Archive for March, 2013

ASC “Product Placement” Dinner – After Dinner Speech Contest

Sunday, March 31st, 2013

Wetherby’s traditional light hearted after dinner speech contest took place at The Bridge Inn, Walshford on Friday 22nd March.  This time the charade was the ASC “Product Placement” Dinner. Imagine that the ASC has descided to use its vast marketing budget to invest in product placement – not in a film or a TV series, but in a novel, presumably to reflect its erudite target market.  

Five world famous novelists staked their claim to be the writer chosen to feature the ASC in their next book. The winner, for the second time in three years was our president, Niki Boersma, for her portrayal of J K Scowling.

The other speakers were George Snorewell (Neil Wilson), Salmon Cushtie(Chris Clissitt) Agatha Cushtie (Mavis Cryer) and Chas “Boz” Thickens (Howard Herbert). The MC was Hilarity Mantelpiece (Jan Millar) and the judge was Chris Birch.

Club Report – Wetherby Speakers Club 21.03.13 and After Dinner Speaking Contest 22.03.2013

Saturday, March 30th, 2013

Last week was a very busy week for the Wetherby Speakers’ Club. On Thursday there was the usual club meeting followed the next day by the After Dinner Speaking Contest.

 At the club meeting, the President, Niki Boersma called Jocelyn Brooks to the lectern who was to act as chairman for the evening. There were three speakers, Niki Boersma, Jeff Denton and Peter Ryans. All the speeches were interesting and delivered with confidence and fluency and were evaluated by Neil Wilson, Howard Herbert and Chris Clissitt respectively.

 Jan Miller chaired the Topics Session which was innovative and highly amusing. The theme was ‘The Wetherby Awards Ceremonies’ and club members had to make an acceptance speech for their own specific award. An evaluation of the Topics Session was given by Mavis Cryer and Peter Wilson presented a general evaluation of the whole meeting.

 On Friday, a meal was held at the Bridge Inn, Walshford following which there was the After Dinner Speaking Competition. This was a light-hearted evening as five members of the club had to pretend to be well-known novelists staking their claim to be the writer chosen to feature the Association of Speakers’ Clubs in their next book. The MC was Jan Millar, the judge was Chris Birch and the winner of the cup was Niki Boersma. Chris Clissitt was thanked for organising the contest and Mavis Cryer for arranging the meal.

Wetherby News report 21 February 2013

Saturday, March 30th, 2013

The meeting was opened by the President, Niki Boersma who gave a concise resume of the Eastern District Contests and the Annual General Meeting. She congratulated Chris Clissitt and Neil Wilson, both of whom will take part in the finals at the Association of Speakers’ Clubs Annual Conference at Castle Donnington in April. There was some discussion regarding certain contests rules.

 After a short business meeting, the Chairman for the evening, Peter Wilson called Jan Millar to the lectern to give her speech which was a B2 Assignment – ‘Mean What You Say’. Jan is a very experienced and animated speaker and was ably evaluated by Chris Clissitt.

 Peter Wilson then introduced the debate ‘The damage done to public confidence in the police by recent revelations is irreversible’. With very little time for preparation Niki Boersma was invited to propose the motion and Howard Herbert to oppose. The motion was then open to the floor and a number of speakers took part before a vote was taken and Peter Ryans gave his evaluation.

 Mavis Cryer chaired the Topics Session and she invited members to speak for three minutes on issues that caused stress. Examples were Moving House, Taking a Driving Test and Visiting the Dentist. A thorough evaluation of the Topics Session was given by Peter Ryans.

 Jocelyn Brooks presented a general evaluation of the conduct of the whole meeting which was then closed by President Niki Boersma