"DECISION TIME; IT'S NEARLY SPRING!!!"

SPRING FEVER IS UPON US!!

Toastmaster Craig welcomed us to the Pania meeting on 6th August and a very energised meeting it was!
Darryl the grammarian for the day introduced us to a Finnish word, "kalsarikannit'. Luckily he suggested that we didn't have to use the word as it meant "drinking at home alone in one's underwear". He did not offer an explanation as to how this word had come into his vocabulary!!


Linda was in charge of Table Topics and she took us on a bright and sunny adventure into Spring Time! As far as she was concerned the lambs are in the fields, the sun is shining and the daffodils are flowering so it is Spring Time!!!
Jen was first up with the topic "Spring fever" and told us how she and her brothers were all born in December in the UK and so were therefore the products of 'spring fever'.
Jen won the Table Topics award for this 1 minute impromptu speech.

Ian's topic was 'Spring into Action, Helen; 'Spring Cleaning',Carol; 'Hope Spring's Eternal',Darryl; 'Springs to Mind and Graeme; 'Springs to Life'.
Well done Linda, very cleverly put together and finished off so well with "it is spring, so let's enjoy it. I love it".

David evaluated these speakers and offered them all positive commendations.

Caro introduced Graeme for the first prepared speech and mentioned that he has been in  the Pania Club for 39 years (actually Pania's only been going 31 years, but Graeme has been a Toastmaster for 39 years!). His speech was called "Decision Time" ans was about a health scare he had once experienced. The story was emphasised in a very positive manner by the use of excellent vocal variety, gestures and the use of a chair as a prop. It was to'inspire his audience' and I believe he did!
Carol then evaluated Graeme's speech and mentioned the use of the stage and props and how Graeme had taken us on a very personal journey. Graeme is such an experienced speaker that Carol did not have any recommendations for him, but the commendations were very positive and Carol finished with an excellent summary.

Barbara was the Bard reader and she read out one of her very own compositions (of which we know that she has many). Helen as General Evaluator stated what wonderful expertise that Barbara has with poetry and that she perhaps could put all her very clever "bards" into a book and it could be sold as a fundraiser for the Club!!. This very well rhyming bard took the best Speech of the day award.
The general Evaluator, Helen, then summarised the meeting and invited the Timekeeper, Cheryl, to read out the times that each participant had taken and then Darryl made pertinent comments about various words and phrases that had been used throughout the meeting.

The meeting was rounded off nicely with the weekly Raffle draw, much to Darryl's delight his number came up and he won a batch of home  baked cookies.

Best Speaker; Barbara   Best Table Topic; Jen    Best Evaluator; Carol.

See you all next Thursday.

Thanks Helen for the report!