Hearty congratulations to Neil Wilson who took 3rd place in the national speech contest in Glasgow on Saturday 20th April with a fine rendition of his speech “Glasgow Belongs to Me”. Neil wore his University of Glasgow tie as he regaled the audience with thoughts and anecdotes inspired by recollections of his time there as a student.
It was a close thing for 2nd place which went to Rob Waldron of Midlands region with a speech entitled “Making Your Mind Up” – yes, it was about Eurovision! – and the winner was Rob Parsons of South West and Wales Region with the snappily entitled “Your Worst Enemy And Your Best Friend – Understanding Stress”.
A big round of applause for Torin Zieboll of York SC who won the national evaluation contest on his first appearance in a national final. It was a perceptive and well-constructed evaluation and a thoroughly deserved win in my view (and clearly in the view of the judges too!)
Congratulations also to Trevor Millar of Halifax & Huddersfield SC who came 2nd in the topics contest speaking on the title “Never judge a book by its cover” with a witty and imaginative mini speech.
It was a superb effort by all three of tyhe Eastern Region contestants – they really did our region proud. Eastern picked up three trophies, more than any other region.
At the Eastern Regional contests in Bramhope on Saturday 9th March Neil Wilson was triumphant in the speech contest with his persuasive and evocative pitch for watching films on the big screen entitled “Going to the Pictures.” John Holian made it a Wetherby 1-2 with “Warriors of the Road”, a humorous look at sales reps of decades past and the heroic mileages they would accomplish in their estate car repmobiles.
Torin Zieboll of York SC won the evaluation contest and for good measure took runners up spot in the topics contest. The winner was Trevor Millar and the subject was “Fair Game.” Anne Todd of Halifax & Huddrsfield was the evaluation contest runner up.
The chief judge was Anne Bouget who endured a long, long journey that morning courtesy of closed motorways, detours and roadworks but did a fine job of judging our contests in a good spirit despite time pressure.
Congratulations particularly to Wetherby member Neil who will compete in the national speech contest in Glasgow on 20th April. Congratulations too to Torin and Trevor who will represent our region in the evaluation and topics contests repectively. Best of luck to all!
Wetherby Speakers Club won all three trophies at the Yorkshire & North East contests in York on Sunday 11th February. John Holian won the speech contest with “If It Grew On Trees”, a look at what life would really be like if money did indeed grow on trees. Neil Wilson was runner up with “Memories Are Made Of This”, a speech unsurprisingly about some of Neil’s memories, delivered with both colour and vigour.
John Holian was declared winner of the topics contest, where the subject was “Green Spaces”, while Neil triumphed in the evaluation contest.. York took second place in both topics and evaluation through Torin Zieboll. John, Neil and Torin will represent the area at the regional contests in Bramhope on Saturday 9th March.
It was great to see Sheffield Speakers Club so well represented at the contests. They fielded 4 competitors and brought several supporters too. Let’s hope we see more of them at future events and that we see members of the newly formed Newcastle Club
These were the first area contests since 2020, with 2021 ruled out by the pandemic and competitors going straight from club to region in 2022 and 2023. It was good to brush the dust off those old trophies and give them an outing!
Jeff Denton gave the target speech for the club Evaluation contest on 18th January entitled “Cheers”, an informative and humorous look at the prohibition era. There were three entrants with judge Peter Wilson declaring Neil Wilson the winner. He and runner up John Holian will represent the club at the Yorkshire & North East area contests on 11th February in York.
The same three entered the Topics contest with John Holian coming out on top and Howard Herbert runner up.
Neil Wilson won the club speech contest for the fourth consecutive time on Thursday 16th November with a speech entitled “Live to Work or Work to Live” as he took stock of his career and his plans for an active and fulfilling retirement.
John Holian was runner up with a speech entitled “A Good Night” and Howard Herbert completed the contest with “Fitzroy”, the title derived from the shipping forecast area. The judge was Niki Boersma.
Neil and John will represent the club at the Area contests, likely to be in February 2024.
The Cardiff Masonic Hall was the venue for the ASC National Conference on 21st and 22nd April.
