Helen Crawford and 'New Member' certificates to Ann Evans and Lee Vallely. David also led the vote for Club Secretary, when Catherine Gale was proposed by Shirley Thompson and seconded by David Mattocks.
David Mattocks was introduced as TM of the evening, his first time as TM , being a member for six months. David warned us he'd be looking for any negativity, with a theme of 'positivityness', later once picked up himself for some negative words by the grammarian!
Helen gave us a warmup on 'accents' which gave everyone lots to say . As the TM commented, a veritable 'melting-pot' of international and regional offerings: from Australia, South Africa, Ireland, Wales, Newcastle, Cumbria, Nottinghamshire and London.
Ruby did a marvellous job as Grammarian, giving us a challenging word 'juvenescent', well worth the effort of practising (as Westrow evaluated - we'd be rejuvenated!) and a rather long, but in-depth and valuable evaluation.
David Smith, in the education slot, gave lots of information (including handouts) about Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest evening to be held on 14th September . There was much encouragement to all to sign up as speaker or judge, which had the desired effect and more participants by the end of the evening! Please get in touch with David or Shirley to make your intentions known for the next meeting, especially confirmation that you're attending. David Mattocks as TM thanked David for his sterling work on the website, especially the members section.
Lee Vallely delivered a very clear #2 speech about how to lose weight - "10 characteristics to permanent weightloss", which I shall remember as the 10 fat fighters!
Shirley gave her #10 speech entitled "Do you need a life-coach" and received many congratulations on getting to CTM (and a welcome timekeeper comment only 3 seconds over the maximum time)!
Both Evaluators (Peter, who evaluated TT as well, and David S) were praised for their excellent evaluations and jointly received best evaluator award.
Ian gave us an interesting TT session, prompted by his son asking 'what is an ology'. One of our guests (Ian H) won the best TT award for his very positive-thinking outlook based on the belief that something wonderful is going to happen every day: "wonderful-ology".
Westrow as GE gave many pertinent points, noting the good job done by Steve as timekeeper (especially the cards in case lights don't work), Peter's animated evaluation of Lee's speech, David being an inspirational evaluator, especially in his excellent explanation in the use of space, making recommendations on the TT which needed to be a little more organised (handovers and asking people who've not yet spoken during the evening) and admiring the 'ology' idea when even the confusion between astronomy and astrology worked to the speakers advantage!
Well done to David M for his relaxed initiation to being TME. Westrow/Ruby said a bit too relaxed here and there, but mainly a very positive demonstration of how to take challenges in your stride.

Shirley Thompson - Vice President Education

Back to top

10th August 2005

Present: Shirley Thompson, David Smith CTM, James Wood, Steve Graham, David Mattocks, Ian Harman, Vanessa Ugatti CTM, Westrow Cooper, Helen Crawford, Catherine Gale,
Guests: Russell Hart
Apologies: Keith Sheppard, Peter McGeehan, Ruth Chubb, Ruby Sandhu, Lee Vallely, Margaret Edmondson, Barry Mitchell
Reporter: Ian Harman TME: David Smith

(awaiting Ian's report)

Back to top

27th July 2005

Present: Shirley Thompson (VPE), Barry Mitchell, Vanessa Ugatti CTM (IPP), Margaret Edmondson (SAA), James Wood (Treasurer), Steve Graham, Ruby Sandhu, Lee Vallely, David Mattocks (VPR), David Smith (President)
Guests: Sue Challis, Gary Blackwood, Helen Crawford, Catherine Gale
Apologies: Stephanie Kenney, James Coakes, Keith Sheppard, Peter McGeehan (VPM), Ian Harman, Ruth Chubb, Ann Evans, Westrow Cooper

It was delightful to welcome four guests this evening - with Helen already now joined as a new member. Despite the holiday season, there was a great turnout of 14 in total.

A lot of 'pizazz' (or is that 'pazzazz') was introduced by Grammarian James Wood after Margaret Edmondson opened the meeting and passed control to Shirley Thompson, our TM of the Evening. Shirley did a fantastic job, not only having organised speakers, evaluators etc. in her role as VP-Education but taking the warmup with a theme of 'Speed' and stepping in as an Evaluator at the last minute.

