Happy New Year

Hello and Happy New Year to all Pania members, Must be the long Holiday break, but I almost forgot to send out the weekly meeting report for last Thursday, particularly to keep those that were unable to attend up-to-date! Held Thursday 24th January, our first for the new year, with 12 members in attendance.


The Toastmaster for the day, and the organiser of the meeting was Graeme. He did marvellous job, the meeting was to be a “surprise” meeting with members receiving a note of what they were to do when they walked in the door, the late comers missed out!! unfortunately as all the roles were filled. Not only did Graeme organise this and run the meeting but for the Table Topics Master (me) he even gave a list of topics and for the Speakers (3-5 minutes, impromptu) he gave a list of five suggested topics. Excellent effort Graeme, and it provided a really positive start to 2013.
Those lucky enough to draw speaking assignments were newish member Cheryl (Where to take Visitors in Hawkes Bay) which she handled extremely well and gave some different ideas about spots to visit, spoke with conviction and knowledge of those spots. The other speaker was “older hand” Wendy (Strangest places that I have been) who spoke about a recent visit to her son in California, and some of the areas that he has been (he has been in about 88 Countries around the world). A very interesting account of somewhere a little different ( a pity she only had 3-5 minutes).
The speeches were impromptually evaluated by Barbara and Ian, who both did a excellent job with limited preparation. Barbara had a couple of good recommendations for Cheryl, which will assist her in future assignments. Table Topics(presented by Craig-but prepared by Graeme) were answered by Viv (Where were You on New Year’s Eve?) Laurence (Where did you go for your Holidays?), Mike (Have you made and New Year Resolutions-if not why not?),Brenda (What do you like about Christmas Holidays?) and Graeme (How did you cope with the High Temperatures).
A good selection of responses followed to show that we were not to rusty after the break. Brenda presented an accurate Time keeper’s report and Jan wrapped up the meeting with a full and pertinent General Evaluation (including Table Topics).

Awards went to:

• Mike (Table Topics) mainly because he kept his voice at a softer level than usual (New Year Resolution!!!) 
• Cheryl (Speech), and 
• Barbara (Evaluation) 

Well done to the three of you.

So 2013 is underway, this is going to be a great year for Pania, we have settled into our new venue and it is the year that we again surpass the magical 20 members, what are you doing to ensure that this happens? Regards, Craig