Chris Clissitt was runner up in the topics contest on Friday evening. The subject was “Quality or Quantity”. The winner was Rob Waldron of Stourbridge – the same winner as 2019 in Edinburgh when John Holian secured 3rd place.
Chris took 3rd place in the evaluation contest on Saturday morning when the target speaker was Ian Brown of our newly formed Newcastle Club who delivered a speech entitled “Land”.
Anne Todd of Halifax & Huddersfield delivered a marvellous speech on Saturday afternoon, “Wainwright or Wainwrong” and secured 3rd place (behind winner Diana Douglas of Garstang and runner up Grace Hendry Nash of Glasgow.) This is the 3rd consecutive year in which Halifax & Huddersfield have been placed in the speech contest after Anne’s 2nd in 2021 and Kathryn Loftus’s 3rd in 2022. Next time….
So a second and two thirds for Eastern – no golds, but we did win more trophies than any other region.
At the Eastern Regional contests in Bramhope on Saturday 11th March Chris Clissitt won the evaluation and topics contests. The speech contest was won by Anne Todd of Halifax & Huddersfield with “The Wave”. Neil Wilson represented Wetherby in this contest and gave a fine rendition of his speech, “Sink or Swim.”
The runners up were; speech Jayaraj Nambiar (Craven); evaluation Anne Todd (H&H); topics Jonathan Millar (H&H).
Four clubs took part (Craven, Halifax & Huddersfield, Wetherby and York) and the winners will represent the region at the national contests in Cardiff on 21st and 22nd April. The judges, Tom Scott (national vice president) and Tony Scott (past national president) travelled down from Edinburgh for the day and helped to make the day a success with an excellent suimming up and some great pieces of advice.
Our next meeting is at Linton Memorial Hall on Linton Lane, Linton, Wetherby LS22 4HL at 7.45pm for 8pm on Thursday 16th March 2023.
Before then, we have two events:
Regional Contests at 2pm on Saturday 11th March at St Giles Church Hall, Church Hill, Bramhope LS16 9BA. Please come and support the Wetherby competitors, Neil and Chris.
Yorkshire and North East Area AGM Monday 13th March at 7.30 via Zoom. Please contact your club president for joining details
The Dalmeny Hotelm, St Anne’s On Sea hosted the 2022 National Conference on Friday 29th and Saturday 30th April.
All three Eastern Region contestants were from Halifax & Huddersfield – Jan Millar in topics, Anne Todd in evaluation and Kathryn Loftus in the the speech contest.
Kathryn took third place in the speech contest with “The Humble Potato”, a most entertaining and superbly delivered speech. A remarkable achievement when you consider that Kathryn only joined the ASC last November! The winner was Jill Finney of Leamington SC and Chris Clissitt was chief judge.
A report on the event can be found here on the main ASC website.
John Holian made it a hat trick of silver medals at the Eastern Regional contests at Bramhope on Saturday 26th March. With unerring consistency John took the runners up spot in the speech, evaluation and topics contests, a very fine achievement tinged with the frustration of missing out so narrowly three times. John’s speech was entitled “A Place In The Sun”, while Neil Wilson also represented the club with his speech, “I’ve Got A Little List.” Here’s to next year!
Halifax & Huddersfield supplied the winners of all three contests, Kathryn Loftus in the speech contest (“The Curious Monocle”), Anne Todd in evaluation and Jan Millar in topics.
Congratulations to all three who will represent Eastern Region in the National Contests on 29th and 30th April in St Anne’s on Sea.
Jan Seymour gave the target speech for the club Evaluation contest on 20th January, an intriguing piece entitled “The Importance of the Fronted Adverbial.” There were just two entrants with judge Jeff Denton declaring John Holian the winner and Neil Wilson runner up. Both will represent the club at the regional contests in March.
There were a few more entrants for the Topics contest, five in all, with the result decided by audience vote rather than by a judge. Chris Clissitt was the winner with John Holian runner up.
There will be no Area contests this year. There are only three clubs in the region entering contests (Wetherby, York and Halifax & Huddersfield) and all three will progress directly to the Eastern Regional contests in March.
