Blog for November 19th 2008

By Andrea Blackie

We had another fantastic turn-out at Riverside Communicators this week. In addition to our usual members, we welcomed new guest Alison Shuttle, returning guest Denis Lawson, and visitors from both Trojans and Holborn Toastmasters clubs.

President Gray Standen started the meeting off in style with a mini-masterclass in the art of ‘chunking’; that is, breaking speeches up into small segments for more effective delivery. Gray was followed by Pamela Smith, doing a wonderful job in her first time as Toastmaster, who introduced the theme of the evening – ‘Winners’ – a particularly topical subject in the light of John Sergeant’s momentous withdrawal from Strictly Come Dancing earlier in the day ‘in case he won.’ At Riverside we have no such inhibitions, and after a quick explanation of the timing rules from Timekeeper Robert Yuen and the word of the day (Enthral) introduced by Grammarian John Craddock, it was straight on to the speeches. Neil Mason, in his no.2 speech entitled ‘Taking Issue With Mr Larkin’, gave us a witty and erudite explanation of why history is most certainly not dead. Corinne Berset, (speech no.6) talked movingly about the effects of Alzheimer’s on the families of those affected. Finally, Franco Vacarro, in a speech from the Advanced manual on Persuasive Speaking, inspired us all to go out and make Riverside Communicators into the Best Club In The World!

We made our General Evaluator, David Jones, sing for his supper by inveigling him into doubling as Topicsmaster. Being the 2008 UK and Ireland Topics champion, he took this in his stride and gave us a wide-ranging topics session which included subjects such as alien abduction, the art of running a travelling circus and the vital question of whether Blondes really do Have More Fun! A great session, much enjoyed by spectators and speakers alike.

Our evaluators for the evening were Elizabeth Poole, Geetha Mazarelo, Trevor Stokes, and Nazia Soon from Holborn Toastmasters.

Best Speaker ribbon went to Franco Vacarro, best Evaluator to John Craddock and best Topics Speaker to Heidi Ashley-Hacker.

Another entertaining evening, and we look forward to the next one!