It’s a mystery! Not really … There was no mystery to the
enjoyment everyone had at this meeting. As soon as the Chairman,
Ruth Sol, stood in front of us with excitement on her face we
knew we were in for a great evening. It was obvious that she
loved the “Mystery” theme , and she immediately immersed us in
it, covering every possible faction she could think of.
Marlene Finlayson’s Inspiration carried the theme of the mystery
of mental telepathy; of strong non-verbal communication between
people who care about each other. Her story left us wondering …
could this really be…?
Stuart Manning, lover of words, certainly chose a good one this
time: Perplex. What could be more perplexing than a mystery?
Stuart is always in his element as Wordsmith and he did a good
job.
Our newest member, Andrea Clarke, made quite an impression as
Wizard of Ahs. She didn’t miss a beat, even carefully monitoring
her own ums and ahs! Ruth exclaimed, “She certainly provided a
good feast for the pig!” (piggy bank)
We all love jokes with a twist at the end, and Omar Hung’s was a
winner. He caught every single one of us off guard this time.
We were very grateful that Veronica Marshall was in charge of
the Timing Lights. She is completely focused when she is in this
role (in other words, she does not get carried away listening to
the speeches and forget to turn the stopwatch on!). The bonus
was that we had no trouble ending right on time
Anne Marie Deluise was right up there with Ruth in her delight
over the theme, and her topics reflected this. She had us all
stretching our imaginations; even occasionally giving ourselves
reality checks. Veronica stole the day (and the winning ribbon)
with an entertaining, very cleverly constructed little speech.
Our other ribbon winner was Jim Sinclair – Table Topics
Evaluator. Anne Marie bridged with “…One of our more
entertaining evaluations!” Yes, it was entertaining, and also
educating. This is only the second time he has practiced this
role, but if he was good the first time, he was even better this
time. It was obvious that he incorporated what he had learned
from his first experience to encourage us and inspire us to be
even better. That is what evaluations are meant to be –
positively focused, especially in the suggestions, so that we
are aware of our little habits, and excited to try different
ways / more effective ways of doing things.
Neville Cohen is a great promoter of our District Conferences,
always returning with enthusiasm and ideas. He began on a high
note, with humour, and gave an interesting report. Dave
Stewart’s positive (and even humorous evaluation of Neville’s
experiences at last weekend’s conference, also had some wise
suggestions that all of us there would be advised to remember.
He was also very relieved to see that, contrary to being a
report that was dry and perfunctory, Neville’s presentation “…
wasn’t at all boring, ie. like being invited to watch someone’s
home movies on their last vacation…”
Li Ying Kao enthusiastically did her best to sell us on the
advantages and fun of taking a trip all by ourselves for a
change – all by ourselves, without family or friends along to
encumber the free spirit of adventure. Her evaluator, Gerhard
Rentsch, would have enlisted the help of a travel agent. But Li
Ying was showing us through descriptions of her first two trips,
how even the uninitiated can not only cope, but have a wonderful
time. Who knows, perhaps with this success in her pocket, she
might now be ready to branch further away from home … maybe even
far enough to warrant the help of a travel agent.
Ending the meeting on a positive note, Jill McCormick summed up
her General Evaluation of the meeting as a whole with “I had a
lot of fun! I hope you did, too.”
Yes Jill, we did. Thank you
Don’t forget – the next meeting is Monday November 21st. We are
looking forward to seeing you all there, and especially welcome
guests to feel free to join us.
Club 1085
