Meeting 964 "Verse or Worse"

With the theme of  "Verse or Worse," the role of Toastmaster of the evening fell naturally to the "Bard of Brisbane," Dave.

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Toastmaster Dave

 Our guests  Rod, Norm and Irene from Nerangba Toastmasters Club, as well as first time visitors Renae, Liz, Wendy and Jake were welcomed to the meeting.

President John T presented Rose with her Competent Leader badge and her High Performance Leadership badge. He also had badges for new new members Kirsty W and Carmy.

John proposed a toast to William Shakespeare.

Rose receives  CP & HPL badge

John T

Jim

Wordmaster Jim chose a word often used in poetry, "Unrequited," meaning one sided or unreciprocated.

There were three prepared speeches.

Kirsty W delivered a promotional presentation "Make a Splash," encouraging members to attend the District 69 Conference at Sea World.

Kirsty W

Darryl told us "How to Avoid the Top Three" when driving. The top three, he told us, are drink driving, fatigue, and disobeying road rules.

Darryl

Tim

Tim used the projector to give us information about Sleep Apnea.

Reza

Rod

Carmy

The evaluators were Marlene, Reza and Rod.

Carmy's raffle, a novelty frog money box and wine was won by Annette W.

Christiane

Time Keeper Christiane announced that we were running on time for the first half of the meeting.

 Chairman Liz W

Liz W chaired the business session. Some of the items discussed were the new member fee, subsidies for members attending District Conference in May and our participation at the Einbunpin Festival in July.

Rose

Rose had prepared Table Topics using well known quotes.

The topics for Marlene, Irene and Norm were:
"I'm unique just like everyone else."
"I will pass this way but once."
"I kissed a girl and I liked it"
(Who could ever forget Norm breaking into song about kissing a girl, unrequited love and losing his underwear in front of Buckingham Palace!

The topics for Kirsty W, Jim and Leesa were:

"To be or not to be."

"Please Sir, I want some more."

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep."

Reza's, Rod's and Carmy's topics were:
"Shoot now, ask later."
"If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come and sit with me."
"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday." 

It proved to be such a popular session, it was extended to include Liz W, John T, and Darryl with;
"How do I love thee, let me count the ways."
"If you build it, they will come."
"I have a dream."

The Table Topics were evaluated by Paul and Annette W.

Paul

Annette W

Grammarian John T commented on the use of descriptive words during the evening.

Nick conducted a Listening Quiz and collected votes.

Nick

Steve

General Evaluator Steve had some helpful suggestions. One of them was for the Table Topics Master to give the TT Evaluators a list of only the topics that they were to evaluate to avoid confusion.

The meeting finished later than usual, with the awards going to Kirsty W (Personal Best,) Darryl (Best Speech,) Norm (Best Table Topic,) Rod (Best Evaluation,) and Dave. (Best Contribution.)

Next meeting will be on the 26th April (the day after Anzac Day) with the theme "Valour." Don't forget,  semi annual fees are due if you haven't already paid.

We miss having our charter and life member John S at our meetings.We hope to see you back soon, John. John sent us some of his poems in honour of our meeting theme. Here's one of them.  

MY DAD

I have fleeting memories only of my Dad
Who was taken from us, well short of 38

Like sitting on a bullock wagon

And sent home from the gate.
Shying at a distant magpie’s nest
 Without the chance of any luck
Of chugging up the old Toowoomba Toll-Bar
  In a heavily laden truck.
And hammering at a blown tyre
Very late into the night
And putting an axe through a billy-cart
 At his otherwise occupied invite.
But these memories have been reinforced
 A hundred fold
By stories from family and others
Who knew him as a friend.
As a man of sober habits
 And as a larrikin and fond of a joke
As he squatted with his work mates
As they all enjoyed a smoke.
 A friend of animals but who by necessity
 Had them working under yoke.
And who as a teamster not
 A foul word spoke.
Of a man who in ’39 as his time drew late
Watched as Politicians dithered
As war clouds gathered
 And was fearful for his family’s fate.
Our Mum who in later life often said
 Of wanting to be ‘with Jim’
And as I age, yes, it would have been great
  If I’d had more time with him.
                oooOooo