Topics of interest

WITH several members on holiday, chair for the evening, Eric Baker had some rearranging to do with Loughborough Speakers Club’s evening’s programme.

Zac was drafted in as Timekeeper. His first time on the timing lights, which should make sure no one exceeds their allotted time. This can be a vital task when running any kind of meeting.

The chairman took over the topics session and speech evaluators were brought in at short notice.

It was, as usual, a well run and interesting evening with three speeches and a hastily prepared Topics session.

The first speech of the evening heard Patricia speaking on the subject of crosswords. Not the angry kind but the brain challenging kind.

Retirement gave her the time to indulge in a daily crossword and codeword problem preferring letters to numbers as with games such as Sudoku.

The first crossword was printed on 21st December 1913 in New York. It was invented by a Liverpudlian journalist called Arthur Wynne whose family had emigrated to America.

Other countries have different patterns, some patterns appear the same when upside down, in Japan all four corners must be white and in Sweden they often have illustrated clues.

During the second world war, as part of the recruitment criteria, Bletchley Park required their interviewees to solve a Daily Telegraph crossword in under twelve minutes.

In January 2013 The Reverend John Galbraith who wrote the crosswords for the Guardian Newspaper announced that he was dying through his crossword saying he had 18 down, (Cancer) of the 19 across (oesophagus) which is being treated with 13 and 15 down (Palliative care). He sadly died later that year.

Concluding with the message that its important to keep the brain active especially in older age!

Sandra then gave a speech entitled “Will I ever be pain free”. We all sympathised with her descriptions of childhood in Jamaica and the various accidents and “pain” she had experienced through her life. We would all like our lives to be pain free but that is not always possible.

Haesul then gave a talk about her home in the Philippines.

She described how workers were considered Heroes of the Country by going abroad to work, many of them in the Service Industries such as cruise ships, hoping to provide a better life for themselves and their families. Of course this often meant leaving their children for long periods.

Even well educated people are often persuaded to leave then find themselves in menial jobs.

She now realises this is a fault of successive governments which could be addressed to improve the standards of life in her home country.

Sandra Burton won the gavel for the best topic of the evening. She’d just won a Rolls Royce car and how would she feel about that.

WOW was the general feeling but then doubts about where she would keep it parked rather marred the surprise.

If you would like to join us, we meet on the second and fourth Tuesday evening at John Storer House. 7.15pm for a 7.30pm start.

Meanwhile take a look at our website www. loughboroughspeakers.org.uk where you will find details of how you can improve your public speaking skills.