 | | | | Feel free to contact us with any questions, suggestions or feedback. | | | | | | | 18 May 2004 | | | | Report by Beatrice Nabulya
Just like the blossoming flowers of spring, The Speakers of Croydon club was in full bloom; members and guests alike blossomed on the night.
Our sergeant at arms Carol West set the scene blossoming with the spring as reflected in the beautiful colours of her attire.
Introducing the evening, our president summed up the purpose of our gathering “If a child hasn’t had major fall in the first year, he is being too closely guarded.” Here at the club, we learn to fall but get up again. It’s a safe environment to make mistakes and learn from them.
David West guided us through the evening as toastmaster with ease, style and a lot of knowledge and experience. He was supported by Dilsiri as timekeeper and Jackie as grammarian - both for the first time - and David Gordon as topics master.
Dilsiri demonstrated her role using Indian wisdom to explain the traffic light system. The green light means you speak from the heart for two minutes with inspiration. Amber means from the stomach which is the gut feeling. And finally red is from the back meaning it’s time to EXIT.
Jackie as grammarian explained her role as “not to pick out people, but to pick up words” The new word “UBIQUITOUS”: present everywhere or in several places simultaneously.
The invigorating spring mood was resonated by the entertainers. What a performance! We were enchanted and humoured by David Langworthy with his number 3 “One Step Forward, One Step Back” Didn’t he indeed demonstrate what he meant? We were then inspired by Shegun……with his number 2, “Running For Your Life” “I’m gonna keep going to the end” with a great lesson for us all “Put your heart into whatever you are doing and keep going”.
Yet more inspiration came from Alex Ward with his number 3 “Onto That Success” with the ultimate success formula. If you set your goals low then that’s what you will get. On a more serious note, Mother Theresa (Carol West) then crowned the evening with a humble speech given on her Nobel Prize award ceremony. “Love one another, bring that peace, that joy, that strength of presence into your home” “It’s not how much we do, but how much love we put in….”
Insightful evaluations followed from Francois Emery, Nikky Ajayi, Joseph de Souza and Ritchie Dayo Johnson. And then further entertainment came from the table topics as guided by David Gordon with the awakening call “Are you ready?”, evaluated in style by Ore Ogungbayi and Colin Austin.
After Peter Gerlach's concise general evaluation, more lessons and tips came from our president at the end; “When you find your voice, you transform your life” You ability to communicate will shape the world around you. “If you believe you can, you do” The club is producing great men and women. We are moving, we are not standing still, we are writing history.
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