Summer Report

Sutton Coldfield Speakers’ Club had a busy end to the 2013/14 season, with three events in the latter part of July.

The club’s summer social was a garden party held at the home of Molly Cooper. The sun shone, food and drink were plentiful and a good time was had by all.

A few days later Gary Allmark organised a Speakers’ Taster Evening for the Wylde Green Rotary Club at the Westfield Court Hotel. This was a demonstration to the Rotary Club members of what happens at a Speakers’ Club meeting.

Bob Green gave an example of an eight-minute prepared speech, choosing the benefits of laughter as his subject. Bob’s speech was extremely humorous and he soon had the audience singing along to ‘The Laughing Policeman’. He concluded that ‘a laugh a day’ beats ‘an apple a day’ for ensuring health and longevity.

Next was a mini Topics session. During this part of the evening people are invited to speak, off the cuff, for up to three minutes on a subject nominated by the chairman. Speakers’ Club president Pam Collins went first and was asked to speak about ‘My Favourite Place’. She told us about where she likes to go on holiday and we learned that her favourite places always include food and drink.

Then it was the turn of the Rotary Club members to take on some topics. There were plenty of volunteers and some very good speeches on subjects such as ‘My Favourite Music’, ‘My Favourite Sport’ and more of ‘My Favourite Place’.

Sutton Coldfield Speakers’ Club expressed their thanks to Wylde Green Rotary Club for inviting them along and are hoping to see some of them at future Speakers’ Club meetings.

The final event of the season was the July meeting, which had the theme, ‘A funny thing happened on the way to …’ It was an evening based around humour.

Making a funny speech is very difficult. The three members who gave humorous prepared speeches received well-deserved praise for their efforts, as well as constructive feedback on how they might improve at their next attempt at humour.

Sutton Coldfield Speakers’ Club encourages inexperienced public speakers to practise in front of a sympathetic audience in a relaxed and friendly environment. Each speech is evaluated by another member in a positive and helpful manner.

From September 2014 the club moves to Aston Wood Golf Club, Blake Street, Sutton Coldfield. The first meeting will be on Thursday 25th September at 7:30pm for 8:00 pm start.

New members are always welcome. For further details please contact Pam Collins on 0121 3556390 or visit the website: www.suttonspeakers.co.uk.