Meeting 1202 “Community”

Sandgate Toastmasters met at Sandgate Parish Hall on Tuesday, 28 July 2026, for Meeting #1202, themed “Community”. We welcomed Area Director Mary, along with David, Peter’s friend, and return visitor Danie. The theme proved fitting for an evening that repeatedly returned to the ways Toastmasters brings people together.

TJ guided the programme with a toast to “The community of Toastmasters”. The Word of the Evening was “Convergence”, while Helen’s Round Robin invited everyone to finish the sentence, “A community converges when...”. Mary also spoke about where Sandgate fits within the wider area, giving members and visitors a broader view of the club’s place in Toastmasters.

Jonathon presented Peter with a ribbon for completing Level 2 in his Pathways journey, and Christiane with ribbons for completing Levels 2 and 3. The prepared speeches then brought two very different subjects to the room. Narelle had prepared a substantial set of printed pages for her Pathways educational because she was unsure whether the projector would work. Mali’s speech compared the training of guide-dog puppies with the raising of teenagers.

Mali with her Best Speech and Best Table Topic awards.

Jonathon at the lectern during Meeting 1202.

Mali’s prepared speech used a guide-dog puppy as a visual aid.

Chris led Table Topics, with answers from Marlene, Mali, Mary, Christiane, Jill and Maddy. Christiane’s raffle featured coffee, tea, wine and other prizes, with David taking home the winnings. Helen then presented the General Evaluation, bringing together the lessons and observations from the evening’s programme.

Christiane’s raffle added a later highlight to the evening.

The Toastmasters Education Program was part of the evening’s Pathways discussion.

Recognition closed the meeting. Mali was the evening’s double award winner, receiving Best Speech and Best Table Topic. Jill received Best Evaluation, and TJ was named Most Improved.

Thank you to Mary, David, Danie and everyone who contributed to a warm Community meeting. Our next meeting is Tuesday, 11 August, and guests are always welcome.

Meeting 1201 “The Waves We Leave Behind”

Sandgate Toastmasters met at Sandgate Parish Hall on Tuesday, 14 July, for Meeting 1201 and our first gathering of the new Toastmasters year. Our newly appointed executive team took their places as we began the year together.

Jonathon welcomed members to the first meeting of the new Toastmasters year.

Jill called the meeting to order before Jonathon welcomed members. Mali did a great job as Toastmaster, weaving “The Waves We Leave Behind” throughout the programme. Gail offered the toast, Marlene introduced RAMIFICATIONS as the Word of the Evening, and Arun led the Round Robin.

Mali carried the evening’s “Waves” theme throughout her role as Toastmaster.

Arun led the Round Robin early in the meeting.

Marlene introduced RAMIFICATIONS as the Word of the Evening.

Prepared speeches gave us two very different topics. Christiane, pictured below, presented “Einbunpin: awareness, sharing, visitors” for her Team Collaboration High Performance Leadership project. Narelle, not pictured, followed with the timely question “Is AI killing our TM speech writing abilities?” as part of her Presentation Mastery project on managing a difficult audience. It was a very enjoyable moment as she faced a barrage of disruptions, handling each one politely and professionally without breaking stride. Peter and Eoin provided the evaluations.

Christiane presented “Einbunpin: awareness, sharing, visitors.”

Helen led Table Topics. Chris served as General Evaluator, Paul tested our listening, Carmy kept time, and Trish conducted the raffle. Awards went to Narelle for Best Speaker, Trish for Best Table Topic, Mali and Jill jointly for Most Improved, and Jonathon for Best Evaluator. Helen and Paul also provided supper, an always appreciated part of the evening.

Thank you to everyone who helped create another enjoyable evening of speaking, listening and learning. Our next meeting is Tuesday, 28 July, and guests are always welcome.

Changeover Dinner 2026

 Some photos from our Changeover Dinner.

