1st of July 2010 – The start of a new era!

Happy New Year to members and friends of Camberley Speakers! As many of you will know, the club’s year runs from the 1st of July until the end of June each year, so last Thursday, the 1st of July, marked the inaugural meeting under the auspices of our new committee. In my absence, I am indebted to our new President, Martin Berry, for kindly providing me with a summary of the events for the evening: 

The meeting was opened by Quang Le who was acting as SAA on this occasion. Quang introduced the new President, Martin Berry, who was also the Toastmaster of the evening. Martin welcomed the guests for the evening, Sukhy, who is new to Toastmasters, and found us through an internet search, and guests from other clubs, including Helena from Windsor Speakers, Keith Clarke from Marlow Orators, and David Lurie from Guildford Speakers.

Quang began the Topics session, which was to do with Money and Travel. Each participant had to pick an instruction from two different envelopes. One was the type of travel and the other was the amount of money available. Spirited performances were given by Anurag, in his Hot Air Balloon, Christina with Oasis of the Sea, and Sukhy, with her Yacht, plus several others, including our guests from other clubs. The Topics Evaluation was ably carried out by Chris Ayscough, which took us to the break.

The second half of the meeting included three speeches:

1) The Baggage Police – by Keith Clarke. This was a humorous speech about the problems Keith encountered when he went on holiday, only to find he and his fellow travellers had exceeded their baggage allowance.

2) Aryan and his breathing exercises – by Adarsh Saini. This was a serious subject about asthmatic problems in teenagers. The speech objectives came across well, but Adarsh also succeeded in making everyone laugh by trying to impersonate his son.

3) Une Petite Histoire Francais – by David Lurie. This was borderline stand-up comedy, with David delivering a bi-lingual address in French and English which seemed very popular with the audience.

The speeches were followed by Evaluations by Deborah George on Keith’s speech, Bob Nisbet on Adarsh’s and Anurag on David’s speech.

Helena was Grammarian for this meeting, and gave a comprehensive account on the good and bad use of English over the course of the evening. It was very thorough and no one was spared comment, which the audience clearly enjoyed.

Maria James Mills then gave her General Evaluations of the evening. This was followed by Martin Berry presenting the awards for the evening, as follows:

Best Evaluator to Helena, for her excellent Grammarian role.

Best Topics speaker, to Sukhy, our most recent guest.

Best Prepared speech, to David Lurie.

Martin then asked the members who was doing the CL Manual, and had they brought their manuals for completion?! Two hands went up and they both received a reward. (A Refreshers chew bar!) MB also gave similar rewards to Toastmasters who had travelled from other clubs.

MB then closed the meeting, and many went on to the Four Horseshoes pub for further refreshments and discussions.

Attendance: 19 or 20……….. Atmosphere: Excellent

Club Membership: We always welcome guests to our growing club. If you like what we do at Camberley Speakers, why not “Spread the Word” and bring a guest or two with you next time, and they can see for themselves? If you would like to know more about joining, please ask a committee member at the next meeting, or e-mail me or Martin Berry for details. This newsletter will also be posted onto the website which you can access without a password, and on which there are some useful links. 

Personal development within Toastmasters International: When you join, you become part of a worldwide organisation with a strong sense of community, dedicated to help members to improve their skills in speaking, leadership and general communication. You will initially receive two manuals, Competent Communication and Competent Leadership, to help you chart your progress. Do bring them with you to meetings, so that fellow members can help you to complete the various sections.

A club like ours is a dynamic entity, comprised of volunteers who carry out various functions, either as members of the committee or otherwise. Over time, people come and people go, but the things that have to be done, such as preparing, printing and distributing the speech agenda, looking after new members, preparing the room, making teas etc., being Timekeeper or Toastmaster, remain. If you would like to play your part in running the club, and learn some new skills at the same time, please contact our President, Martin Berry on: berry-martin1@sky.com 

Happy Toastmastering!

Harry Fish - (VP Public Relations, Camberley Speakers)

Phones: 01276-35164 and 07860-201387

E-mail: harryfish@thinkpositive.co.uk