Club Events and News
Cardiff Speakers Club holds several social events throughout the year. One of the most important is the President's Dinner which is held in honour of the previous Club President.
For further information on our events, please contact:
Adrian Robson - 02920 627 757 or 07973 145 116, or join@cardiffspeakersclub.co.uk
Alan Jennings - 02920 624 960
Glyn Morris - 02920 520 219
BBC Any Questions?
In conjunction with Cardiff SC, Cardiff Mixed SC and Brecon SC, Nigel Speedy from Newport SC arranged for BBC Radio 4's Any Questions? to be broadcast from St Julian's Methodist Church, Newport on 3rd June. Presenter Jonathan Dimbleby began the programme stating that the hosts were "the Speakers Clubs of South Wales whose purpose is to help their members to become skilled communicators and good listeners, which lays down something of a gauntlet to our Any Questions? quartet".
One Title Competition
16th May saw Brecon SC, Cardiff Mixed SC and Cardiff SC competed for the One Title Trophy. The title for all contestants to tackle was "Mayday" and Tony B from Cardiff SC won the contest this year.
Impromptu Speech Competition 2011
The Club's Impromptu competition was held on 28th April and was won by John J - many congratulations! The club is also grateful to Jo H from Cardiff Mixed SC for coming specially to judge the contest. In summing up, Chief judge Terry B, felt that this was the most difficult contest within CSC as you only have five minutes to prepare a 4 minute masterpiece speech, and that the title is chosen competely at random!
District Competition 2011
The South West and Wales District Competition was held on 6th March in Cheltenham. Cardiff SC's competitors were on strong form with Rob P winning the District Speech trophy, ahead of runner up Andrej D (Cardiff Mixed SC). In the Evaluation competition, Sheila J (Cheltenham and District SC) was the runner up to Andrej D. Congratulations to all who entered!
South Wales Area Speech and Evaluation Competitions 2011
The Area Speech and Evaluation Competition took place on 12th February at the Deri Inn, Rhiwbina. Representatives from Cardiff Speakers Club, Cardiff Mixed SC, Brecon SC and Newport SC took part to determine the 4 competitiors in each competition who would represent the area at the South West and Wales District Competition in March.
In the speech contest, we were delighted that one of Cardiff Speakers Club's newer members, Rob P, won the contest. He will also be joined at the District contest by Mike D (Brecon), Andrej D (Cardiff Mixed), and Helena Dyer (Cardiff Mixed). Congratulations must also go to Mike D (Brecon) for winning the Area evaluation contest. In addition, Cardiff SC's Graeme M will represent the Area at the District competition, along with Jo H (Newport) and Stephen D (Newport).
Evaluation Competition 2011
The 2011 Evaluation Competition was held on 20th January. The Club is grateful to Jo H from Cardiff Mixed Speakers Club for providing the target speech which was evaluated by each contestant! We were also delighted that ASC District President for South West and Wales, Sheila Parsons travelled down to act as our chief judge for the evening. Congratulations are due to Graeme M who retained the trophy for a second successive year and goes on to represent the club in the Area contest.
Mike Thomas
It was with great sadness that club members were informed of the sad passing of Mike Thomas on 19th January. Mike was a very active member of Cardiff Speakers Club, regularly supporting it at Area and District competitions. He was one of the club members who could always be relied upon for a good "back pocket" speech to fill any gaps in the programme at short notice and the club will very much miss him.
Works to the Church Hall
The improvement works to the Cyncoed Methodist Church Hall have now finished, so the main front entrance is back in use.
President's Dinner 2010
Club members gathered in November at the Cardiff International Hotel for the annual President's Dinner. The night was very enjoyable with current President, Ifor Morgan, paying tribute to the 2009/10 President Adrian Robson. We were delighted to be joined by the South Wales Area President (and Cardiff Mixed Speakers Club member) John Evans.
New Members win in 2010 competitions
Two of our newest members gave successful speeches in club competitions. In his first time competing, Lloyd L won the club Novel competition with a short story. Under competition rules, competitors read out the first 3 minutes of the novelette and whoever is the most successful in leaving the audience wanting more win and can read out the concluding 2 minutes of their story.
In the Club Annual Speech competition, Rob P won the trophy with a strong speech, beating a number of more experinced members.
Congratulations to both on their success!
Interclub debate 2010
Thursday 30th September saw the annual interclub debate between Cardiff Speakers Club and Cardiff Mixed Speakers Club. The motion "Christmas should be banned" generated both Christmas Cheer and Bah Humbug. Although Cardiff Speakers Club put up a valiant effort to argue for the motion, the vote was tied, the motion unresolved and therefore Christmas can continue!
