Remembering Sheelagh

Sargeant at Arms Ben Allison began our April 1st meeting by calling for a moment of silence in tribute to our fellow Toastmaster, Sheelagh Rennie, who passed away unexpectedly on March 28th, 2010.  From the moment she joined Bolton Banter in 2007, Sheelagh charmed everyone with her wit, warmth and wisdom.  An engaging speaker, she always had a radiant smile and encouraging word for everyone.  We will miss her dearly.

Chair Brendan Dineen reminded everyone that it's time to review and rejuvenate our goals as we are entering the home stretch, that is, the final weeks of the Toastmaster year.  To emphasize his point, he devised his own unique method, employing postcards and peer encouragement, to nudge us to complete our goals by June 30th.

We were happy to welcome guests Karina Garcia, Heather Neilson and Annette Lavigne, winner of the Division M International Speech contest.  Annette will now compete at the District 86 contest, to be held during the spring conference on April 17th.  Annette presented her winning speech, "Finding your LOP".  There followed a round table evaluation to further help Annette prepare. 

There were two regular speeches this evening.  Minnie Grewal warned us about travelling during March break in "Never Again".  Minnie and her party of 11 family members and friends had a fine time on their cruise but they had to endure plenty just to reach their ship and be reunited with their luggage.

Carol Dowell, in "Living the Life", paid tribute to two recently deceased individuals who made an impression on her.  She began with the quote, "the tragedy of life is not that it's so short, but that it takes so long for it to begin".  She spoke movingly about her friend, Peter Stanton, a dance instructor from Newmarket.  Peter, also a lover of the outdoors like Carol,  died tragically in a canoeing accident.  Carol also reminisced about our late fellow Toastmaster Sheelagh Rennie.  As Carol said, Sheelagh "went full blast into everything". 

Congratulations to those who took on roles for the first time.  Newly minted Toastmaster Diane Biggs offered the opening toast.  Alan Keyes, in his first time at Table Topics Master, chose a spring theme.  Bondy Nair took the ribbon. 

We have reminders for all club members.  The District 86 spring conference will be held April 16th to 18th at the Delta Meadowvale Conference and Resort Centre in Mississauga.  Conferences are fun and worthwhile learning experiences.  This year, the district is honoured  to present the current world speaking champion, Mark Hunter of Australia, as Sunday's keynote speaker.  If you haven't registered already, you can do so online at the District 86 website, www.district86.org. 

At our fifth Thursday in April, April 29, there will be a workshop on effective listening.  We all know how important good listening is to all facets of our lives so come out and learn more.  The workshop will be held in our usual club meeting spot at our customary starting time of 7 p.m.  Your trusty webmaster will be facilitator. 

Our next regular meeting will be held on April 15th.  See you then. Cheers and regards -

Lorraine Van Wagner - Webmaster