And so it is time for another conference report. Another mad and bad weekend with more food and wine and less sleep than is probably healthy!
Mrs Fred and I decided to fly over on the Thursday. We arrived at Luton airport to be confronted by a turbo prop plane. A friend had warned us about this but we thought they were joking! Luckily the flight out wasn’t too bad. At Luton we bumped into Sandra Lawes, Division G Governor, and several folks from her Division.
Waterford must be about the smallest airport in the world. We didn’t quite have to get the bags off the plane ourselves. However, the baggage reclaim was not mechanised and so required passengers to push the bags along!
We all jumped in a cab to Waterford station before getting a train to Kilkenny. Isn’t it amazing what you learn from cab drivers? If ever you want to hear about the racial tensions in a country, a good bet is to ask your local cabbie!
Eventually we got to Kilkenny. For us, Thursday evening and Friday were spent relaxing (bar the hour I spent in the gym!). We thought Kilkenny a very pretty town and well worth a weekend away.
The hotel itself was first class. Congratulations to Lucia Hughes and the conference team for a great choice of venue and fabulous organising skills.
As Mrs Fred and myself only see each other once in a blue moon (being Div Guv means you sign away your evenings!), we decided to skip the Friday dinner.
However, on the way back through the foyer, we were greeted by a foyer full of folks in 70s disco outfits. Some had really gone to town, including, not surprisingly the folks from Tube Talk. We had a good laugh with (or was that at?) Dick, our Immediate Past Division Governor.
Yeah, peace man! :)
I heard the next day that Peter Girvan of Tube Talk’s partner, Juli, won the prize for best costume. The prize was a weekend for two. Peter spent the rest of the weekend being particularly nice to her to make sure he was invited!
Saturday started at 8am with the Area and Division Governors breakfast. Rumours circulate that Dick managed to make it to bed at about 7am!
We had a good session learning that the amounts of money available to new clubs and troubled clubs is going up. Additionally, more help will be available for events like Club Officer Training.
Last year, District Council made a real effort to focus resources on the places that would most benefit from them. However, they took small steps because while they figured out the impact on District finances. This year, with more confidence, they are expanding these programmes. I think it is encouraging to see this and is a very positive step by the District Council.
At 9.15 I attended a workshop given by Alison Lavick, a DTM from Oz. The subject was Speech Structure and I thought it excellent. Plenty of tips that you can’t hear enough of plus a new look at areas I hadn’t thought of. In particular, I liked the Table Topic structure that she outlined – Past, Present, Future. I had not heard this one before but will be using it in future.
Amazingly, Dick is already circulating!
At 10.15 our own Hilary Briggs, Area 33 Governor, ran an Evaluation workshop. I wasn’t able to attend as I was now worrying what I was going to say in the District Council meeting that followed. However, I heard from multiple sources that it was a great success.
After the mid morning coffee break was the District Council meeting where accounts and budgets and such sorts were approved. I think I got away with my bit!
After lunch (in a very nice wine bar called The Grapevine) I got soaked in the famous Irish rain, running back to the hotel. No time for that though. It was now the Humorous Speech contest.
We had eight competitors and, as ever, the standard was amazingly high. Our own David Jones was representing us and Excalibur and went second with his speech ‘The History of Art in 7 minutes and 29 seconds’. I thought he did a brilliant job. Gary Cooke of Cardinals had tidied up his slides and they looked great. David’s delivery was typically brilliant. However, there were other brilliant efforts and in the end David came third. He was very pleased with this.
The winner was Michael Cronin with a masterful speech about how men don’t read manuals and in particular his woes with a laptop of his. I am not sure I can remember seeing an audience laugh so much at a speech at a Humorous Speech contest before. I thought his first place well deserved. You can read about his success here.
After this I ventured to the gym. Bad mistake. The lack of sleep and excess of alcohol was taking its toll and after just a few measly minutes, I crawled back to my hotel room desperately in need of a rest!
The evening dinner was great fun, particularly as we were seated with the Tube Talk madcaps. At about 10pm I sensed that Dick was flagging. However, it is amazing what that extra glass on vino can do and sure enough he kept going 3am on Sunday morning. Almost an early night for him! Mrs Fred very sensibly suggested we retire at about 2am.
At 8am I had a judges briefing (why do I volunteer for this!???). Dick was there, all nicely rested!
After brekkie, it was into the Table Topics contest. The question was ‘Who has had the greatest influence on your life and why?’ As the contestants came through, one could sense the tension. Eventually David Jones came to the stage, representing us and London Olympians this time. He toyed with the question, twisting it one way and then another, bringing in loads of humour. When the results were in, there was a loud cheer as he was announced the winner. He was genuinely excited and pleased and in my unbiased opinion (moi?) a worthy winner.
After this excitement, we went into the Hall of Fame session. Last years District Governor, Mary Murtagh, gave awards in recognition for all the great things that have happened in our Clubs, Areas and Divisions as well as thank her District Council.
We started with individual achievement before heading to the Clubs and Areas. When the awards where given out for achievement under the Distinguished Club Programme, it was great to see how good a year we had last year. Dave Brooks, last years Area 31 Governor, Dave Sellman, last years Area 6 Governor and myself all achieved the highest award, the Preseidents Distinguished Area award. Additionally, Dorothea Stuart, achieved the Select Distinguished award. It was great to collect their awards on their behalf.
What followed was very funny. Mary talked about clubs and had awards to give to the largest clubs in the UK and Ireland as of June 30th. In first place was an award for Ratan Lele of Holborn Speakers for having the most members. I collected this on his behalf. I was just walking back to my seat when the second place was read out – Tori Craddock of London Cardinals! I duly turned round to collect this award too. Finally, as I am returning to my seat the third place is read out – Hakan Akbas for London Athenians. Aha! There was much amusement amongst the audience. Fabulous - it was a clean sweep for Division B.
Just before the end of the session, the main awards were given out for Area Governor of the year, Division Governor of the year and Toastmaster of the year. There was a huge round of applause and cheer as it was announced that young Dick Dixon was the Division Governor of the Year for 2007/8. He was very surprised and pleased and again it was highly deserved.
The flight back was truly horrendous but I shall save that for another day.
In summary, this was yet another massively successful conference for us in Division B. A successful workshop from Hilary, a first and third for David Jones, Div Guv of the year for Dick, lots of other awards too. This Division is truly on top of its game. Thank you to all of you for helping in making that a reality.
PS Alan Bywaters, President of Grosvenor Square Speakers proposed to his girlfriend Anetta in the grounds of Kilkenny Castle on conference Saturday. Madly, she said yes! Congratulations to both of them. It was a nice added bonus to a great weekend – perhaps we should make it a regular feature!
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