Here is the club line up for the regional contests:
Neil Wilson retained the club speech trophy on Thursday 4th November with a speech entitled “Playing the Game”, in which he extolled the virtues and benefits of participating in sport. He previously won the trophy in 2019, with 2020 being a fallow year owing to lockdown restrictions.
John Holian was runner up with a speech entitled “Who do you think you are?” which explored the premise that you can anything you want to be.
The judge was Chris Clissitt. Neil and John will represent the club at the Vale of York Area Speech Contest on 6th February 2022 in York.
The evening also featured a debut from our newest member, Jan Seymour, who delivered a most entertaining speech entitled “This is me.”
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.”
Wetherby retained the Area evaluation trophy at the Vale of York Area contests on Sunday 2nd February. Chris Clissitt won the contest with John Holian runner-up.
Chris Clissitt receives the evaluation trophy from chief judge Denise Adlard
Clive Dawson of York RI Speakers Club won both the speech and topics contests. Neil Wilson was runner up in the former with his speech “They Go Low, We Go High” and Chris Clissitt in the latter.
Neil Wilson agreed to stay on as Area President for a second term in 2020/21.
John Holian retained the club topics crown on Thursday 16th January with Chris Clissitt runner up. Unfortunately John is barred from further progress in the topics contests as he came third in the national final last year, but this gives a great opportunity to Lisa Duffield who came a highly commendable third to enter the Vale of York Area Contests on 2nd February.
As last year, the decision was made by judges rather than audience vote. Philip Solity and Catriona Webb obliged as adjudicators.
Jeff Denton gave the target speech for the Evaluation contest, a discourse on Superman entitled “Man of Steel”. In a repeat of last year’s result, Chris Clissitt was the winner with John Holian runner up.
The Vale of York Area contests take place at York RI Bowls Club on Sunday 2nd February 2020. Howard Herbert is unable to attend and John Holian will take his place. Here is the club line up for the area contests:
Neil Wilson won the club speech trophy on Thursday 5th December with a speech entitled “They Go Low, We Go High”, in which he paid tribute to three prominent politicians of the last century.
Howard Herbert was runner up with a speech entitled “Extinction”, a look at some of the science behind climate change and what we can do about it.
The judge was Catriona Webb from Bradford Speakers Club. Neil and Howard will represent the club at the Vale of York Area Speech Contest on 2nd February 2020 in York.
The evening also featured a debut speech from our youngest member, Ruby Latham, who delivered a persuasive, humorous and well constructed piece entitled “Teenage Dreams.”
Ramana, Chris and 3rd placed Lucy Pitts with speech contest trophies
Chris Clissitt won the National Speech Contest for the third time in Edinburgh on Saturday 27th April with a speech about customer satisfaction surveys entitled “How was it for you?” The runner up was Ramana Sundara, known to us as Eastern District President and a member of York RI SC, but this time representing Midlands District through his membership of Newark SC. Both are past national winners, Ramana in 2016 and Chris in 2013 and 2015, becoming the first person to win three times.
There was more silverware for Wetherby SC in the Topics Contest where John Holian gained third place speaking on the subject “Mistakes.” John delivered an excellent topic, well worthy of the honour in a high standard competition.
Jocelyn Brooks (Empty Condo) with the after dinner speech trophy
Following the news that break dancing was to feature in the 2024 Olympic games, champions of other skilful and physically demanding activities made their pitch for future inclusion.
This was the scenario for the annual After Dinner Speech Contest held at the Bridge Inn, Walshford, on Friday 12th April. Speakers adopted thinly disguised characters and delivered light hearted speeches as they tried to persuade us that their activity was worthy of Olympic status.
Congratulations to the winner, Jocelyn Brooks, as Empty Condo, who convinced the judge that tidying and decluttering should be added to the Olympic roster (with a little help from Great Aunt Maud!)
The other speakers were Craig Level-Hardwood (Neil Wilson) for ballroom dancing, Alan Ditchmarks (Peter Wilson) for gardening, Bare Thrills (Howard Herbert) for survival skills, Eric Briskthrow (John Holian) for darts and Paul Wallyhood (Chris Clissitt) for baking.
