Wimbledon Speakers Club

Wimbledon Speakers May 31st

A great Topics session at the last meeting chaired by Vanessa (on right) focussed on subjects with an environmental or recycling theme. Chrissy (left) gave her customary excellent evaluation to Michael who was preparing for the Public Speaking Olympiad at the weekend. The Olympiad featured teams from Toastmasters, Cogers, SpeakersBank and our own ASC. The Toastmaster were worthy overall winners on the day. However Michael won the award for the outstanding individual speaker. (Not bad considering the contests contained 6 speakers who had been national prize winners with either Toastmasters or ASC.)

April 26th National Champion

It is a rare achievement to become National Speech champion once. Now for the first time in the history of the ASC the title has been reclaimed! Having been National Speech Champion in 2007, this year on April 24th Michael Ronayne (centre) became the first ASC speaker to go back and win it again. This is now the 4th time in the last 10 years that a member of Wimbledon Speakers has either won or been Runner up in the National speech final. Oh what a proud club we are!

Wimbledon Speakers March 10th

All great clubs need to renew and move on. So it was hugely encouraging to have three of the newer members of the club running the evening expertly. From left to right: Shad took the role of Topics Chair for the first time, producing an intriguing array of subjects based on famous quotations; David took control of the overall evening for his first time and guided everyone through with great authority and Clarke also made his debut as Topics Evaluator, giving very helpful feedback to each speaker.

London Area Speech Contests 17th February 2010

Camden Speakers Club hosted a magnificent finals night.  It was wonderful to see all the London area clubs so well represented.  It created a vibrant atmosphere for the club contestants. A fantastic evening of public speaking turned into another fantastic evening for Wimbledon in particular, as between them Katherine and Michael won each of the 3 contests.  Speaking contests take up only a very small part of the year, but they give our speakers the opportunity to test themselves in a more challenging environment and they are excellent for bringing all the clubs together .  Nevertheless both Katherine and Michael will appreciate being back in the friendly ‘home’ surroundings of a normal Wimbledon club evening next week.



Wimbledon Speakers 9th December

WSC meeting 8 June – the penultimate

Our latest meeting – the penultimate meeting of the year – was a lot of fun and a great success! Sally chaired the evening – it's always a great pleasure whenever she is in the chair. Sharon performed the topics chairing and managed to fit everyone in – albeit with a few one minute topics slots towards the end. The theme for the topics was a book called Change the World for a fiver. The book is full of hints and tips for – you've guessed it – changing the world – including bath sharing, tree saving and bus travelling. These were then followed by more topics along a favourite theme. Joseph performed a very adept account of his favourite way to say I love you – Let us count the ways it was brilliant. Another favourite favourite topic was Michael's favourite coloured m and m. Is there nothing that he can't speak about? Fortunately for us, the answer is no. The best topic as voted for on the night was Jill who gave excellent advice on why we should smile more. Jill should certainly be smiling by winning our special Debra topics trophy two weeks running. The topics were evaluated by Katherine who gave a wonderful analysis – lavishing praise and points for improvement accordingly. What a star!

Katherine mentioned again the main event for July – our annual WSC dinner on Friday 1st July. Tickets are running out very quickly – as usual – so please forward your menu choices and cheques to Suzanne as soon as possible please – by the next meeting would be great. Any donations to the raffle would be gratefully received by Sharon

In the second half we had our usual speeches section and what a treat that was for us all. Three wonderful speeches and all passes – so congratulations to Godwin, Suzanne and Eileen.

Godwin's speech was titled Credit is good for you. Godwin only recently passed his level one icebreaker speech and he's already on to level three having passed his level two last week. The aim of the level two is mean what you say – and the key themes were inner strength, self credit and winning. We were delighted to have much praise given to us as the speech evolved. Of course noone is adverse to a few compliments but all the credit must go to Godwin for such a fine speech. He is rapidly becoming a true asset to the club and an inspiration. We can't wait to hear your level three speech Godwin!

The next speech was given by Suzanne. All we can say is wow, wow and wow again. The title of Suzanne's speech was Superheroes – a level four speech where the focus is on gestures. The speech started with a quote from Bonnie Tyler's classic I need a hero – this must surely be a first. Suzanne's performance was truly remarkable and covered a wide range of themes from Shrek 2 to Hercules to Superman. Not to mention the Wonderwoman quip – fighting for her rights in her satin tights – and the memorable impression of the female hero and her bullet defying bracelets. Class. The gestures were incredible and were provided with humour, energy and style – it was very entertaining and a pleasure to see and hear. Well done Suzanne!

