Time flew by as Veronica Marshall ably shepherded us through an
uplifting meeting. We inducted two new members, had Table Topics
with a humorous twist, and four terrific Ice Breakers delivered
by some of the ‘old time members’ in the club.
Setting Veronica up for success was Omar Hung. What an
Introduction to the Chairman! Along with the obligatory
information, he expanded to explain that “Veronica is well known
for her knowledgeable speeches and her life long learning
attitude.” And concluded with, “We are lucky to have her as our
Chairman this evening.”
“World Traveler or Armchair Traveler”, Veronica set the stage
for the theme of travel by expressively reading a lovely letter
her aunt sent to her when she was a child. This letter, filled
with the thrill of experiencing far away places, engendered a
dream of travel that Veronica is now fulfilling; ‘following the
road to discover that one ultra-special place – that magical
fairyland each individual dreams of’.
One of the best parts of traveling is the anticipation of it,
which is why Jill McCormick chose anticipation for our Word of
the Week. Jill warmed to her role as Wordsmith and Wizard of
Ahs, pleased in the end to tell us that she actually had a
difficult time detecting many “unwanted utterances!
Joanne Renfer gave us a memorably classic Inspiration. It isn’t
always easy to come up with a good inspiration. Joanne has her
son to thank for this one! He asked her why it is necessary to
have a side mirror on cars. As she was explaining this to him
she used the word ‘perspective’. Yes! What we see and how we
react to it when we travel – be it as world travelers or in an
armchair – is a matter of perspective. When we immerse ourselves
in different cultures we see things from ‘their’ perspective.
Their mirrors may be dirty, cracked, or crystal clear, but we
see things through their eyes. Perspective.
Another classically delivered little speech was Gerhard
Rentsch’s joke – well told with a good pace and pauses, and the
exclamation from one of the audience at the end was, “I was
really surprised – I sure didn’t see that coming!”
As mentioned in the opening, Dave Stewart introduced ‘Table
Topics with a humorous twist’ – literally! He gave us a
lifesaver in the form of a travel joke. Every speaker was left a
joke on the lectern and if they found they couldn’t fill the
full two-minute allotment speaking on their topic, they had the
option of reading the joke to us. The mini-speeches were
excellent this evening, and many concluded with a good laugh
Every Table Topic Speaker was given a perfect ‘evaluation
sandwich’ –confidence-boosting bread on the outside, with good
suggestions in the middle for the filling. This was Andrea
Clarke’s first time as Table Topic Evaluator and she was good
right up to her uplifting conclusion.
Then the ‘old time members’ had a turn on the floor. They have
been in the club so long that they were given an opportunity to
give Ice Breakers again, to a brand new audience.
First up was Gerhard Rentsch, our President. He recounted how,
in his earlier years in school his family despaired that his
grades were not good enough and wondered what would become of
him. Then he made what turned out to be a very wise decision. He
hopped aboard a freighter, promising to do any possible job they
could give him as long as he could travel and see the world.
This travel gave him just the boost he needed to broaden his
experiences and open his eyes to the many possibilities
available to him. Eventually he became a medical doctor in
Germany, and upon his move to Canada he has become a very
successful entrepreneur and business man.
Then came another success story. Dave Stewart cleverly
paralleled this Ice Breaker with the original one he gave in our
club many years ago. Joining Toastmasters was one of the
solutions he used to help pull himself out of an
uncharacteristic slump in his life. Through his humorous,
self-deprecating story, he affirmed how important “just showing
up” can be. He told us how bravely ‘just showing up’ to his
first club meeting had been a big step in his recovery – scary
as it was for him at the time. He had everyone’s empathy as he
described the feelings he had had that first night, and
subsequent ones as he began speaking in front of the group, but
inspiring us even at that very moment by demonstrating the fact
that he is now an accomplished, confident, competent public
speaker. He told us how Toastmasters has helped change his life
by changing his attitude. “Just show up” and you are already
half way there!
Jill McCormick, like Gerhard, used the travel theme. Jill
illustrated how she is ‘a born traveler’ as she recounted how
her Great Grandparents traveled on freighters with 9 children
(the youngest only 16 months old) to come from Ireland to New
Zealand. Her own father used to tease Jill and her siblings by
telling them that he was the fifth engineer on a boat called the
Tangaroa (which in actual fact ‘was a real tub!’). Jill’s
travels include having hitchhiked around Europe in the days when
this practice was still relatively safe! We are grateful that
she is so adventurous, or she may never have moved from New
Zealand to Vancouver and we may never have had the good fortune
to know her.
Pam Elliott wound up the speech section with her account of ‘the
trip down memory lane’ that her husband took her on for her 50th
Birthday. They drove down through places she had lived in the
U.S., but Pam particularly focused on describing life in the
small ‘instant’ town of McIntosh in Alabama. This was as
backwoods as you can get. The first home her family lived in was
dubbed ‘the chicken house in the swamp’ – built on stilts to
elevate it above the swampy ground. The neighbour’s pigs used to
waddle under the house to scratch their backs underneath the
kitchen floor (bacon?), while their hens would lay breakfast
eggs on the back porch. If that weren’t strange enough…the two
swimming holes they counted on to help alleviate the heat, were
homes for water moccasins alligators. Her father would throw
rocks into the middle and then wait a few minutes to be sure the
coast was clear before allowing the family to swim!!
Veronica masterfully led a group evaluation of all the speakers.
We have had group evaluations before but this particular method
worked exceptionally well. She began at one end of the horseshoe
and asked everyone to give one positive for one of the speakers.
Then once again around the room with everyone giving one
suggestion for that same speaker. This was repeated for all four
speakers. The comments at the end were very favorable, with the
suggestion that we do it on another occasion.
Time really did fly by, and we had a lot of fun along the way.
Please join us next week for another evening of Learning Through
Fun and Friendship. Guests are always welcome.
Club 1085
