Speakers Clubare backon hometurf

Following an enjoyable visit to Hamilton Speakers Club, members of East Kilbride Speakers Club were back on home turf at the Red Deer Centre for their latest meeting, chaired by Chris Smyth.

The evening’s first speaker was David Webster, who shared his admiration for the songs and music composed by Cole Porter in an interesting speech that covered little-known aspects of Porter’s life as well as the critical milestones in his musical career.

John Wood then spoke of an intriguing family mystery revealing why his great-grandmother left Scotland in 1840, leaving her infant son behind to be raised by others.

He told of how the baby grew up to become his grandfather and fascinated him with stories of his time in the army fighting against the dervishes in North Africa.

A gruesome speech was then delivered by Peter Kerr as he told the story of how the funeral of the late Alistair Cook, famous for broadcasting his Letters from America, contributed to the discovery of a New York gang of crooked undertakers who were harvesting body parts from the deceased.

Prior to their burial or cremations, parts were being sold on for use in medical transplants.

A speech in a lighter vein followed, with Ewan McRobert delivering a presentation full of expression as he told the highly amusing and quirky history of the rise and fall – and the rise again – of Wimbledon Football Club.

Everyone in the audience was entertained whether they were football fans or not.

Full impromptu answers were given to the topics presented by Alex Rintoul and Toni Dinwoodie gave excellent advice to the programme’s participants in what was his first time in the role of general evaluator.

The next meeting of EK Speakers Club is tomorrow.

For more details, contact secretary Paul Munday on (01355) 223894.