The MC was Arcy Hustle (Niki Boersma, winner last year) and the judge was Philip Solity.
John Holian won the Eastern District Topics contest on Sunday 3rd March at the Bridge Inn, Walshford speaking on “Freedom.”
Jackie Mafi presents Chris with the speech trophy
John receives the District topics trophy from National President, Jackie Mafi
Chris Clissitt made it a double success, winning the speech contest with “How Not To Run A Business?”
Chris was also 2nd in the Evaluation contest.
John and Chris were well supported by a good turn out of Wetherby Speakers Club members and will go on to represent Eastern District at the national finals on Saturday 27th April in Edinburgh.
Wetherby Speakers Club won all three trophies at the Vale of York Area contests in York on Sunday 3rd February. John Holian won the topics contest and Chris Clissitt won both the evaluation and speech contests, the latter with a speech entitled “An
John Holian receives the Topics trophy from chief judge Denise Adlard
Chris Clissitt with judge Denise Adlard and Evaluation trophy
Elegant Sufficiency.”
York took silver in each case. Clive Dawson was runner up in both speech and evaluation while Gillian Munday was second in the topics contest.
Chris and John will compete in the District contests on Sunday 3rd March at The Bridge Inn, Walshford.
At the Area AGM Neil Wilson was appointed as Area President in succession to Ramana Sundara.
John Holian won the Topics contest on Thursday 3rd January with Howard Herbert runner up. For the first time in many years the decision was made by a judge rather than audience vote. Catriona Webb obliged as adjudicator.
Philip Solity gave the target speech for the Evaluation contest, again judged by Catriona Webb. Chris Clissitt was the winner with John Holian runner up.
The Vale of York Area contests take place at York RI Bowls Club on Sunday 3rd February 2019. Here is the club line up for the area contests:
John Holian won the club speech trophy on Thursday 22nd November with a speech entitled “Our Perfect Cousin,” a fascinating take on our German neighbours.
John receives the trophy from judge Denise Adlard
Chris Clissitt was runner up with “Whataboutery” and Lisa Duffield was 3rd with “The Ticking Clock!” The judges were Denise Adlard from Bradford Speakers Club and our own Niki Boersma.
John and Chris will represent the club at the Vale of York Area Speech Contest on 3rd February 2019 in York.
To commemorate 40 years of Wetherby Speakers Club we travelled back to October 1977, the month when the club was founded.
Opera Gin-free (Niki Boersma) receives the trophy from judge Catriona Webb
Speakers adopted thinly disguised characters representing half a dozen young(ish) people talking in 1977 about their hopes and ambitions and how they thought things would turn out for them over the next four decades. This was the scenario for the annual After Dinner Speech Contest held at the Bridge Inn, Walshford, on Friday 16th March.
After 6 light hearted and entertaining speeches the winner was declared – congratulations to Niki Boersma who gave a powerful and humorous address as Opera Gin-free.
The other speakers were Nutella Lawson (Jocelyn Brooks), Alex Fergietime (Neil Wilson), Tim Earners Glee (Peter Wilson), James Tryson (Howard Herbert) and Bill Doorways (John Holian).
The MC was Jeremy Axeman (Chris Clissitt) and the judge was Catriona Webb.
At the District Conference and Contests at the Bridge Inn, Walshford on Sunday 4th March Chris Clissitt could only manage 2nd (out of a field of 2!) in the Evaluation contest. Congratulations to the winner, Denise Adlard of Bradford SC who will compete at the national final in York in April.
And some good news for Vale of York Area – Lindsay Dutch won both the speech and topics contests and will have a busy time at the nationals in April!
Wetherby retained the Area evaluation trophy at the Vale of York Area contests on Sunday 4th February.
Chris Clissitt receives the Evaluation trophy from Chief Judge Chris Birch
Chris Clissitt won the contest but relinquished the speech trophy, finishing runner up to Lindsay Dutch of York who also won the Topics contest. John Holian was runner up in that one.
Our Area President, Jocelyn Brooks, handed over to her successor (who also happens to be her predecessor!) Ramana Sundara, although he doesn’t officially take over until 1st June.