Theme ‘Checkmate’
Chairman, Pauline, Speech by Ron, Evaluated by David, Topics Chairman, Frank, General Evaluator for the evening, David.
Frank opened the meeting in the absence of president David Heaton and gave apologies for absentees, also welcoming John (a guest) He handled the business session and under ‘any other business’ opened a short discussion about publicity to attract new members. Pauline then chaired the meeting and decided to have the topics session first, introducing Frank as Topics chairman. Frank kept to the theme and picked out items from the chess board. Roger, spoke about his favourite King but struggled, admitting that history was not his favourite subject!, however he still managed to stay on his feet for 3 minutes, Pauline was asked about the queens of England and as she had been watching the recent television series about Victoria, coped admirably. David’s subject was horse riding and we heard of his experiences as a child, donkey riding on Blackpool beach. Frank then changed direction and asked Ron about the Czech republic, thinking that Ron might find the subject challenging, but in fact Ron knew so much about the country that he went over his time! Pauline then took over the chair and brought Ron to the lectern for his speech, which was about being qualified(or unqualified) for a particular job. David evaluated the speech and praised Ron for his delivery, content, construction and the audience rapport. David, in his role as General Evaluator, summed up the meeting; he had thoroughly enjoyed the session, it was entertaining and educational and the members who were given topics, coped very well. He praised Frank for they way he conducted the topics session but thought the business session was longer than it should have been, he thought Pauline did well as chairman, despite forgetting to explain the timing lights!
Frank closed the meeting, earlier than usual, at 9.30pm.