Theme: competition night; chaired by Frank Grace. Four members competed in the speech contest, David Preshaw, David Heaton, Mike George and Jess Longshaw. David Heaton spoke about ‘chocolate’, a very appropriate subject for him because he has a reputation for liking his food! David Preshaw’s subject dealt with ‘older and wiser’, although some us thought that he wasn’t old enough to tackle the subject; Mike dealt with ‘keep fit for old age’ despite the fact that he hates exercise! Jess spoke on ‘a day in the life of an ostrich’, original and humorous. Jess was judged to be the winner with David Preshaw coming second. Only two members competed in the evaluation contest, David Preshaw and David Heaton; they evaluated the speech by Frances Burdett from Cockermouth SC , entitled ‘the train now standing……’ to the assignment ‘vocabulary and word pictures’. David Preshaw was judged to be the winner.

Well done all the contestants, these competitions have a pressure of their own and are at a different level when compared to normal club night speeches. The winners now go forward to the next round, the Borders Area competition, as the club’s representatives, we wish them well. The contest judges were Phil Wilson and Malcolm Bobbitt (Cockermouth SC) and Christine Shuttleworth, chief judge (Carlisle and Disrict SC) We had a surprise visitor, a photographer from the ‘news and Star’ newspaper ; he took photographs of the speakers, apparently to go with an article about the club; publicity at last!