The opening prepared ‘speech’ at last week’s meeting actually took the form of a remarkable six-minute long poem (composed not long before delivery) by Andrew Graham. This veritable tour de force was a serious and deeply thoughtful piece, fittingly from one who had survived throat cancer. It ranged over many aspects of life and contemporary society and contrasted with the more light-hearted tone of the majority of speeches.

There were certainly a few laughs during Allan Roberts’ talk, which drew mainly on his army experiences to discuss the practical uses of psychology in daily life – often illustrated by examples from the Sergeant Major!

There was also a military theme in Steve Birch’s speech. He told what happened when his younger stepbrother followed him into a Signals regiment, in the hope of postings to exotic tropical locations. Instead – unlike Steve himself - Alf found himself spending a winter in cold wet Germany! Delivered with all the verve and panache club members have come to expect from Steve, this was voted the night’s best speech.

Geoff Richardson, conducting the impromptu Table Topics session, invited speakers to talk briefly on holiday themes. Yet again the winner was a first time guest Graham Sterry, who boldly accepted the challenge of talking coherently on an unplanned subject before an audience of strangers. His well-presented tales of daft in-car games, and his childhood fear of knitted swimming costumes, got the vote for best Topic. Caroline Bellhouse was adjudged best evaluator for her appraisal of the six speakers who took part.

Next meeting will be at at 7.30pm on Tuesday August 23rdh at the Great Malvern Hotel. Members are invited to consider having a go at the club’s Humorous Speech or Table Topic competition on September 13th – preliminary round of an inter-club, and ultimately international, contest.

Colin Jackson