Wimbledon Speakers Club Celebrates 20th Birthday!
Wimbledon Speakers Club marked its 20th birthday in spectacular fashion last Saturday evening which saw old friends and new come together to enjoy a memorable occasion of great food, song and, of course, speeches!
Held in the lovely function room upstairs at The Wheatsheaf in Tooting Bec, our party-goers rose to the occasion with some magnificent fancy dress outfits on display!
Leader of Ceremonies for the evening was Michael Ronayne (Winner: National Speech Contest 2007 & 2010, National Topics Contest 2013 and National Evaluation Contest 2014; Past President of Wimbledon Speakers Club) who, after a drinks reception and fantastic 3-course meal, introduced the 5 guest speakers for the evening:
– The Toast to the Club – Doug Weale: Member and Past President of Thanet Speakers Club.
– The Response on behalf of the Club – Katherine Inglis: Winner: National Evaluation Contest 2012; Past President of Wimbledon Speakers Club.
– The Toast to the Guests – Gwyn Redgers: ASC Past National President.
– The Response on behalf of the Guests – Tessa Dean: Winner: National Speech Contest 1999.
– Presentation of awards and Prize for Fanciest Dresser – Debra Owen-Hughes: ASC Past National Development Officer and President Wimbledon Speakers Club.
The night was rounded off with some quite incredible karaoke performances, not least from Bilwa ‘Four Non Blondes’ Iyer, WSC’s answer to the Gallagher brothers and The Shakira Sisters!
It was a truly fitting way to celebrate everything that the Club has done for its members ever since it first opened its doors in 1998 and the huge amount of success that it has enjoyed on the national stage.
Thank you to Debra and Katherine for all their hard work in organising the evening and to the staff at The Wheatsheaf for looking after us all so well.
The Club now enjoys a break for the Summer and so we look forward to reconvening on Wednesday 12th September (kick off 7.30pm) at Wimbledon Library (2 minutes walk from Wimbledon train / underground station – entrance via the automatic side door on the left of the building) for more practice and progress! Everyone welcome – especially new visitors!