Wadestown Toastmasters

Our newest club member Jax (left), was awarded the club trophy by general evaluator Olivia (right) on Thursday night for her wonderful icebreaker speech. Jax spoke of tea, canine companionship, and daily walks on a journey that was personal and captivating. Thanks for taking us along with you, Jax! 🏆👏💐

It was lovely to welcome back Marcos, who also took us on a mesmerising journey, drawing parallels between the body and a computer system. What happens if one part doesn’t function properly? Then a replacement might be needed. It was fascinating to be stepped through what this could look like. 👏💐

Martin was our esteemed table topics master, posing quirky scenarios with trademark humour. And Uli was our gracious chairperson, guiding proceedings with characteristic warmth. 👏🙌

A big shout out to our guests, Kyle, Madison, and Louise – thanks for coming, and please come back! 👋👋👋 – and to Carmen, who heads off on May 15 to the District 72 conference in Timaru, to represent the club, area, and division in the district speech contests. Good luck Carmen! We’re behind you all the way!! 💪🌻

There was a banquet of stimulating topics to dine on at Thursday night’s meeting.

Joe kicked it off with a discussion of his own cellphone use, and Olivia followed it up with a look at topical gender issues, followed by Heather, who shared her experiences hosting a panel discussion in front of hundreds of people. 👏

Nicola offered a buffet of inspired table topics, where instead of giving good advice for a situation, we had to come up with bad advice – meeting your partner’s parents for the first time; fixing your car with a household item; having an argument with your spouse; increasing your savings, and more. Great scope to let our imaginations run wild! 👏

Joe (pictured left) nabbed the trophy at the end of the evening, awarded by general evaluator Martin (right) for Joe’s willingness to take on a speech with next to no preparation, and delivering an interesting and insightful look at the role phones play in our lives. Congratulations Joe!! 👏🏆

It was our pleasure to host guest Madison, and lovely to see such a good turnout! 👋😊

Our next meeting is Thursday this week, 16 April, with Heather in the chair.

Guests are always welcome at all our meetings, and you don't have to get up and speak if you don't want to. And it's free to come along as a guest, too.

So come along on Thursday, enjoy a cuppa halfway through, and see what it's all about!😊☕️🍪

It was a lively session last night at our pre-Easter meeting!

We started off with table topics, where we all had the chance to talk about a “win” we’ve had this year. These included a new qualification, new job, a bathroom and laundry renovation, an employee hire, study for the fun of it, an entertainment opportunity, and an engagement!! 💍💞

Martin led off the prepared speeches with a funny, satirical look at the world of disaster management; and Matt also had us laughing with his dynamic speech aptly entitled “Why I love golf and you should too”.

Our third speaker, Nicola, drew us into the early 19th century with the compelling story of her forebear, a young father transported to a penal settlement for simply being hungry and stealing two deer.

Nicola (pictured right) did double duty as Martin’s evaluator, and was awarded the coveted club trophy by general evaluator Glen (left) for her efforts. Congratulations Nicola! 👏💍

It was lovely to welcome guest Jax 👋👋 , and we look forward to more fun at our next meeting, on 16 April.

CARMEN IS OFF TO THE DISTRICT 72 SPEECH CONTESTS in Timaru in May after big wins at Division level on the weekend! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Carmen came first in the international speech and evaluation contests at the Division J conference in Upper Hutt, and also placed third in the table topics contest. 👏😍

Congratulations Carmen! This is a TRULY AWESOME achievement! ❤️

We also couldn’t be prouder of our other two club members who gave speeches at Upper Hutt. Bernard competed against the best in the Wellington, Kapiti, and Wairarapa regions in the humorous club contest, and Olivia presented an educational speech about taking tiny acts of courage for Toastmasters. 👏👏

