“Remembering 30 Years”
Speech No. 5 in the Toastmasters Advanced Manual “The Entertaining Speaker” Manual
Date presented: October, 2005
The objectives of this speech were:
- To prepare an entertaining after-dinner talk on a specific theme.
- To deliver the talk extemporaneously, using the skills developed in the preceding projects..
Time 8 to 10 minutes.
Remembering 30 Years.
(The audience was asked to imagine they were members of the World Vision club and were attending a dinner to celebrate the club’s 30th anniversary.)30 years! We made it! Who would have guessed that our World Vision Club would continue this long! Certainly not the caretaker of the hall where we used to hold our meetings. Remember, he wouldn’t let us book the hall more than a month ahead, because he was so sure our club would fold up? Well, here we are, still going strong, and celebrating our 30th Anniversary!
Oh, we might have had a few hiccups to begin with - our very first meeting, for example, when only 2 of us turned up. Still, it would have been more successful if we had both turned up in the same place! Then there was another slight hitch when our vice president, secretary, and treasurer all resigned in the same month. But that wouldn’t have been a problem if our membership at the time had been more than four. But pretty soon, our club began to double in size. In no time at all the membership increased – to two! And soon there were four!
We began to hold more ambitious functions. Some of you might remember that first concert party when we booked a group of elderly entertainers. I’ll never forget the short sighted pianist in her huge floppy hat. She was never quite ready to accompany the performers. One singer walked onto the stage and called out, where’s my accompaniest?” A voice from back stage shouted, “She’s gone to the toilet. Start without her!” The poor soloist was halfway through her song when the pianist rushed onstage and tried to catch up on the piano.
Who remembers our Fun Fashion Show, where we modelled second hand clothes? I tried to promote it the week before at our jumble sale. I donned the most outrageous outfit I could find. Pink frilly skirt, fuzzy wig, huge sunglasses, chunky jewellery, green stockings, and football boots. I stood outside the door ready to hand out flyers to people passing by. Unfortunately everyone who saw me quickly crossed over to the other side of the street, until someone hauled me back inside. “You’re scaring away our customers!” they said.
The Fun Fashion Show itself was our most spectacular…… flop! We put on a really good show, but we out-numbered our audience, who sat like a row of stunned mullets. But they woke up when our model bride suddenly threw her bouqet into the audience. It was an enormous cauliflower.
Then there was the day the drought broke and our stall at the Carnival was washed out by torrential rain. One of our members sheepishly confessed she had been praying for rain. We told her sternly, “Next time you pray your rain, be more specific about the date!”
We’ve had plenty of successes, too. No one will forget the Children’s Concerts, when we invited school bands, choirs and dancing groupings to perform. The bigger the group the better, because that meant more parents who would buy a ticket to watch their little darlings perform. It really worked too, though after a few years, the parents got wise and just dropped their kids off at the door.
The Easter Bunny drives were popular. Our fridge was filled with marshmallow bunnies as the orders multiplied like – rabbits!
The Mock Wedding reception was an hilarious occasion. Guests were asked to wear something outlandish, and to bring a gift to be auctioned in aid of World Vision. I remember the startled looks I received when I stopped on the way to buy milk in my “Mother of the Bride” outfit.
Our club has always enjoyed dressing up. There was our “Mad Hatters Tea Party,” - remember, someone wore a chamber pot on her head, and another one sported a magnificent cardboard model of the Sydney Opera House. And what about our “Bad Taste Parties?” I laughed when someone arrived in baggy shorts, “Oh, you look funny!” I said. “That really is bad taste!” “Wait on!” She said indignantly, “But I haven’t got into my costume yet!”
Some of our activities have become an institution. The jumble sales, for instance. Remember the time almost 30 years ago, when our membership had dropped to one? The hall was already booked, for a meeting, and I figured, if I was going to be the only one there, I might as well make it worth while, so I took cleaned out my wardrobe and took along a box of clothes to sell to people passing by. That was the beginning of our jumble sales that have continued twice a month for the past 30 years.
We also work on the street! Our street stalls are almost as numerous as the jumble sales. Sometimes they span the footpath in front of 3 shops!
Trivia Mornings are a favourite. Sometimes the answers to the questions are debated, but always in fun. Like the time we were asked, on what side of a cup is the handle? The answer of course was, “The outside,” but some one queried, “But what if you are left handed?”
We always look forward to the Christmas Auction at the end of the year. Remember the time, the auctioneer declared, “Going, going, gone!” and brought the hammer down in the middle of the sponge cake she was auctioning! And the dear little 90 year old who bid for a tennis raquet. When asked what she wanted it for, she said, “To swat flies with, of course!”
We thought we were doing well, didn’t we, when we managed to raise $1000 by the end of our first year. Well, now we raise that much in a month! Our average is $14000 a year.
How encouraged and inspired we felt, when one of our members came back from visiting some of the World Vision overseas projects! She had witnessed the joy of Fistula patients in Ethiopia, after life changing surgery, the hope in the eyes of young girls in Thailand who were rescued from a life of prostition, the security of street children in Cambodia who were given food, shelter and education.
She was happy to report that our efforts really are making a difference in the lives of these people.
And we find that it makes a positive difference to our own lives. I am so grateful for my World Vision family. For each one of you here and for past members who are no longer with us, but who have enriched our lives.
Thank you all for sharing your hearts, your time and your talents. For your support and for your friendship. I am looking forward to making more wonderful memories as we continue with our vision of a better world.
COMMENTS
It was actually our World Vision Club’s 28th Anniversary, but I thought 30 sounded better for the purpose of the speech.
