Speakers evening
“IT’S NOT fair” - how many times have you heard that plaintive cry from a teenager. If you thought the terrible twos were a challenge, teenagers can be much more of a worry stated Sue York when she performed her second speech to the club entitled “The Experience of having Teenagers through a Parents Eyes”.
The stress of exams, the school Prom dance, becoming eighteen and being old enough to buy alcohol were just a few of the trials and tribulations a parent goes through.
Waiting for the A level results to find out if they have achieved the University place they want and watching as they become young adults as they leave the home nest and become independent individuals can leave a big gap in the home life of the parents.
Luckily for Loughborough Charnwood Speakers Club Sue has found an interest and is fast becoming a competent speaker taking part in Topics and preparing speeches to entertain the members.
The second speaker was club President Peter Minshall who was attempting an Impromptu speech from the Advanced Speakers Guide. The speaker is given a choice of three subjects by the Chair of the evening then has ten minutes to prepare a six to eight minute speech on the subject of his choice.
He was given The Sun, Photography or Cruises to consider.
As a professional photographer he naturally went for the subject he knew best. “A picture is worth a thousand words” began Peter as he proceeded to inform us of the history of photography.
Although the camera obscura was known in the 13th century it wasn’t until the eighteen hundreds that photographs were invented. However they needed eight hours exposure time, so a long way to go before the instant photography we know of today.
Since the nineteen hundreds when skill was required to operate cameras, taking a photograph has become very simple. Then, a case full of different lenses, light meters and filters were needed, not to mention the art of developing the pictures from film.
Today it’s more a case of point and shoot with automatic cameras, iphones or ipads and printing from home or looking at them on computers has become the norm in many cases.
The second half of the evening saw Mark Harrison lead the Topics session. He chose various events that would come as a surprise. Being able to travel in time for instance.
Qualifying for the Olympic Games and inadvertently saving someone’s life were some of the situations members were invited to speak about for three minutes.
The Loughborough Speakers Club can be an enjoyable way to spend an evening, learn speaking techniques or just listen to the others until more confident. Lots of people say they hate or can’t speak in public but the club is a safe and friendly place to learn.
www. loughboroughspeakers.org. uk