16th August 2010 Newsletter

We live in exciting times! We have just changed the website format, thanks to Ben Dell. Please bear with us whilst we make further changes and additions. The usual link still works, do have a peek, and see the new "look", very modern, and very functional.

We have also just changed the meeting structure, using a revised agenda format,which was created by Quang Truong Le, our VPE, and successfully launched at the club's most recent meeting, held on the 5th of August 2010. The meeting was opened by Doug New, our Sergeant-at-Arms for the evening. He stood before us in majestic silence, "Mussolini-style" until there was full attention from the audience. Doug introduced the President, Martin Berry, who welcomed everyone to the meeting, with a special mention for our many guests: Tom Weller, Katie Nisbet, Marlane Heard, Katie Wicker, Gary Jenkins, and Panos Panagou. He also welcomed the return of a recent visitor to our club, Sukhy Bains, who later in the evening confirmed her wish to become a member of Camberley Speakers.

Martin continued by handing the meeting to Alan Donegan, our Area Governor, and club member, who had agreed to be Toastmaster of the evening. Alan introduced Bob Nisbet, our Timekeeper, and Deborah George, our Grammarian and Ah Counter, and each in turn gave a summary of their roles for the evening. The chosen word of the evening was "Suspicious".

Martin Berry then started a "Warm up" session, as part of our new meeting format. This enabled everyone to speak for up to 15 seconds on a topic chosen by Martin, which on this occasion related to unforgettable experiences and memories from travel, which led many to describe their good and bad experiences with food when abroad, with some extremely amusing anecdotes, and a few mouth-watering recipes.

The meeting continued with the three prepared speeches, as follows:

1) Mirror on the wall (CC04) - by Chris Ascough. Chris gave an interesting talk about personal appearance, how one's attitudes can change as time passes, and the benefits of shopping for all the right accessories to make you at least feel good!

2) The last letter of the Greek alphabet (CC07) - by Christina MacGuire. Christina was extolling the virtues of Omega-3, and unsaturated fatty acids in general, many of which are thought to be beneficial to health, and are found naturally in oily cold water fish like salmon, tuna and sardines, and various seeds and nuts.

3) Mentoring (OT03) - by Doug New. This was a speech from the Officer Training manual, to help members to better understand the advantages of being mentored, and in turn to become mentors. Doug gave some interesting examples of how mentoring had been of benefit to him personally, and how he had helped others, and this created a greater awareness of the advantages of mentoring for those present.

During the Break, the assembled members and guests had informal discussions, and Mark Willson and Doug New kindly dispensed tea, coffee and biscuits.

The meeting resumed after the Break with the speech evaluations, in line with the new agenda format. Harry Fish gave an appraisal of Chris Ayscough's speech, and Sarah Williamson Green gave an appraisal of Christina MacGuire's speech.

The Table Topics Master was Adarsh Saini, who posed some interesting subjects for 10 participants, including: Some advice for Obama/Chris Ayscough, How to deal with noisy neighbours/Gary Jenkins, If England won the World Cup/Katie Wicker, and Having a day off/Panos Panagou. The Topics Evaluation was then given by Ben Dell, at his characteristic rapid pace, yet Ben was able to give a thorough evaluation of the ten speakers within the allotted time.

Deborah George was Grammarian/Ah Counter for this meeting, and gave her account on the good and bad use of English over the course of the evening, then congratulated those who had correctly used the "Word of the day" which was "Suspicious".

Tom Weller from Early Bird Speakers gave his General Evaluation of the evening, with some interesting and useful comments about the meeting. This was followed by Martin Berry presenting the awards for the evening, which were as follows: Best Prepared speech, to Chris Ayscough. Best Topics speaker, Gary Jenkins. Best Evaluator to Ben Dell, for his Table Topics evaluation.

Martin concluded the meeting, and many went on to the Four Horseshoes pub for refreshments and discussions.

Attendance: 25 (not 20, as originally posted).

Atmosphere: Very lively.

Next meeting: Thursday 19th of August 2010, commencing 7.30 p.m.

(Pub News: Our nearest pub, previously the William the Fourth, which closed for refurbishment, has re-opened under a new name, I believe the Lord Clarence.).........in fact the Duke of Clarence.

Club BBQ: We are indebted to Ben Dell for hosting a BBQ at his house on Saturday the 7th of August. This was attended by a number of members, and some guests, and a good afternoon was had by all, despite the changeable weather.