Following a very successful ‘Curry and Quiz’ fundraising event in April at The Indian Lounge, it was back to normal at the club.

We had three excellent speeches:  Margaret Baldwin talked about ‘Poles in Step’ where she persuaded us how effective and beneficial having a Nordic pole in each hand is for serious cross-country walking.  Then Eileen Fox grabbed our attention with ‘Cry the Beloved Country’ telling us about the severe drought currently being experienced in South Africa, where she is a regular visitor.

Sarah Waters gave an imaginative demonstration of ‘Use of Voice’ – one of our criteria for effective speechmaking. She took a quotation from Shakespeare and used the voices of three different characters to express its meaning in different ways.

The evening finished with a topics session lead by Allan Heggs. We were asked to express our views, as Board members, of the Homemade Soup Corporation going into liquidation. The puns followed thick and fast. The tomato soup department was in the red; the vegetable soup department all mixed up, and everyone was in the dark about the mushroom soup. All in all a Souper end to an entertaining evening.

We are currently taking our summer break but resume on Monday, 5th September at the Indian Lounge. For full dates and details, please see our website LutterworthSpeakersClub.com or ring Maggie Barlow on 01455 207774.

The Club held a Balloon Debate recently which turned into a lot of fun. Members imagined they were in a hot-air balloon, blown off-course and heading for an uninhabited island. They will run out of fuel and crash – unless they reduce weight by throwing one person out of the balloon. Each member took on a role as a very famous person and argued their case to stay in.

After a first secret ballot, Hillary Clinton, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Nelson Mandela and Florence Nightingale survived, but Muhammad Ali, Mary Berry and Liz Taylor all had to plead to stay in a second time.

Ali (David Hanger) promised to use his strength to help build a shelter while Berry (Sue Hanger) tempted us with the prospect of lovely cakes.  Liz Taylor (Eileen Fox) turned on the waterworks with a very actressy performance to try and persuade the others to keep her.  A second ballot proved inconclusive and with time running out the pilot (Maggie Barlow) had to choose – and Liz Taylor, who had nothing practical to offer (and seemed to want an uninhibited island) got the push.

We are a fun club with a serious purpose – helping people to improve their speaking skills.  We welcome visitors and guests. We meet in the Indian Lounge, George Street, Lutterworth, 7.30 pm, 1st & 3rd Mondays of the month (Bank Holidays can vary dates). Phone Maggie Barlow for details 01455 207774 or visit http://www.LutterworthSpeakersClub.com.

In a Wedding Night Special we invited guests to an evening of wedding speeches, and much fun ensued.  The first speech was by Allan Rimmer in the guise of the bride’s father, with much boasting and toasting.  Then Maggie Barlow, as the mother of the groom, proved to be the mother-in-law from hell – a clinging vine with a son already twice jilted at the altar by fiancées making a last-minute escape.  Finally new member Sarah Waters spoke as an old friend of the groom – one with a history better not shared with his mother or his new bride.

This set up a framework for other members and guests to improvise around the theme. Eileen Fox choreographed this, allocating roles at random, and great contributions came from other wedding guests, especially those who had travelled through the fog from Market Harborough Speakers Club. The bride swiftly became pregnant; a long-lost uncle with connections to the mob came from Sicily; guests were searched but security missed the person with a bag full of Cluedo weapons, (rope, candlestick, revolver etc), and the butler revealed the family secrets.

If you want to see us in action just drop in. We meet 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month, 7.30 – 9.30pm at the Indian Lounge on George St in Lutterworth.

Lutterworth Speakers Club triumphs again!

Q. Why don’t polar bears eat penguins? A. Because they can’t get the wrappers off….

The old ones are the best, as our team of speakers proved by winning our Area’s Chatterbox team-speaking competition for the third year in a row.

Allan Rimmer, Charles Ray and Eileen Fox approached the subject of ‘Top’ and ‘Bottom’ with a look at the Arctic and Antarctic, especially the food chain. Their well-researched facts and figures, and their jokes, informed and entertained the audience.

