Sharon Hanson-Cooper, a new member gave her maiden speech entitled The Journey Home in which she spoke about her very interesting career and the many unusual and fascinating places in the world in which she had worked. Although this was her first speech, Sharon spoke with fluency and confidence. The speech was ably evaluated by Peter Wilson who gave Sharon some good tips from his wide experience as a speaker. 

The second speaker was Tim Hunter who spoke for 12 minutes on The Prog New Age in which he demonstrated his skills in speech construction putting forward clear arguments and using a sophisticated vocabulary that evoked effective word pictures. Jocelyn Brooks was the evaluator and she concluded that Tim had passed the assignment with his arresting opening, clear development of the main points and good summary in the conclusion. 

Chris Clissitt gave a resume of the National Conference that had taken place on April 27^th-29^th in Cardiff before moving on to chair the Topics session. Participants were given a title of a prog rock song and they had to speak around the topic, not explaining the song or the group involved but talking about the feelings and ideas the title evoked.

 The meeting wasclosed by Howard Herbert who reminded everyone that the next meeting would be the Annual General Meeting and that nominations for officers for the new season were required.

At the Evaluation Contest on Sunday morning he surprisingly completed his evaluation within the allotted 4 minutes, possibly for the first time ever. The evaluation included analysis of the assignment, previous assignments, advice, praise, recommendation – in fact the whole array of ingredients that Chris had previously found impossible to squeeze into 7  or 8 minutes! It was to no avail – once again he was unplaced.

Helen Tate completed a consistent performance by Eastern District by achieving a similar position in the Speech Contest on Saturday afternoon.

It was not all gloom – our District President, Lindsay Dutch of York RISC, was invested as the National Vice President for 2012/13.  We wish him every success in this role, and even more success when he goes on to become National President in 2013/14.

We start with the AGM followed by speeches or topics or both. We may even  have a visit from from our erstwhile District President, Lindsay Dutch, who was elevated to the position of National Vice President at the National Conference in Cardiff in April. Lindsay will hand over the chains of office for the Eastern District Presidency to John Holian who has agreed to take the role for the 2012/13 season and awaits the ceremonial anointment…..

We will reconvene in early September. Dates will appear on the website very soon.

On Thursday 12^th April some members of the Wetherby Club attended the celebration of the 30^th anniversary of the foundation of the Speakers’ Club in York which was held in the presence of the Lord Mayor. The meeting was in the Boardroom at the Cedar Court Hotel in the city which had been the first venue for the club when the building housed the offices of the North Eastern Railway Company. Since then the venue has changed to the nearby Railway Institute and the club is known officially as the York Railway Institute Speakers’ Club. It was a nostalgic evening as many who attended had been founder members and had some interesting tales to tell.

Jan Millar receives the trophy from Lindsay Dutch

After six entertaining speeches, Jan Millar was declared the winner for her highly amusing take on the part of Jacqueline Goldmine, Chief Executive of a lingerie and sex accessory chain.

The other speakers were Michael O’Dearie (Peter Wilson), Jim Trytrytryson (Howard Herbert), Richard Iamthebrandson (Neil Wilson), Mark Sugarmountain (Chris Clissitt) and Alan Zucker (John Holian). The MC was Miss Feasance (Niki Boersma) and the judge was Lindsay Dutch, Eastern District President.

We also welcome Peter Wyatt to present the  Trevor and Sheila Wyatt trophy to Chris Clissitt for winning the  District Evalution contest .  Trevor was a member of Wetherby Speakers Club for many years and twice past president.  Sheila was also a good friend to the Club having been a frequent visitor to meetings and dinners and acting as a judge for our club contests on many occasions.  Sadly Trevor died in 2010 and Sheila in January this year. 

The trophy was created in their memory and will be  presented by their son, Peter Wyatt. Naturally we are very pleased  that on its first outing it should go to Wetherby Speakers Club!

 Chris Clissitt was the first speaker who spoke without notes on the subject of Cold in which he described the effects of temperature and explained his preference for fresh, cold air! This was followed by an impromptu speech from Neil Wilson who had chosen from a list of three topics The Special Relationship.  He was given ten minutes to prepare the speech and eight minutes in which to deliver his thoughts on the affiliation between the UK and the USA.

Peter Wilson then demonstrated his audience rapport skills in a talk entitled Bystander in which he explored people’s reactions to helping someone in difficulty in public places.

 These very interesting speeches were evaluated by Howard Herbert, Scott Stephenson and Tim Hunter respectively.

 Two members from the York RI Club took part. Clive Dawson chaired a very good Topics session in which members were asked to speak individually on a variety of occupations under the heading A Day in the Life of …. and Richard Hampton finally gave a clear, concise and informative general evaluation of the whole meeting

 Jeff Denton then chaired a topics session where members were required to speak for three minutes without preparation on a variety of holiday destinations. John Holian evaluated the topics session.  Nikki Boersma and Philip Solity shared the duties of General Evaluator, summing up the meeting as a whole.

Chris Clissitt followed up his double at Area with a repeat performance at the Eastern District contests on the 19th February when he won both the topics and evaluation contests. He will now represent the District (and Club and Area) at the National finals in Cardiff on 27th and 29thApril. 

There was a new prize for the  District Evalution contest – the Trevor and Sheila Wyatt trophy.  Trevor was a member of Wetherby Speakers Club for many years and twice past president. 

Chris receieves the Trevor & Sheila Wyatt Trophy from Peter Wyatt

 He helped to found the club in 1978 when he was a member at Leeds. Sheila was also a good friend to the Club having been a frequent visitor to meetings and dinners and acting as a judge for our club contests on many occasions.  Sadly Trevor died in 2010 and Sheila in January this year. 

Chris was delighted to be the first winner of the trophy created in their memory and especially pleased that on its first outing it should go to Wetherby Speakers Club. It was presented by their son, Peter Wyatt. 

Denise Adlard of Bradford SC was runner up in both contests. Helen Tait of York RI SC won the speech contest and will compete at Cardiff on 28th April. 

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

Entrants in the Topics Contest spoke for 3 minutes on the subject “The Great Outdoors” with no prior warning of the title, and no preparation time.  This was a challenging scrutiny of the contestants’ ability to speak off the cuff and Chris earned a well deserved second win of the day.  The Speech Contest was won by Helen Tait of York RI Speakers Club.  Good luck to both in the National Finals.

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.