Mother Christmas and all - 11 December

On Monday 10th a few of us met with Frances Fraser and Paul Jensen – from Cape Town - in the boardroom of Goldberg & de Villiers. Nicholas Mitchell had organized the meeting as Frances and Paul were in town for the rugby, and wanted to meet with local Toastmasters to chat about the need to start new clubs in the area. Frances is the Lieutenant Governor Education & Training for our District, and as we are so often left out of this type of discussion, it was very interesting to hear what they had to say and to interact with them. Glenis, Colleen, Nicholas, Mark, Marianah, and Denise were there from our club; Yvonne Anderson from the Madiba Bay club; and Megan Judd and Thaja Moodley from the ACT club.

Father Christmas

Our last club meeting of the year, held on the 11th December, was a happy one despite many apologies by those tied up with other matters due to pressures at this time of the year. The hall looked pretty with some Christmassy things for atmosphere, and a few of us wore red Christmas hats. However, Mimi Makupula got right into the spirit of things by wearing a white jump suit with red shoes, a red scarf, and a flashing red hat. As Mimi was Table Topics master, she wanted us all to address her as ‘Mother Christmas’, and our topics had to start with the words “All I want for Christmas is ..…” whatever was on the slip of paper we had drawn. There were things like having no shopping bills; switching roles with your spouse; a visit to Nkandla with Helen Zille, and automatic bedmakers, to name but a few. Everyone there spoke and Gideon Smith was the winner of the Table Topics floating trophy.

Our Toastmaster for the evening was Belita von Steiger, who cheered us up by focusing on the positives of living in South Africa. Did you know that 7 out of 10 of the fastest growing economies in the world are African countries, that Cape Town was voted the favourite holiday city in the world by the readers of the Telegraph of London, and that Table Mountain is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world?

We had 3 interesting speeches, starting with the icebreaker by Anna Heydenreych. As Anna is Mrs H., she divided her speech into her history, her home and her heart. It was very cleverly done, and she ended by saying she had told us where she had been, where she is comfortable, and where she wants to go to. Congratulations to Anna for an excellent icebreaker and also on her pregnancy.

Dxy Madikizela gave her CC7 Research your Topic speech, and she spoke about travelling around the world – not by aeroplane or by cruise liners, but on cargo ships that have passenger services. These vessels take only 12 or 15 passengers, criss-cross the world, and spend 2 or 3 days in port while loading cargo. This way of travel is actually more expensive than flying, but is much more interesting!

Angie Kivido gave her CC8 Get Comfortable with Visual Aids speech, and even though we are just 44ml short of being in the wettest year on record, Angie reminded us not to waste water. She had interesting visual aids on the table at her side and urged us to reduce usage, re-use water, and repair leaks immediately.

Glenis Whitehead had received two ribbons in the post – one for Algoa being the home club of the Division Governor, and the other for our being the home club of the Area Governor. Well done Algoa!
TMI are having a photo competition to show off the new Toastmasters branding, and Glenis showed us the photo of the November winner, which was the Winelands Toastmasters Club in Cape Town. We felt we can do better than that, so we would like all of us to come to the first meeting next year, being the 8th January, dressed up in bright floral shirts, dresses and ties. We want to portray SUMMER, as America will be in the grip of winter. Those who have T-shirts from the Flower Power and Mexican conferences can wear those, and those with traditional African dresses should wear those. Quirky headgear such as hats and flowers will also go down well, and those brave enough can don swimwear and sarongs! However, that is just the backdrop. The main aim is to show off the new branding. So bring whatever you have – certificates (Nicholas, bring all your recent ones to lend to others), magazines, CC and CL manuals etc.

As 2012 is fast coming to an end, I would like to wish all our members a safe, peaceful and blessed Christmas. Enjoy downtime with friends and family, and come back in January raring to go!
Denise