Congratulations Bernard and Olivia! You are an inspiration! ❤️

A golden day for the club was rounded out with our stall at the Wadestown Fair attracting a lot of interest. It was a lovely day, and lovely to interact with the local community. A big thank you to Glen, Paul, Nicola, Martin and Joe for making it all happen. 👏👏👏👏👏❤️

Carmen (pictured below right) knocked it out of the park on Thursday night with her speech about identity and adversity, and the role we each have in sculpting our own lives. ❤️

Beautifully constructed and presented, it was moving and inspiring, and earned her the club’s golden trophy, presented by general evaluator Uli (pictured at left). 🏆👏

Grammarian (and newest club member 🎉) Glen kept us on track, his chosen word of the day – “resilient” – striking a chord, and echoing Carmen's speech.

Olivia reminded us about the power of word-of-mouth, and table topics master Paul dug into the weird movies vault to give us some topics to talk about. (“Killer clowns from outer space” anyone?)

We were lucky to be able to host travelling Brits Luca, Wilf and Myles, and welcome again club friend Tony.

Our next meeting will be on Apri 2 at 7.30pm, with Olivia in the chair. Look forward to seeing you all then! 🙌🫖🍪

Wadestown Fair - come visit us - Saturday 11am-2pm 21st March

Kate (right) was the winner of the coveted gold cup last night, nominated by general evaluator Olivia (left) for her performances as evaluator and grammarian – and for her growth as a public speaker over the past few years. Yep, attending Toastmasters does pay off!

Carmen chaired the meeting with aplomb, also giving a speech on conflict resolution, creatively using "The Little Mermaid" as an example. 👏

Olivia shared with us her journey, so far, from fledgling public speaker to trainer and author. And Joe set us some fun and quirky table topics, which we really enjoyed. 👏👏

There were lots of references to animals, ranging from mice to meerkats, foxes, elephants, bears, and even Schrödinger’s cat. 🐭🦦🦊🐘🐻🐈

It was wonderful to see guests Lou and Sheryl again, and to welcome new guest Glen. 🙌👏

Our next meeting is on Thursday, 19 March, at 7.30pm. Look forward to seeing you then! 😊🍪☕️

Olivia (right) took the club trophy at Thursday’s meeting, chosen by general evaluator Matt (left) for nimbly handling two roles, grammarian and evaluator.

As grammarian, Olivia turned the tables by challenging us to NOT use a particular word (in this case, “good”), and to not worry about the use of filler words. Instead, she said, just let it flow. And we did.

Joe gave a poignant and insightful speech about ageing, and Paul schooled us on the benefits of mentoring. In table topics we were asked us about the things we cannot do without, ranging from the mundane (kitchen appliances) to the inspirational (music).

Along the way we learnt about Uli and his kitchen sink, Matt and his relationship with golf balls, and Carmen’s wondrous ability to juggle timekeeping with evaluating eight people. Awesome!

Chair Nicola deftly kept everything on track, and we were delighted to welcome guest Nisha along. 🙌

Our next meeting is Thursday, 5 March at 7.30pm. Look forward to seeing you then! 😀🍪☕️

There was a lot of laughter on Thursday, at our first meeting for 2026.

First there was Matt’s speech recollecting his experiences as a protégé, then Nicola’s tale of 18 family members – several with a competitive streak – sharing a beachside rental, and Martin’s reminisces of Christmases past, sitting Monopoly and chess exams.

We moved onto challenging questions such as would it be better to be a Christmas wreath, fairy or bauble; and what’s the best dessert to serve for a special occasion? (Answer: lemon meringue pie, providing you can get the pastry, and curd, to cook properly – no mean feat.)

General evaluator Paul couldn’t choose between Carmen, for her dual roles as evaluator and grammarian, and Katherine, for her entertaining table topics evaluations, so awarded the evening’s trophy to both. Here they are, pictured below: left to right – Carmen, Paul, and Katherine.

Our next meeting is on Thursday, 5 February, at 7.30pm. We look forward to seeing you then! 😊