News

Chris Clissitt won both the topics and evaluation contests at the Vale of York Area contests on Sunday 15th January and will represent the Club and Area at the Eastern District contests on 19th February in York.

In the speech contest Neil Wilson (with “They’ll be Dancing in the Streets of Hawick” ) and Jocelyn Brooks (with “Ramblings of a Church Warden) both gave excellent deliveries, but the contest was won by Helen Tait of York RISC with Lindsay Dutch runner up.

Howard Herbert and John Holian also represented the club in the evaluation and topics conests respectively.

You can also read the report submitted to the Wetherby News under “articles”.

This September Wetherby Speakers Club begins the new season in a new venue, The Days Inn at Wetherby Services at Junction 46 of the A1M. We will use the ground floor meeting room where flip charts, white boards and a computer linked LCD TV screen are available.  The hotel will provide water and stationery. Must be one of the easiest to find venues of any Speakers Club!

We had 6 great years at The Ramada  Jarvis Hotel, an excellent venue and very good value. Unfortunately the price was set to rise several fold this season, so we had to explore elsewhere. Our appreciation to Peter Wilson for his fine work in finding a venue which we believe is equally as good as the Ramada and on favourable terms too.

Life in the fast lane! (Or at least very close to it…..)

At the AGM on 12 May 2011 Howard Herbert was elected President. This is Howard’s second term, having served as President  from 2006-2008.  Neil Wilson remains on the commitee as Immediate Past President.

We welcome two new faces to the committee: Niki Boersma, who is our new Treasurer and Vice President, and Jocelyn Brooks, who has taken the role of Publicity Officer. Other positions are unchanged.

This is the full committee:

Terry Ryan came 2nd in the National Speech Contest in Edinburgh on Saturday 16th April with his speech “7 Billion Day.”  There were 8 competitors representing the 8 districts which make up in the National Association. Congratulations to Terry – we are delighted that he has brought some silverware back to Wetherby for the 2nd time in 3 years.

Congratulations too to Lindsay Dutch of York RI Speakers Club. Lindsay won the National Evaluation Contest for the 2nd time, and his 3rd national title (he also won national topics in 2008.)

Another spoof scenario for this tradiitonal light hearted contest which took place at The Bridge Inn, Walshford on Friday 18th March.  To commemorate the 804^th anniversary of the creation of the Borough of Leeds and the 118^th anniversary of gaining city status, the event was the  ”Legendary Loiners Tribute Dinner” in tribute to Leeds and the great people who come from the city. Each speaker was a Leeds Legend who had to state their claim to the title “Greatest Living Loiner.”

We heard five great speeches. The winner was Niki Boersma who took the part of Lemony Brown, a member of 90s group The Slice Girls, pioneers of “girl power”. We have a new name on the trophy – although the name Boersma is new to Niki, not just the trophy!

The other speakers were Barbara Taylor Brighouse (Caroline Boom), Jimmy Snaffle (Peter Wilson),  Mark Peter Bianco (Chris Clissitt), and Mike Tinballs (Neil Wilson).  The MC was Aaron Calder (Terry Ryan) and the judge was Barbara Cresswell of White Rose Speakers Club.

At the Eastern District Contests on Saturday 19th February, Terry Ryan won the speech contest with “I Am No Conspiracy Theorist”, beating Martin Bishop (Yorkshire Dales Area) and Ken Creen (North East Area.)  Terry is through to the national final in Edinburgh in April – his second appearance. On the last occasion in 2009 in Dundee Terry emerged victorious and brought home the national speech trophy. Here’s hoping he can repeat the feat in 2011!

Lindsay Dutch of York RI Speakers Club won both the topics contest and the evaluation contest making it a clean sweep for Vale of York Area. Lindsay will make his seventh consecutive appearance in the national finals…..surely an unprecedented sequence?

Terry Ryan won the club speech contest on 4th November with “Thanks a Bunch, Nancy.” He and runner up Chris Clissitt (“In Praise of Hobson”) will represent the club at the Vale of York Area Contest on Saturday January 15th 2011. Denise Adlard of Bradford SC judged the contest.

Jocelyn Brooks and John Holian  were joint winners of the club topics contest on 16th December. Unfortunately Jocelyn is not available on the 15th January, so Chris Clissitt will stand in for her at the Area Contest alongside John  Holian.

John  Holian won the club evaluation contest on 6th January, judged by Chris Birch of Wharfedale and Craven Clubs. He and runner up Chris Clissitt will represent the club at the Vale of York Area Contest.

The annual dinner was held slightly earlier this year to save our speakers from competing with the  Christmas disco which always seems to start just as our speeches begin! The  33rd Anniversary Charter Dinner was held at The Bridge Inn, Walshford on Friday 19th November 2010.

Our President, Neil Wilson, delivered the Toast to the Association of Speakers Clubs and Barbara Cresswell of White Rose Speakers Club gace the response. Peter Nellist proposed the Toast to the Guests, and Terry Harrison, also known as the best member the ASC never had, delivered the response.

The 39th ASC National Conference was held at York from 23rd – 25th April 2010. Although not taking part in any of the contests, Wetherby were well represented in many of the planning and support roles which helped the conference run so smoothly. And in addition to Jan Millar’s sterling efforts in delivering stewarding perfection all weekend, our club supplied two judges for the national finals, in the speech and evaluation contests.

Following a long held tradition this light hearted contest took the form of the annual dinner of a “spoof” company with thinly disguised celebrity speakers. This year the event was the dinner held by a long established commercial television company – Hi! TV.

Terry Ryan proved to be a winner for a second time with the part of “Jo Nathan Dross” – a brilliant and entertaining speech.

The other speakers were Simon Scowell (Peter Wilson) Elizabeth Moondock (Jocelyn Brooks) Billy Cornily (Peter Nellist) Adam Rosier (Neil Wilson) and Contrary Blackhouse (Pamela Singleton). The MC was Archie Doorman (Chris Clissitt) and the judge was Ron Robb of York RI Speakers Club.

A clean sweep for York at the Vale of York Area contests in January. Lindsay Dutch won the speech contest for York, beating Chris Clissitt into 2nd place. Peter Wilson was the other Wetherby contestant. There was no luck for Jeff Denton and Chris Clissitt in the Evaluation contest nor for John Holian and Neil Wilson in the Topics contest.

Having had representatives in the national finals in four of the last five years, it is unusual for the club not to have even a single contestant at District level!

In a rearranged District Conference, Lindsay Dutch won the speech contest and will go on to compete in the national final at York.