Executive Team 1 July 26 - 30 June 2027

Outgoing Area Director Jenny

     

Incoming Area Director Mary

Toastmaster of the Year Helen

      

President's Trophy

100% Attendance Marlene

Meeting 1199 "It's Not a Race"

 Another rainy night. We were pleased to welcome return visitors Karen and Christina.

Sergeant at Arms TJ opened the meeting and handed control to Peter who was filling in for President Chris. There were no programme changes.

Peter

Jonathon

Toastmaster Jonathon explained that Toastmasters is not a race, but a constant effort to move forward in our own journey.

Trish proposed a toast to "Patience, Progress, Enjoying the Journey and Toastmasters."

Word Master John had chosen the word for the evening, "Steady."

John

Round Robin Master Jill invited everyone to speak for 20 seconds about a time their presence had made a difference.

There were four prepared speeches.

Eoin completed his Presentation Mastery Level 2 with an impromptu speech on "Understanding Your Communication Style."

Erin delivered her speech "The Power of the Voice." as the second part of her Evaluation and Feedback project.

Eoin

Erin

 

Paul's speech was a "Writing a Speech with Purpose" project titled "Can We Trust AI Behind the Wheel?"

Mali's speech (her second) was "Paws with Purpose" about training Guide Dogs for the blind. She showed some photos of the dogs she has been training.

Paul

Mali

Evaluators Jonathon, Helen, Jill and Narelle had some encouraging suggestions.

Jonathon

Helen

Arun was Timekeeper.

Arun

TJ presented the raffle which consisted of various beverages and snacks to ward off the winter chills. It was won by Peter.

Supper was provided by John and Eoin.

Table Topics Master Mali had questions for Peter, Erin, Eoin, Carmy, John, and Helen.

 The topics (paraphased)were 

1. "If it's not a race, what is it?"

2. "What is still worth waiting for?"

3. "The slowest person or thing you ever waited for?"

4. "A lesson you have learned."

5. "A skill in your life that has sharpened."

6. "Where in the world would you like to spend a year? "

They were evaluated by Trish and Marlene.

Carmy conducted a "Who am I?" session. Peter presented a General Evaluation of the roles that had not been evaluated.

Carmy

Peter

Award winners for the evening were John (Best Table Topic,) Helen & Trish (Tie - Best Evaluation,) Mali (Most Improved,) and Paul (Best Speech.

Award winners 9th June 2026

Before the meeting closed, Trish chaired a quick business session to ratify the new executive positions that had been elected recently for the new Toastmasters year (1 July 2026 - 30th June 2027.)

Trish

The new Executive Team members elected are:

President: Jonathon

Vice President Education: Helen

Vice President Membership: John

Vice President Public Relations: Eoin

Secretary: Narelle

Treasurer: Arun

Sergeant at Arms: Jill

It was moved by Marlene and seconded by Eoin. All in favour.     

Our next meeting on the 23rd June will not be held at our normal venue. It will be our Change Over Dinner, where the new executive members will be inducted and it will be held at a local hotel.

Guests will be welcome to attend and order their meal from the menu. Contact us for details by the 16th June if you wish to come.

Normal meetings will resume at the Sacred Heart Parish Hall on Tuesday 14th July.

Meeting 1198 "All Things Greek."

It was a rainy night and a few members were away due to illness, so attendance was lower than usual. We were pleased to welcome our visitors Karen and Christina.

Sergeant of Arms TJ called the meeting to order and handed control to Helen who had stepped in for our President Chris. 

Toastmaster Trish introduced the theme "All Things Greek" and kept the evening running smoothly with information about Greece.

Trish

Helen announced the programme changes and proposed a toast "To Ancient Minds." 

Word Master Eoin introduced a word with a Greek origin, "Metamorphosis"

Helen

Eoin

Round Robin Master Narelle invited all to speak for 20 seconds each about a visit to Greece.

Marlene conducted an Educational Session on how to choose a topic for a speech.

Marlene

Christiane delivered a speech from the Persuasive Influence Path, Level 4 - Leading in Difficult Situations. It was evaluated by TJ.