Our last speech of the evening was performed by Eileen with a level five speech titled It ain't what you say (it's the way that you say it). The aim of the speech is Use of voice and it is easy to see that Eileen's voice is the tool of her trade as we embarked on a verbal rollercoaster with her – up – down – fast – slow – with and without pauses – high and low – relaxed – high pitched and then soft and heavy. A wonderful and interesting speech. Special congrats to Eileen who, having passed level 5, is now halfway through the manual and is really setting the pace, performing many of these recently.

Many thanks to the evaluators – George, Joseph and Michael

General evaluation was given by Peter who gave a concise version of the evening's events as well as providing a “for one night only” humour slot. Both were very well presented and in Peter's usual flamboyant style which we so warmly appreciate at the club. Thank you Peter

Join us next time for our last meeting of the year on Wednesday 22nd June for our special pick and mix event where roles for the evening were raffled at our previous meeting. It's going to be a little bit different and a little bit special and there will also be a bit of a surprise! We look forward to seeing you there.

WSC meeting 8 June – the penultimate

Our latest meeting – the penultimate meeting of the year – was a lot of fun and a great success! Sally chaired the evening – it's always a great pleasure whenever she is in the chair. Sharon performed the topics chairing and managed to fit everyone in – albeit with a few one minute topics slots towards the end. The theme for the topics was a book called Change the World for a fiver. The book is full of hints and tips for – you've guessed it – changing the world – including bath sharing, tree saving and bus travelling. These were then followed by more topics along a favourite theme. Joseph performed a very adept account of his favourite way to say I love you – Let us count the ways it was brilliant. Another favourite favourite topic was Michael's favourite coloured m and m. Is there nothing that he can't speak about? Fortunately for us, the answer is no. The best topic as voted for on the night was Jill who gave excellent advice on why we should smile more. Jill should certainly be smiling by winning our special Debra topics trophy two weeks running. The topics were evaluated by Katherine who gave a wonderful analysis – lavishing praise and points for improvement accordingly. What a star!

Katherine mentioned again the main event for July – our annual WSC dinner on Friday 1st July. Tickets are running out very quickly – as usual – so please forward your menu choices and cheques to Suzanne as soon as possible please – by the next meeting would be great. Any donations to the raffle would be gratefully received by Sharon

In the second half we had our usual speeches section and what a treat that was for us all. Three wonderful speeches and all passes – so congratulations to Godwin, Suzanne and Eileen.

Godwin's speech was titled Credit is good for you. Godwin only recently passed his level one icebreaker speech and he's already on to level three having passed his level two last week. The aim of the level two is mean what you say – and the key themes were inner strength, self credit and winning. We were delighted to have much praise given to us as the speech evolved. Of course noone is adverse to a few compliments but all the credit must go to Godwin for such a fine speech. He is rapidly becoming a true asset to the club and an inspiration. We can't wait to hear your level three speech Godwin!

The next speech was given by Suzanne. All we can say is wow, wow and wow again. The title of Suzanne's speech was Superheroes – a level four speech where the focus is on gestures. The speech started with a quote from Bonnie Tyler's classic I need a hero – this must surely be a first. Suzanne's performance was truly remarkable and covered a wide range of themes from Shrek 2 to Hercules to Superman. Not to mention the Wonderwoman quip – fighting for her rights in her satin tights – and the memorable impression of the female hero and her bullet defying bracelets. Class. The gestures were incredible and were provided with humour, energy and style – it was very entertaining and a pleasure to see and hear. Well done Suzanne!

Our last speech of the evening was performed by Eileen with a level five speech titled It ain't what you say (it's the way that you say it). The aim of the speech is Use of voice and it is easy to see that Eileen's voice is the tool of her trade as we embarked on a verbal rollercoaster with her – up – down – fast – slow – with and without pauses – high and low – relaxed – high pitched and then soft and heavy. A wonderful and interesting speech. Special congrats to Eileen who, having passed level 5, is now halfway through the manual and is really setting the pace, performing many of these recently.