David Smith, in the education slot, introduced the Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest evening to be held on 14th September ('be there or be square!'). The idea was warmly welcomed by all, and at least five members would like to compete in the speech competition already.... will be a great evening! David will send further details to all members.

Lee Vallely delivered an excellent 'ice-breaker' speech with some great humour, singing (it's not unusual... no, the song.. you know, by Tom Jones) and describing the 'light bulb moment' when he discovered his purpose. Evaluator Shirley praised Lee's humour, delivery and range of ideas covered.

Steve Graham gave his speech#2 entitled 'Too much info' - having worked out from insurance company statistics that he is likely to die in January 2045! - and wondered whether knowing that is really going to help!! David Mattocks evaluated Steve commending his excellent research, tonality and posture... another great speech from Steve.

David Smith gave his speech#10, the last in the basic Communcation and Leadership manual. David asked 'Who are we, really?' and entreated the audience to find and step forward as their true selves, dropping any pretences of being not good enough!! Evaluator Barry Mitchell praised David's use of space, connection with audience and meeting of objectives.

After the break, Table Topics was led by Ruby Sandhu, who picked up on the evening's theme of 'speed' and introduced James Wood (speedy housework!), Gary Blackwood (speedy family visiting!), Sue Challis (un-speedy hobbies!), Catherine Gale (who talks quickly but moves slowly on holiday!), Vanessa Ugatti (who doesn't react too quickly to others - thinks of the consequences!) and Helen Crawford (who speedily puts the worst job at the bottom of the pile at work!!). Margaret Edmondson evaluated the session, with feedback for each speaker on what she enjoyed and where they could develop next time.

'Immediate Past President' Vanessa Ugatti gave a thorough and professional overview of the whole eveing as General Evaluator, imploring us all to keep up our high standards of speaker handovers, introductions and meeting structure.

Best Speech was won by David Smith, best Topics by Vanessa Ugatti and best Evaluator by Barry Mitchell. David Smith presented winners' awards and closed the meeting (which was followed by a committee meeting for Treasurer's report).

Please advise Shirley which roles you would like on 10th August and in the future... and look out for the chance to participate in the Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contests in September!!

David C.Smith - Club President

Back to top

13th July 2005

Present: Gillian King CTM, Shirley Thompson (VP Education), Barry Mitchell, Ian Harman, Margaret Edmondson (SAA), James Wood (Treasurer), Steve Graham, Westrow Cooper, Ruby Sandhu, David Mattocks (VP Public Relations), David Smith (President)
Guests: Lee Vallely, Ruth Chubb, Sue Challis
Apologies: Stephanie Kenney, James Coakes, Keith Sheppard, Vanessa Ugatti

There were several 'firsts' for the evening... it was David's first evening as new Club President, we had three new guests, Steve Graham delivered his first Speech and Ian Harman his first Table Topics Evaluation... plus the first meeting of the new Committee for this year!

A 'sensational' (Grammarian Westrow Cooper's word of the evening) programme was opened by Margaret Edmondson, who had prepared the room for us in advance of the meeting, and warmly and ably led by Gillian King CTM as Toastmaster of the Evening. The temperature increased further with David Mattocks' warmup, as we discovered people's favourite radio or tv programmes. Our new Treasurer, James Wood, kept count of the times throughout the evening (good practice for his new role!).

The first speech from Steve Graham (ice-breaker #1) had us enthralled with tales of his trip from Australia to England when he was five... and his amazing 'snow-seat' (you had to be there!). This was evaluated by Margaret Edmondson who found many things to praise in Steve's excellent delivery.

Second speech from Ruby Sandhu (#3) entitled '21st Century Law' encouraged audience participation with an excellent delivery marred only by running over time. This was evaluated by David Smith who praised Ruby's poise, posture, confidence and clear vocal delivery.

After the break, Shirley Thompson led a fun and enjoyable Topics session based around the outdoors, with very fluent contributions from David Mattocks, James Wood and our very welcome guests Ruth Chubb, Lee Vallely and Sue Challis. Very well done to our guests for joining in on their first visit! Ian Harman delivered his first Topics Evaluation to round off this section... well done all.

Westrow gave us his usual highly competent and intelligent overview of our 'ums' and 'ers' and use of language, words and phrases in his Grammarian's Report. A thorough and rigorous General Evaluation from Barry Mitchell, who stepped in to the role at the last minute, rounded off the evening.