Christiane

Arun conducted a Table Topics session, fulfilling the Active Listening Project by commenting after each speaker. His session was evaluated with some suggestions by John.

Arun

John

Narelle introduce her raffle prize, a gardener's delight, consisting of a worm buffet, and other items including a bag of passionfruit. It was won by Trish. 

Raffle

Time Keeper Mali announced that the meeting was running slightly ahead of time.

Mali

Supper was supplied by Jill and Marlene.

TJ called the meeting back to order and Eoin and Jill evaluated the Table Topic Speakers.

Word Master Eoin reported that Trish had used the word "Metamorphosis" the most times.

Helen conducted a General evaluation.

Award winners of the evening were Christiane (Best Speech,) Helen (Best Table Topic,) and Jill (Best Evaluation and Most Improved.")

Christiane and Helen (Jill not in photo.)

Next meeting: Tuesday 9th June.

Meeting 1197 "Nursing Fudgy Limerick Hangovers"

 We can thank Toastmaster of the evening Helen for the unusual meeting theme, "Nursing Fudgy Limerick Hangovers." 

All was made clear at the meeting when she told us, Florence Nightingale was born on the 12th of May, so it is "National Nurses Day." It is also "Nutty Fudge Day" and "Limerick Day."

She explained: "When I saw the three references an image crept into my mind of Florence Nightingale providing care to a court jester who had been up all night writing Limericks to entertain the King and had eaten a mountain of fudge so he could stay awake.  Consequently, Florence was nursing his fudgy limericks hangover!" (Who knows the depths of the human mind!)

Helen

We were delighted to welcome Emma, who was visiting our club for the first time.

In the absence of our Sergeant at Arms, Marlene called the meeting to order and handed control to President Chris. 

Marlene

Chris

Marlene used a limerick to propose a toast to "Fudgy Limericks and Florence Nightingale."

Toastmaster Helen kept the meeting moving smoothly with limericks between segments.

In the absence of our Word Master, Chris provided the word, "Inclement" which suited the present weather. It can also mean "severe, harsh or stormy." As usual, Trish was the clear winner who used the word many times.

Erin presented the Robin Robin warm up by inviting all to speak for 20 seconds each on "Something you've done while nursing a hangover." Several members managed to answer with a limerick - some better than others.

Erin

 

There were two prepared speeches. Eoin presented a humorous speech about his mentor - his wife. It was a Level 2 project in the Presentation Mastery path.

It was evaluated by Erin.

Eoin

The second speaker was John, who with many gestures and humour spoke about "Qld Workplace Philosophy"

It was evaluated by Christiane.

John

Christiane

Arun presented his raffle, consisting of a colourful throw pillow, a "Stranger Things" mug that changes colour, a copper flask, and a bottle of wine. It was won by Jill.

Arun

The supper break gave us an opportunity for a chat. Narelle had provided the supper but was unable to attend so she sent it with Helen.

Supper time

Supper

There were not quite enough club members present to form a quorum for the scheduled business session; however, the following members were elected as club officers for the new Toastmasters year (1 July 2026 – 30 June 2027), with their election to be ratified at our next meeting. 

President: Jonathon

Vice President Education: Helen

Vice President Membership: John

Vice President Public Relations: Eoin

Secretary: Narelle

Treasurer: Arun

Sergeant at Arms: Jill

Our proposed information stall at the Einbunpin Festival in July was also briefly discussed, and Christiane agreed to organise it.

Chris chaired the election

Table Topics master Trish called on Arun, Jill, Chris, Peter, Helen and Marlene to answer some very challenging Table Topic questions - most of them involving a limerick.

TTMaster Trish

Arun

      

Chris

Peter

Helen

  

Marlene

The Table Topics were evaluated by Mali. (Her first time as evaluator.)

John presented a General Evaluation of the meeting.

Mali

John

The evening's awards went to Eoin (Best Speech,) Erin (Most Improved,) Christiane (Best Evaluator,) and Marlene (Best Table Topic.)

Award winners 12th May 2026

Next Meeting Tuesday 26th May 2026.