Did you know that it wasn’t until 1958 that an American submarine proved there was no land under the Arctic sea ice by travelling 1000km under it?  Or that the Antarctic is roughly 100 times the size of England and it contains 90% of the world’s ice, which would not only require a very large gin and tonic, but if it all melted it could submerge Leicester. (Lutterworth would be OK, so don’t panic.)

Eileen, Charles & Allan – Lutterworth Speakers Club team and Winners of the 2015 Area Chatterbox competition

Lutterworth Speakers returned after their summer break refreshed and ready to go, with new President Margaret Baldwin in the chair.

Charles Ray launched our new season, and our new venue, with a speech entitled ‘Why petrol is too cheap’  – not a sentiment everyone was prepared to agree with, but he delivered a serious message of how we humans are polluting our planet, at a possible cost to our own future, firmly and convincingly.

A lighter topics session followed with Maggie Barlow declaring that club members had beaten her over the summer to purchasing various items advertised in the Swift Flash – and inviting them to describe those purchases.  A preformed pond, a mountain of hay, and a mobility scooter tested our members’ imaginations. Animals also featured strongly, with Edward Taylor buying a horse, Eileen Fox a toy chocolate cockapoo puppy, and Charles Ray four kittens.  A darker side emerged to these purchases as most of them were destined for the pot, with the kittens particularly to be barbecued on a spit (Charles showing us his lighter side).

Our new venue is the Indian Lounge, Weston Court, George Street, Lutterworth, next to the car park.  Meetings are 7.30 to 9.30 and visitors are always welcome. Why not drop in and see us in action? Or for more information ring Maggie Barlow on 01455 207774 or visit our website lutterworthspeakersclub.com.

Lutterworth Speakers’ Club – here to help you speak!

Have you secretly always wanted to try public speaking, but never plucked up the courage?  Do you want to set yourself a personal challenge?  Perhaps you want to develop new skills, or have to give a speech at a special occasion and don’t know where to begin?

If so, our club could be for you.  Lutterworth Speakers’ Club is part of the national Association of Speakers’ Clubs (ASC) and aims to give people the skills they need to speak with confidence.  We follow a structured programme that enables you to develop your skills at your own pace, with encouragement and feedback from more experienced members.

Meetings typically consist of a variety of readings, speeches, and short topics sessions, with the emphasis on having fun. Every year too there is a programme of friendly competition with other clubs in the area, starting in September with a team-speaking event called  ‘Chatterbox’, which we have won the last two years. A fresh team will be aiming to make it a hat-trick!

You are welcome to drop in. We are a small group and you will find a warm welcome. We meet on the 1st & 3rd Mondays of each month, Sept – May, 7.30-9.30 pm.  N.B. From SEPT 2015 we will be in new premises: see our website LutterworthSpeakersClub.com for details, or ring Maggie Barlow, Publicity Officer, on 01455 207774.

We wrapped up another enjoyable season with the annual Three Presidents dinner, where we joined forces with Leicester Riverside and Leicester Speakers Clubs to celebrate the year and consolidate inter-club friendships across the South- East Leicestershire Area of the Association of Speakers Clubs.

Margaret Baldwin entertained after the meal with a fascinating illustrated talk about Madagascar – or to be precise, the island of Nosey Bee, where she spent time teaching diving two summers ago.  This time, we were all going with her, and she was showing us what to pack and what the accommodation would be like – basic!   ’23 kilos’ was the title of her talk – that’s the luggage allowance, but as a seasoned traveller she manages to pack her mosquito net and other accoutrements into just 5 kilos. A handy hint – sleeping with a torch strapped to your wrist is very useful for keeping rats away.

At the same event Maggie Barlow received her Certificate of Achievement, having competed the ASC’s first 10 assignments, and handed over to Margaret Baldwin the role of President for the forthcoming season, which begins on September 7th.

We take a summer break but for more information in the meantime please visit our website:   www.LutterworthSpeakersClub.com.