Best Topics was won by Ruth Chubb (joining us from her former Toastmaster Club in Malaysia) and best Evaluator by David Smith (who obviously had to present the prize to himself!).

Please advise Shirley of roles you would like to take next time (27th July) and in the future... look forward to seeing you next time!

David C.Smith - Club President

Back to top

New Club Officers 1st July 2005

I thought you might all be interested in an update on the latest club news!

It is the time of year when club officer elections have taken place and, especially for those of you that weren't able to be there on 22nd June, I would like to introduce myself as new Club President. I will do my best to continue the good work and help the club flourish over the next twelve months, and to help you all develop your speaking skills, confidence and self-esteem.

First and foremost though, a very big thank you to all the members who have been running the club for the last year, and for all the time and effort they have put in voluntarily to help us all benefit from the great opportunity for personal development that the club offers.

Special thanks to Shirley Thompson looking after our weekly roles and Education, Barry Mitchell taking care of Club Membership details and updating, with recent help from Ian Harman too, Westrow Cooper looking after Public Relations, Stephanie Kenny as our Sergeant at Arms and Margaret Edmondson who stepped in when Stephanie had to leave us for a while (we hope to see Stephanie again at some stage) , James Coakes as our Treasurer (look forward to seeing James again in September after the birth of his new baby, congratulations and very best wishes!) and of course Vanessa Ugatti who has led the club with professionalism and style for the last year. Your work is all much appreciated and look forward to hearing your speeches now you might have a bit more time!

Elections for new club officers were held at the end of the meeting on 22nd June, and I am delighted to welcome the following to their roles:

Shirley Thompson as VP Education, continuing the great work she has been doing unofficially.
Peter McGeehan as our new VP Membership
David Mattocks as our new VP Public Relations
James Wood as our new Treasurer (and many congratulations on your marriage James - and your month's honeymoon in Australia, look forward to hearing about it! - welcome back!)
Margaret Edmondson as our new Sergeant at Arms

A big 'thank you!' to all of you for volunteering your time and energy to help the club run smoothly and grow over this coming year, and I very much look forward to working with you all. Please do not hesitate to call me at any time (well, within reason! :>) if anyone needs any advice, help or support.

Looking forward to welcoming you all at the next meeting on 13th July at the Durley Hall Hotel :>)

Kind regards and best wishes, David C.Smith (Club President)

Back to top

22nd June 2005

We had a lively and fun meeting on Wednesday, after a rousing warm-up from Keith Sheppard, with Vanessa as Toastmaster for her last meeting as President (the club president can only serve for a maximum of twelve consecutive months, while others may choose to stand for office again if they wish). It was great to meet Paul Hutchings, one of the club's original founders, who introduced 'brainstorming' to the Grammarian role. Shirley kept time and reported with style and humour. We had No.5 speeches from Peter McGeehan and Ian Harman, already halfway to their CTM's now, with excellent evaluations from Keith Sheppard (best evaluator) and Margaret Edmondson. An amazing topics session from David Mattocks, won by Steve Graham (well done!), was very professionally evaluated by Gillian King, and I myself took the General Evaluator role.

Elections for new club officers were held at the end of the meeting, and I am delighted to welcome the following to their roles:

Shirley Thompson as VP Education, continuing the great work she has been doing unofficially.
Peter McGeehan as our new VP Membership
David Mattocks as our new VP Public Relations
James Wood as our new Treasurer (and many congratulations on your marriage James - and your month's honeymoon in Australia, look forward to hearing about it! - welcome back!)
Margaret Edmondson as our new Sergeant at Arms

Looking forward to welcoming you all at the next meeting on 13th July at the Durley Hall Hotel :>)

Back to top

25th May 2005

Another good evening at the Durley Hall yesterday evening with three guests,Tony Kidd (who has been before) and two new guests Ann Evans and Nigel Edgerton, both of whom are interested in returning. Tony Kidd will be joining and for those of you who weren't there, Steve Graham has just become a member after visiting as a guest twice. So it's good to see new members coming in all the time but we like to see some of the longer standing ones too!

Particular thanks must go to Shirley (Toastmaster) and Gillian (speech evaluator extraordinaire - she evaluated both speeches back to back) and of course Westrow, who not only gave a brief educational slot on the VPR role, but also stood in at the last minute to do his number 8 speech. Well done all three.

