It is competition time

Let me call the meeting to order, announced Graeme, our Sgt-at-Arms. Immediate silence prevailed to the man of stature, and then Graeme went on to read the mission statement with particular emphasis being placed on the word “personal growth”.

Toastmaster, and Contest Chair, Ian, then re-welcomed members, and our two guests; Bella and Dawn.  A warm welcome to our visiting judges, Peter and Brian, was given, along with Jacqui, our Area Director joining a little later in the program.  Visiting judges you say; yes, tonight was a break from our usual program, with two contests; the Table Topics and Humorous Speech.

With all of the officialdom over, the Table Topics contest was underway, with a very generic topic; "if you could make one wish, what would it be, and why". While there was still a little shyness in the audience, seven (7) contestants; Mondie, Andy, Joyleen, Roslynn, Greg, Jan and Steve, rose to the occasion and provided a wide range of wishes. Most importantly, to everyone’s credit, all spoke confidently, competently, and to the topic.  While every contestant was a winner, the judges’ decision was final with 1^st placing to Roslynn, 2^nd  Jan and 3^rd Joyleen.

With a well deserved interval break; preparation for the Humorous Speech got underway.  Our Contest Chair made some contrived attempt of using humour in announcing the rules, especially those relating to bribing the judges. Fortunately, he was rescued by our very own special ‘guest’ (and long time member) James, who was introduced and provided a brilliant warm-up speech titled “it's the most wonderful time of the year”. While being missing in action for most of this year, James wasted no time in recounting his Xmas shopping experience at the supermarket. James managed to turn buying simple items into a comical ordeal. And of course, while at the supermarket, why not take advantage of the fuel discount coupon and then ring out that last drop of petrol when filling up.  A great way to kick off the session, with the audience nicely warmed up.

With 3 contestants, let the humour begin.

Tony used the enchanting title, “a cool letter”, and then twisted this to be the letters of the alphabet; firstly the vowels, then consonants, and saving a place for letters such as x and z!  A very cleverly written speech, recounted in Tony’s calm and deliberate and dry sense of humour.

Jan, had the title, “theres always one”, which provided an insight into the family home; firstly of herself being the villian, and then her uncle’s antics in the filling of cream puffs with shaving foam instead of cream, custard or ice cream. Another polished performance, that has been Jan’s trademark.

Song amazed us all with “I didn’t plan to do this”, and played on a badly supplied forward program wording. With props in hand, Song, with great exuberance explained and showed how the word speech (as part of the title Humorous Speech Contest) was aligned to her name. This was so cleverly contrived, and then Song used other happenings around her driving lessons in a crowded Chinese city to keep us entertained.

I was certainly pleased I was not a judge, as all excelled and had us in laughter.  On the night, our winner, 1^st was Jan, 2^nd Tony and 3^rd Song.

Another great night…with a big thank you to our judges, timekeepers and chair. Come support Roslynn representing us in the Table Topics, and Jan in the Humorous Speech at the Area contest, on the 9^th September.

Next Club meeting; 12 September, 7.00pm