With effect from 19th March all meetings for the remainder of the 2019/20 season are cancelled.
The After Dinner Speech Contest at the Bridge Inn, Walshford, on Friday 27th March has been postponed. It is hoped to reschedule this event in October.
Dates for 2020/21 will be posted in due course.
The National Education Director, Tom Scott, travelled from Edinburgh to speak at the Eastern District AGM on Sunday 1st March at The Bridge Inn, Walshford. He spoke eloquently about the need for change if the ASC is to survive long term. The current structure was designed for a membership of 3-4000 whereas our numbers have fallen to approximately 1100.
Tom Scott at The Bridge Inn
He facilitated a productive discussion about the motions proposed at the national AGM in April, namely: one member one vote; two year terms for certain national officers (including the president); the 6 region model (to replace 8 districts); the adoption of the new constitution to reflect these changes.
Tom’s session also featured a lively conversation about the new evaluation guideline not to pass or ask to repeat any of the first five assignments. This is about retaining new members. The risk of losing someone is much lower after completing the first five assignments, and in any case we can expect to see substantial improvement during that stage through practice and constructive feedback.
The district contests preceded the AGM. Chris Clissitt won the evaluation contest and will represent Eastern District on 26th April in Manchester. Halifax & Huddersfield provided the winners of both of the other contests: Trevor Millar in the topics and Anne Todd in the speech contest with her excellent and very much of the moment piece entitled “Post Truth.”