Archive for November, 2012

The meeting was opened by the President, Niki Boersma who, following a short business meeting, handed the gavel to the Chairman for the evening, Peter Wilson.  This was the Wetherby Speakers’ Club Annual Speaking Competition and there were five entries.

The first speaker was Niki Boersma with a speech entitled “Pub Cricket” and she was followed by Chris Clissitt who spoke on the subject “Just Chill”. The third speaker was Tim Hunter who brought along a sample to illustrate his speech on “Home Brew” and everyone managed to sober up to hear speaker number four Neil Wilson talk about being “On Her Majesty’s Public Service. The competition concluded with Howard Herbert telling us about “My Car”.

 The judges Jan Millar and Mavis Cryer had a difficult job which they performed with their usual thoroughness and after giving some useful speaking tips announced that the winner was Chris Clissitt and the runner-up, Neil Wilson both of whom will go forward to the Area Speech Competition at York in January. The members congratulated the two winners and wished them luck at the next stage.

 Jocelyn Brooks chaired the Topics session which involved participants speaking for two minutes on chosen English idioms and other familiar sayings. After each speaker, Jocelyn explained the origin of the individual topic.

 Tim Hunter gave a thorough evaluation of the Topics Session and the meeting was closed by Niki Boersma in her role as Club President.

The meeting was opened by the Neil Wilson in place of the President, Niki Boersma who was unable to attend. Neil Wilson was also the Chairman for the evening.

After a short business meeting, Chis Clissitt was called to the rostrum to give his speech entitled Portmanteaux, Blends and other Neologistic Abominations to fulfil the assignment ‘Mean What You Say’. This was a very interesting speech delivered with passion and humour and it was evaluated by Tim Hunter.

Peter Wilson then chose to give an impromptu speech, selecting from three titles the subject of, A Day at the Office. With only ten minutes in which to prepare the speech it tests speaking skills to the limit. It was presented with confidence and skill and was evaluated by Howard Herbert.

The third speaker was a new member, Angela Heath and her talk The Little One Said… was interesting and delivered with clarity and purpose. Everyone agreed that it was an excellent first speech and the club looks forward to Angela’s next speech. The evaluator was Peter Ryans.

Chris Clissitt chaired the Topics session in which each participant chose a number and was then given a foreign proverb translated into English on which they had to speak for two minutes with no preparation. It was challenging and fascinating with much humour and many imaginative interpretations. Mavis Cryer gave a thorough evaluation of the session.

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