Annual Dinner 2010
Friday 21st May saw members and their guests meet at Cardiff Golf Club for the Annual Dinner. As well as partners of club members, we were delighted to welcome friends from the Cardiff Mixed Speakers Club, Brecon Speakers Club and two members of the Swindon club who had travelled down especially for the occassion. 2009/10 President Adrian Robson proposed the toast to the guests, whilst newly installed ASC National President, Gwyneth Millard, responded on guests' behalf. Noel Collins was also praised for his work and awarded the Past District President badge by his successor, Sheila Parson.
York Conference 2010
The 2010 National Conference took place in York from 23rd to 25th April. As well as installing the new National President, Gwyneth Millard, the finals of the National Speech, Topics and Evaluations contests were held. Full details can be found here, but congratulations must go to Olwen Heenan from the Cardiff Mixed Club for her results in the Speech and Evaluation contests.
Presentation of National Online Speech Contest Trophy.
On 7th April members from both Cardiff Clubs went to the Newport Speakers Club meeting. As well as participating in the meeting, they saw the presentation by ASC National President David Grainger of the new National Online Speech Contest trophy. The trophy, which was given to 2009 winner John Evans, is in the shape of a laptop and is named the Harry Hislop trophy in honour of the founder of Cardiff Speakers Club.
District Competitions
The District Speech Contest and Evaluation Contest were held on 7th March in the Hilton, Newport. Cardiff SC's competitiors were on strong form, but were pipped to the post by Olwen from the Cardiff Mixed Speakers Club who won in both contests and goes forward to represent the district at the National competitions in York.
National Online Speech Contest
Cardiff Speakers Club had four entries this year, all which can be accessed from the National Online Speech Contest page of this website.
Area Competitions
The Area Speech and Evaluation Competitions took place on 13th February 2010 at the Deri Inn, Rhiwbina, Cardiff. The meeting was joined by Dilwyn Scott from the ASC who gave a tutorial on judging. Cardiff Speakers Club's competitiors gave a good effort and made it through to the District competition.
Quiz night
The club quiz night was once again a great success with Huw R acting as quizmaster. We were again joined by other members of other clubs - including the Cardiff Mixed Speakers Club and the newly formed Newport Speakers Club.
Evaluation Competition 2010
Cardiff Speakers Club had its Evaluation competition on 21st January. Our thanks go to Jo from the Cardiff Speakers Mixed Club who gave the speech to be evaluated by all the contestants. Congratulations to the winner, Graeme M who goes on to represent the club at the Area competition.
President's Dinner 2009
We had a great dinner at Radyr Golf Club in honour of our Immediate Past President (Glyn Morris). As well as paying tribute to Glyn's Presidency, our guest of honour was ASC National President David Grainger. It was a delight to have the National President join us for one of our most important social gatherings of the year and to celebrate Glyn's year in office. Everyone enjoyed the night and we were very entertained by the speeches from Glyn and David.
District Competition
15th November saw the South West District meeting in Gloucester. As well as a workshop on evaluation by Mike Douse the Novel Speech and Topics competitions were held. National Vice President, Gwyneth Millard, was the Chief Judge and indicated that both competitions were very close between all 8 entrants. Thanks are due to Mike T and Phil M for competing on behalf of Cardiff Speakers Club and congratulations to Graeme M for achieving third place in the topics competition.
Annual Speech Competition
Cardiff Speakers Club held its annual Speech Competition on 12th November. After a strong contest, congratulations must go to the winner, Andrew W. He has the opportunity to represent the club in the Area Speech Contest in the New Year. Thanks also to Margaret and Olwen from Cardiff Mixed Speakers Club who gave their time to come and help judge the competition.
One-title competition
The one-title competition was hosted by the Brecon Club on 28th September. The title this year was "If" and all 6 speeches were of excellent quality. The club's thanks are especially due to Graeme M and John J for travelling up to Brecon to compete in the speaking contest on behalf of CSC. Congratulations to Brecon Speakers Club who had the winning speaker this year, taking the trophy for the first time.
Garden Party
11th September 2009 saw Cardiff Speakers Club members relax and enjoy themselves at a Garden Party hosted by the Club President. Luckily the weather held, everyone remained dry and there was just enough light to ensure we could see who we were talking to!
Annual Dinner
The annual dinner is also a popular event where members, partners and guests celebrate the Cardiff Speakers Club. This year the annual dinner was in May 2009. It was a very enjoyable evening with 2008/09 Club President Glyn Morris proposing a toast to the guests and Olwen Heenan (from the Cardiff Mixed Club) responding on behalf of the guests.
Interclub Debate
On 11th May the interclub debate took place to discuss the motion ''Executive bonuses should be drastically reduced". Whilst Graham H and Terry B verciferously opposed the motion on behalf of Cardiff Speakers Club, on this occassion it was the proposers from Cardiff Mixed Speakers Club who won the vote at the end of the evening. Congratulations to all involved for a very enjoyable evening!
Social Evening
We also held a very successful quiz and social evening last February and were delighted to be joined by members of the Cardiff Mixed Speakers Club and Brecon Speakers Club.