Hats Off to Toastmasters

Bolton Banters' October 2nd meeting featured the theme, " A Toastmaster Wears Many Hats".  To that end, each Toastmaster present wore a hat to this meeting.  The theme of wearing many different hats in life was was explored by Vice President of Education Carol Dowell.  Her educational presentation focussed on the different roles and responsibilities one could assume in a Toastmasters meeting.  All speeches given were special but the highlight was Ben Allison's icebreaker.  Congratulations Ben!  Also, we extended a warm welcome to guests Jackie, Martin and Andrew.  The ribbons went to Eric for best speaker, Sheelagh for best evaluator and Julie for best table topics speech.   

Our October 16th meeting featured the theme "Frazzled" with the word of the meeting being "last minute".  It was entirely appropriate as some of us had to struggle to reach the meeting on time due to unforeseen circumstances.  Chair Brendan had to do some "last minute" tinkering to the agenda but in true Bolton Banter style, everyone stepped up and all meeting roles were quickly filled.  As always, we heard great speeches.  Corina Simu spoke of an internal cleansing regime she undertook to cope with allergies but how can anyone survive without coffee for 21 days!  In his presentation, Val Koncan posed that crucial question, "Does anyone here ever turn on their Blackberry?" in a speech entitled "Your life depends on it".  In preparation for the Division M Humourous Speech and Table Topics contest  on October 18th , Carol Dowell practiced her speech "Business Opportunities" and received feedback from her fellow Toastmasters.  Good luck to Carol and also to  Eric Solowka who is competing but in the Table Topics contest. 

We welcomed guests Leslie and Martin and hope to see both again soon. 

Our October 30th meeting promises to be very special.  Because this meeting falls on the fifth Thursday of the month, it will depart from the usual meeting format.  Our VP of Education, Carol Dowell, is planning an improv night.  It will be fun and will give everyone an opportunity to try something completely different.  It's hard to imagine that Christmas is around the corner but you'll be hearing those familiar carols play the minute the Hallowe'en costumes are put away.  Carol is thinking ahead and is planning a theme of "Home for the Holidays" for our December 18th meeting. 

Look forward to seeing you all on October 30th.  Cheers - Lorraine Van Wagner, Treasurer and Webmaster