John Holian then chaired a topics session where members were required to speak for three minutes without preparation on a variety of topics which had a common theme, which John did not announce until after the topics  – the titles were all related to the names of Life Assurance Companies (eg The Life of the Royals, Abbey Life etc). Peter Wilson evaluated the topics session.  Peter Ryans then summed up the meeting as a whole in his role as General Evaluator.

John divided the members into two teams. Working as a group, each team had to prepare two speeches which were delivered alternatively by two volunteers from each team.  The first speech from Team A was given by Chris Clissitt on the subject ‘Money Talks’. The second speech was by Howard Herbert of Team B who spoke about ‘Home is where the Heart is’. Ann Wickert then represented Team A with ‘Reality TV’ and the first session ended with Scott Stephenson’s speech ‘1970s – The Golden Age’ for Team B.

After the break Neil Wilson and Jocelyn Brooks from Team A evaluated the speeches of Howard Herbert and Scott Stephenson respectively whilst Mavis Cryer and her colleague, Jan Millar, from Team B evaluated Chris Clissitt and Ann Wickert.

This novel and challenging departure from the usual format was enjoyed by everyone and the evening ended with a new member, Michael Cardis introducing himself to the group before John Holian handed the chair back to Howard Herbert who closed the meeting.

 The first speech was given by Ann Wickert who spoke about the benefits of Golf Croquet under the title Come and Join Us. Ann made a good case for everyone to become involved with their local club. An evaluation of the speech was given by Niki Boersma. This was followed by Jan Millar’s speech about the infamous Glencoe massacre entitled Murder Most Foul which evoked strongly the terror and the sense of betrayal felt by Clan McDonald. The evaluation was by Chris Clissitt.

 The chairman for the Topics session was Howard Herbert and the theme was kept a mystery initially until it became evident that all the words on which people were asked to speak were related to the Universe in its many forms.

 Jocelyn Brooks evaluated the Topics session and Caroline Boom gave a full appraisal of the whole meeting. Neil Wilson then handed the chair back to Howard Herbert who closed the meeting.

The District Conference and Speech, Evaluation and Topics Contests will now take place on Sunday 19th February, not Saturday 18th. 

The venue is the York Railway Institute, the usual meeting place for the York RI Speakers Club at 1pm for 1.30pm.

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”.

The second category was a Prepared Speech which was won by Helen Tait of York Railway Institute with a fascinating speech entitled “Whispered Words of Wisdom” about Helen’s success in developing the ability to communicate with horses, acquired on a Horse Whisperers Course.  In second place was Helen’s co-member of York RI Club, Lindsay Dutch, with a speech about the sinking of the Titanic. It will be the 100^th Anniversary of the disaster on 12^th April this year.

The final contest challenged the contestants’ skills at Evaluation, where they were required to analyse another Speaker’s performance and provide constructive advice on how to improve. The contestants all evaluated a speech by Aileen Minns entitled “Causing a Flutter” about her experiences in raising chickens.  The speech was designed to allow Aileen to develop her vocal skills.  The Evaluation Contest gave Chris his second win, beating Andrew Hodge into second place.  Chris will represent the Vale of York Area in the next round of the National Speaking Contests on 19^th February.

Here is the full line up for Wetherby at the Area contests:

Speech:          Neil Wilson & Jocelyn Brooks

Evaluation:     Howard Herbert & John Holian

Topics:           John Holian & Chris Clissitt

John Holian then chaired an unusual topics session where members were required to undertake two tasks simultaneously. They were asked to speak for two minutes on a variety of topics based on topical phrases without any preparation time, and were also given a specific related task such as to focus on the use of gestures or humour etc. Jeff Denton evaluated the topics session.

The President, Howard Herbert opened the meeting  and introduced Peter Wilson, who would chair the Club Speech Contest and Barbara Cresswell from the White Rose Ladies Speakers’ Club who would judge the speeches.

There were seven entrants and the speeches were varied and interesting. Each speech must last for a minimum of six minutes and not exceed eight minutes otherwise the contestant would incur penalties. The speakers were as follows:

 The order of speaking was decided by lot.

Barbara Cresswell gave a very helpful and constructive summary and announced that the winner was Neil Wilson and the runner-up, Jocelyn Brooks both of whom will go forward to the Area Speech Contest to be held in York on 15^th January 2012.

Jan Millar planned the Topics session which had a very seasonal flavour. Club members had to give their reasons for being considered for various jobs associated with Christmas such as Santa’s little elf and Rudolph the reindeer.

Mavis Cryer evaluated the Topics session and Howard Herbert thanked Barbara Cresswell, congratulated the winner and runner-up, wished everyone a happy Christmas and closed the last meeting of 2011.

 The venue is the York Railway Institute, the usual meeting place for the York RI Speakers Club.  Time to be confirmed.

The runner up was Jocelyn Brooks who dragged herself off her sick bed to deliver a very enertaining speech entitled “Reflections of a Church Warden.” Jocelyn will join Neil in representing the Club at the Vale of York Area contest on Sunday 15th January. If either Neil or Jocelyn prevail, we predict that they’ll be dancing on the streets of Wetherby!

There were 7 contestants in all, 7 high quality speeches, and a very close decision, according to the judge, Barbara Cresswell of White Rose Speakers Club.

The meeting is the first of the New Year, and takes place at 7.45pm for 8pm on Thursday 5th January 2012.

John Holian then presented an unusual session based on the TV Programme, Dragon’s Den. Speakers were given ideas for various business ideas and were given a few minutes to prepare their presentations to the “Dragons” asking for funding for the idea. This led to some humorous presentations on ideas such as “An Exercise Machine Based on Dog Walking”. The session was evaluated by Caroline Boom. Neil Wilson then gave valuable advice on how to improve the member’s speaking abilities while explaining his views on the evening as a whole.

New member Ann Wickert delivered an excellent maiden speech and entertained the audience by explaining the humorous effects of her habit of procrastination on her life.

John Holian followed and his task was to demonstrate the ability to “Mean What You Say”. John compared the pros and cons of British Rail the way it was back in the days when the late Sir Jimmy Saville fronted their advertising campaign, with the current complex set up. Ultimately John thought it better to change it back to the way it was.

Mavis Cryer and Howard Herbert evaluated the speeches respectively and their comments and developmental points were both helpful and constructive.

Tim Hunter presented an entertaining Topics Session when members were asked to give a 3 minute, unprepared talk based on humorously modified book titles, such as “The 38 Steps” and “Moderate Expectations”.

Peter Ryans evaluated the topics session and the General Evaluator was Niki Boersma who gave her helpful comments on the meeting as a whole.