Baby Toasties

admin — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 15:36:03 +0000

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to pass on the wonderful news that our President, Donna Maclagan, has delivered a healthy baby boy – Daniel Ethan weighing 3.1kg! Poor Donna though is suffering from bronchitis together with the physical toll of giving birth, so she probably won’t be able to take visits or phone calls for a while yet, but I’m sure she appreciates any messages.

Also congratulations to Si and Maria Ekin who, on 15 June, became the proud parents of their baby girl called Thapelo Emily (their first). So be carefull of the water at Toastmasters, it might be catchy what with Guy & Christine Lundy pregnant again, as well as ex Toasties, Gavin & Irene Coetzee! Congrats all round.

Whilst I’m here, at the June club where we announced that July’s meeting is the humorous contest. So anyone who would like to participate in the contest please let me know so we can give you speaking priority (please email me). Club is on the 20th of July.

Thanks and have a great week.

Sandra Dicks
VPE

Playcon Maxicon – what a Party!

admin — Wed, 24 May 2006 15:38:46 +0000

I am sure that all of you who were at Playcon this weekend can only standup and applaud Keryn House and her team. What a fantastic conference! Everybody who missed the conference has really lost out. There were so many highlights that it is difficult to single out a particular event, so I will just mention a few that stuck out to me.

Please click here to read the rest of this article and view photos from the Playcon.
(This link takes you to Craig Strachan’s website).

Zoom-Zoom – May Club Meeting

admin — Mon, 22 May 2006 13:59:20 +0000

April saw another outstanding meeting of the E&Y Toastmasters Club. It was a nice intimate meeting with just 27 members and guests in attendance. Tammy (Sergeant-at-Arms) kicked off the meeting on time, and Donna welcomed the guests. Si Ekin was Toastmaster of the Evening and once again brought his relaxed style to the meeting. He played on the theme Zoom Zoom (a reference to a South African political figure’s acquittal) and found unique dictionary entries for the letter Z.
First on the agenda was Stuart Kantor, who proposed a toast to the resilience of Toastmasters in somewhat trying times. Donna Maclagan then presented a CL assignment on the Distinguished Club Program.
Next David Duarte conducted Table Topics. David came armed with a bag of props, and allowed the volunteers to dig in the bag, select a prop and then sell it to the audience. This got an excellent response with six volunteers all competing for the Branded Image Trophy. Guy took us back to the 80s with his retro-chic sunglasses. Justin thought that comp tickets would work better as a garric for his home-rolled, and Marisa stayed on the same wavelength with her hallucinogenic wax crayons. Lee had a flying contraption which doubled as a shoe horn or a “tongue presser”. Liz, in her way, found an avocado pear to be somehow erotic, while Stuart decided that a pen in your top pocket made you look more intelligent. Marissa came out on tops and won the trophy.
Once again caterer Lynn Beckwith outdid herself with dinner. She served cannelloni filled with a three-mushroom filling, cooked in fresh tomato and sweet pepper sauce and topped with béchamel and cheese. This was served with a huge salad and rolls. Desert was chocolate bread & butter pudding with custard. Sorry if you missed this one, your loss.
There were four prepared speeches. Julie Steyn broke the ice with her C&L1, and spoke about thunderstorms, Greek schools, snowboarding, graduations and excellence – and it was unanimously agreed that she is not at all the quiet shy person that we once thought she was. Greer Blizzard once again showed us that she is going to go far in her speaking, with her C&L3 entitled The Evolution of Man. Rikki Barnes also presented a C&L3 and convinced us to turn off our Autopilot and take control of our lives. David Winter told us about the time he took up yoga and did the “downward dog”. If anyone here knows of a hot babe who did yoga next to David for a while, David said, he would love to get in touch (pun intended).
Evaluations were once again insightful, and a great way for all of us to sharpen our skills and learn from others. Evaluators were Sandra Dicks, Liz Henry, Guy Lundy and Max Kaizen in that order. Finemaster Guy Lundy then fined the guilty parties, with his great humour but terribly strict attitude.
During the business session Guy announced the nominations for the committee next year, and welcomed anyone else who would be interested in serving to please contact our president.
Lloyd Dicks (webmaster) asked all members (who haven’t already) to please register on the website so that we can start using it to keep track of members’ goals and achievements.
With that, our club president (Donna Maclagan) brought the meeting to a close. Thanks to all who made another fantastic meeting possible.