Many thanks to the evaluators – George, Joseph and Michael

General evaluation was given by Peter who gave a concise version of the evening's events as well as providing a “for one night only” humour slot. Both were very well presented and in Peter's usual flamboyant style which we so warmly appreciate at the club. Thank you Peter

Join us next time for our last meeting of the year on Wednesday 22nd June for our special pick and mix event where roles for the evening were raffled at our previous meeting. It's going to be a little bit different and a little bit special and there will also be a bit of a surprise! We look forward to seeing you there.

Wednesday 25 May – AGM and Speakers night

Wow, what a lot we packed in to our latest meeting – the usual topics, speeches AND our AGM!!!

Kicking off with the AGM, the outgoing officers reports were approved and the new committee were elected. Our new committee are as follows:

• Suzanne – President

• Katherine – Vice President
• Richard – Treasurer
• Tim – Publicity Officer
• Sally – Educational Director
• Jenny – Secretary

After the AGM we heard two great speeches – the first by Eileen – a level 4 speech – with the title “Roast Beef, Yorkshire pudding and a side order of Curry” (though it could have been a whole hsot of other dishes). It was a great speech, as confirmed by Peter's excellent evaluation and it was, of course, a pass.
Next up was Michael's advanced level 1 titled “Decision time”. Advanced level speeches are no easy feat. We can only imagine it would almost be like doing an extended topic!! You do have a bit of preparation time – but ten minutes is not nearly enough. That said, we would hardly have known that Michael hadn't been preparing his speech for weeks!!!  It was very very good indeed and evaluated excellently and passed by Sally.

After the break we moved to the topics. Here, the aim for the topics – given by Katherine – contained two words in the title, We had school reports, hiding places and childhood heroes, and many more…

The simplest topics are often the easiest and do make for the best topics. The audience was highly entertained by the speakers. Oonagh gave a very thorough evaluation of the topics and did a most fantastic job!!

Another great night, chaired by Katherine – who carried the evening beautifully. It was great to see so many new faces and members from other clubs. We look forward to seeing you next time for our special Pick and Mix event where speaker, timing and refreshment roles were won via a raffle at our last meeting. This is one night not to be missed.

Please remember to keep Friday 1st July free in your diaries for the Annual WSC dinner.

Also, if you did not receive a questionnaire about summer social events, please contact Sharon and she'll send one to you.

Until next time friends – have a great bank holiday weekend and enjoy the Sun (……..while it lasts). Sharon

Wednesday 25 May – AGM and Speakers night

Wow, what a lot we packed in to our latest meeting – the usual topics, speeches AND our AGM!!!

Kicking off with the AGM, the outgoing officers reports were approved and the new committee were elected. Our new committee are as follows:

• Suzanne – President

• Katherine – Vice President
• Richard – Treasurer
• Tim – Publicity Officer
• Sally – Educational Director
• Jenny – Secretary

After the AGM we heard two great speeches – the first by Eileen – a level 4 speech – with the title “Roast Beef, Yorkshire pudding and a side order of Curry” (though it could have been a whole hsot of other dishes). It was a great speech, as confirmed by Peter's excellent evaluation and it was, of course, a pass.
Next up was Michael's advanced level 1 titled “Decision time”. Advanced level speeches are no easy feat. We can only imagine it would almost be like doing an extended topic!! You do have a bit of preparation time – but ten minutes is not nearly enough. That said, we would hardly have known that Michael hadn't been preparing his speech for weeks!!!  It was very very good indeed and evaluated excellently and passed by Sally.

After the break we moved to the topics. Here, the aim for the topics – given by Katherine – contained two words in the title, We had school reports, hiding places and childhood heroes, and many more…

The simplest topics are often the easiest and do make for the best topics. The audience was highly entertained by the speakers. Oonagh gave a very thorough evaluation of the topics and did a most fantastic job!!

Another great night, chaired by Katherine – who carried the evening beautifully. It was great to see so many new faces and members from other clubs. We look forward to seeing you next time for our special Pick and Mix event where speaker, timing and refreshment roles were won via a raffle at our last meeting. This is one night not to be missed.

Please remember to keep Friday 1st July free in your diaries for the Annual WSC dinner.

Also, if you did not receive a questionnaire about summer social events, please contact Sharon and she'll send one to you.

Until next time friends – have a great bank holiday weekend and enjoy the Sun (……..while it lasts). Sharon

11 May Meeting – Chairman's Notes

Click the title to see meeting notes – Play with those wedges for a complete listing of Danny Baker's favourite advertising slogans, notes on Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and the probablilty of a game of scrabble for answering the question to the meaning of Life, Universe and Everything….