This is the full committee:

The club will now take a break over the summer, restarting on Thursday 12th September 2013 at The Days Inn, 7.45 for 8pm.

Chris with the National Speech trophy and the Wetherby SC banner, which was on display all weekend at the conference

Chris Clissitt came first in the National Speech Contest at Castle Donington on Saturday 27th April. There were 8 competitors representing the 8 districts which make up in the National Association, and Chris won with his speech entitled “The Problem With Solutionism.”

This was Wetherby’s 3rd different winner of the trophy following Roy Bowen in 1980 and Terry Ryan in 2009. In fact, Wetherby have provided two winners and two runners up in the last 8 years alone (Terry was runner up in 2011.) Not bad for a small club!

And it doesn’t end there….. Neil Wilson represented the club in the National Evaluation contest on Sunday morning and delivered an excellent evaluation. Whilst not in the places on this occasion, he acquitted himself well and enjoyed the experience.

Neil Wilson, who competed in the National Evaluation contest

And for Eastern District more good news – Lindsay Dutch of York RISC was installed as National President. We wish him all the best for a very successful year of office.

Mention must also go to Martin Bishop of Bradford SC who was appointed Eastern District President.

Thanks to Jocelyn Brooks, our Publicity Officer, who took the opportunity to display the Wetherby Speakers Club banner in a prominent location for the whole weekend, generating  a healthy amount of interest from passers by.

 Chris Clissitt of Knaresborough, and a member of Wetherby Speakers Club, won the Speech Contest with a brilliant speech entitled The Problem with Solutionism and was presented with the trophy. This was the third time in the history of the competition that the trophy has been won by a member of the Wetherby Club and the audience was appreciative and delighted at Chris’s success.

 Neil Wilson took part in the Evaluation contest at the same Conference. His was an excellent evaluation and, although he didn’t win on this occasion, he was presented with a certificate to acknowledge that he was one of the eight top speech evaluators in the country. Jocelyn Brooks also gained a certificate of achievement for having completed the speaking assignments in the club manual.

 All together it was a very successful Conference for the Wetherby Club

 Chis Clissitt was called to the lectern to give his speech which was to be evaluated for his use of voice. The speech was one that he may decide to give in the Speech Contest at the National Conference in Castle Donington on April 27^th and it was evaluated by Neil Wilson who will also be taking part in the Evaluation contest at the same Conference. This was good practice for both contestants who are very experienced and fluent speakers. It is the first time the Wetherby Club has had two contestants in the national final and we all wish them well.

 Paul Holmes, a new member gave his very first speech at the club entitled Hurricane and this was evaluated by Jan Millar who was full of praise for his excellent maiden speech.

 The third speaker was to have been Niki Boersma who was still stuck on the A19 so the Topics Session was introduced slightly earlier by Jocelyn Brooks who chose to give each member an opening sentence and they were asked to use their imagination to continue the story for two minutes. This was a departure from the usual format but everyone took up the challenge including the two new members Judith Robinson and Paul Holmes. Peter Ryans once again, with little notice, rose to the occasion to be the Topics evaluator in place of Howard Herbert who was ill.

 Peter Wilson presented a thorough general evaluation of the conduct of the whole meeting which was then closed by Jocelyn Brooks.

There will be time for a few speeches and topics too after the AGM. The programme has not yet been finalised but will no doubt give a chance for all to speak and have fun!

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.

 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.

 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

 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

 There was an excellent attendance and the standard was very high in all three contests. After a long deliberation, Clive Dawson announced that the winners were as follows:

Speech Competition                        Chris Clissitt              Wetherby Club

Runner-up:                                         Martin Bishop            Bradford Club

Evaluation Competition (Sheila and Trevor Wyatt Trophy):     Sylvia Walker Craven Club  

Runner-up:                                         Neil Wilson                 Wetherby Club

Topics Competition                          Veronica Baldwin      Huddersfield and Halifax Club

Runner-up                                          Niki Boersma                        Wetherby Club

The winners were congratulated and Clive Dawson gave a very effective and helpful evaluation of the performance of the candidates in each contest.

Chris, Sylvia and Veronica will now represent the Eastern District at the Association of Speakers’ Clubs National Conference 2013 at the Thistle Hotel, East Midlands Airport, Castle Donnington from Friday 26^th April until Sunday 28^th April. Wetherby Club wishes all the Eastern District contestants the very best in the competition, in particular our own Wetherby Club Webmaster, Chris Clissitt.

Niki Boersma was runner up in the Topics Contest to Veronica Baldwin of Halifax & Huddersfield SC, and Neil Wilson also took silver in the Evaluation Contest. The winner was Sylvia Walker of Craven SC. We understand that a holiday commitment may prevent her appearance at Castle Donington in April, so Neil is in line to take her place. Having supplied all three Vale of York contestants at District for the first time, Wetherby may now have two National finalists in the same year!

Unfortunately Neil was unavailable for the photoshoot….

Chris with the District Speech trophy

Niki with the District Topics Runner Up trophy

The contests take place at 1pm for 1.30 pm on Sunday 17th February at the Bridge Inn Hotel, Walshford, Near Wetherby, LS22 5HS. The contests will be followed by the Eastern District AGM

 In front of a sizable audience and in spite of stiff competition the winners were as follows:

 Speech Competition                        Chris Clissett             Wetherby

Evaluation Competition:                   Neil Wilson                 Wetherby

Topics Competition                          Niki Boersma                        Wetherby

 The winners were congratulated and the judges thanked for their deliberations, particularly Sandra Barton who presented the results and gave the judges appraisals of the candidates’ performances. Mary Donohoe then closed the proceedings.

 Chris, Neil and Niki will now represent the Vale of York Area at the Eastern District Contests and AGM held at 1.00 pm for 1.30 pm on Sunday 17th February 2013 at the Bridge Inn Hotel, Walshford, Near Wetherby, LS22 5HS, the winners of which will go forward to the National Competition held in April in Solihull.