Back to top

27th April 2005

We had another good meeting on Wed. With 3 guests and an additional 2 visitors (area governor, Margaret Mead and friend,Valerie Butt), we got to 14 people, thankfully. Peter did a super job as toastmaster for the first time, especially with the visitors looking on. Valerie made rather a point of Peter's jokes but, Vanessa kindly pointed out his challenge of a first time role and commended him on his command while the rest of us were so glad to be able to laugh under the tension of area governor scrutiny.

The visitors were so pleased with being made welcome (we know we're a friendly club don't we), that thankfully we did not get dinged for late arrivals and late starting. (Can we all try to be a little earlier please, since it takes time to juggle the agenda when people are unable to make it at the last minute.)
Peter's theme was philosophy, which , under the circumstances was rather apt, Margaret's word for the evening ephemeral and now the meeting (for me at least) seems a fleeting moment and I'm glad it is past. Ian gave us a couple of amusing anecdotes from Africa in his speech and I try to persuade us all we need a formal mentoring program. With so few members present, perhaps we could review further in an education or discussion slot, since I'd like us all to share in the mentoring of new people and to each have our own mentor.

Back to top

13th April 2005

Last week was another amazing meeting. Just to make those who did not make it a little envious......
With Keith's theme of 'do something different', David had us doing a physical as well as speaking warmup, Keith made introductions a professional highlight of his toastmastering, Vanessa, standing in at the last minute as grammarian, chose extemporaneous, the length and understanding of which caused continuing amusement and David geve us a very unusual table topics using one word topics presented in a rather dramatic style.
Oh, and the photo shoot was completed too!

Back to top

9th March 2005

As to last Wed......especial thanks to Vanessa, Ian and Margaret for covering two roles each. It was an especially fun evening, despite there being only 10 of us. Vanessa was in a particularly fetching skirt, getting some comments of admiration that kicked off laughter that prevailed throughout. Barry won best tabletopic for the first time ever, with an amusing tale about an owl and noone noticed that he continued well over his allotted time; indeed we probably all wished for longer. Vanessa commented that Westrow and Barry both came alive in their table-topics, which gave us all something to think about.....do we rehearse our speeches too much, rather than thinking what will allow us to be natural? See you all on 13April...have a great Easter.

Back to top

23rd Feb 2005

Another good evening on Wed. It was great having new members covering 3 speeches ( David M, Peter and Ian) and other roles:warmup (Helen), grammarian (James W), tabletopics (Ruby), topics evaluation (Margaret), all first times. Emma challenged us on our proudest moment (Shirley was struggling a bit on that one!). Ruby gave a challenge on the tabletopics questions. (Vanessa's turn to be
stumped on what book changed her life!) David had us trying something new (again)...'taking 5' before speaking at the front wait 5 secs, (smile, look at audience whatever), and Vanessa subsequently
suggested taking 5 at the end (to remember to shake hands etc). Well done to all, including the 3 speech evaluators, especially for maintaining the intertwining themes iof '5's and 'success'.
No new members (12 attendees), which seemed strange , but then it was a cold night, so many thanks to all those who did turn out and helped warm up the very cold, but spacious room we had for the night at Durley Hall.

Back to top

9th Feb 2005

A great evening tonight with 5 guests, a theme of powerful speaking (no use of 'nice' or 'really'..oops!) and a marvellous word of the evening to play with: effervescent.
Lots of firsts: guest/new member participation on table topics and warmup, James as topicsmaster (and timekeeper 1st half) and Stephanie as general evaluator.

Back to top

12th Jan 2005

Yesterday evening, we had a total of 13 of us, with 3 new guests - not bad for the first meeting of 2005.

We had an interesting time with the theme of the evening being "compassion" while the Grammarian's word was "satirical" causing some conflict and much hilarity at times.

Two of our new members took major roles: Ian Harman as Table Topics Master and Keith Sheppard as the General Evaluator while James II made his debut speech and Gillian her penultimate (that's her 9th in case you don't know). Well done to all those who participated.

Back to top

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)

PLEASE NOTE: the names Toastmasters International, Toastmasters, and the Toastmasters International emblem are trademarks protected in the United States and Canada and other countries where Toastmasters clubs exist. Unauthorized use is prohibited.