The club’s contest evening included wonderful speeches and insightful evaluations, much like a standard club meeting but at an even higher standard. Simon Mott pipped Ron Mayne to number one spot in the International Speech Contest, and Chris Murphy won the Evaluation Contest ahead of Simon Mott, whose one-two across both competitions was a highlight of the evening.

Chris’s speech entitled ‘You Can’t Cut Cake With a Blunt Axe’ was all about the power of language and words. As he explained, words have the power to divide and to unite and language has the power to bring understanding.

Ron Mayne explored the life-changing events that culminated in him joining Toastmasters. His speech was neatly summarised when he said, ‘Sometimes we need a life-changing event, to change our life for the better.’

Islay’s speech was entitled ‘Why Do We Hide in the Shadows?’ The speech was about opportunities and how sometimes, some people seem unable to access them, but others do. She used the story of Gordon Matthew Sumner, AKA Sting, and his journey from visionary youngster to global superstar, to illustrate how we should come, ‘out of the shadows and into the light.’

Simon’s speech ‘Prejudice and Pride’ was a wonderful eloquent personal exploration of the tension between those two emotions. He started by asking if we had any hidden prejudices that needed confronting before sharing his own very personal and emotional journey against perspectives developed during his formative years.

Simon will go on to represent the club at the Area International Speech Contest on 7th March. Congratulations and good luck to Simon!

In the Evaluation Contest, Chris, Simon, Imogen Murphy, Craig Forster, and Richard Green were tasked with evaluating our guest speaker’s speech. With each evaluator brought out of confinement to deliver their evaluation, it was a great opportunity to see and hear different approaches to considering the same speech. In the final analysis, Chris’s evaluation mastery won the day, but hot on his heels was Simon, who followed up his win in the International Speech Contest with second place here.

Chris will therefore go on to represent the club at the Area Evaluation Contest on 7th March. Congratulations and good luck to our Club President!

Thank you to everyone who took on a role to help the contest run smoothly and to everyone attending.