Lancashire Speakers Club Topic Speeches
28 November 2019
MINUTES SOUTH LANCASTER SPEAKERS CLUB
27th November 2019
In Attendance:- Diana Douglas, James Douglas, Jane Entwistle, John Entwistle, Eddy Jackson, Louise Jackson, Carol Kershaw, David Knox and Sue Solloway.
Apologies:- Andrew Hawkes and Joyce Meiring.
Welcome and Introductions
The President welcomed those present and then passed over to Sue Solloway, Chair for the evening.
Prepared Speeches
Each Member had been asked to prepare a four-minute speech the title given “A Most Interesting Fact.” As expected subjects covered by each speaker were varied and interesting.
“Difference between Breakfast Tea and India Tea” how the two are made, the health benefits of tea. This talk came from Louise Jackson.
John Entwistle talked about some physical and historical features in Cumbria where a battle took place, bringing to an end the last Celtic Kingdom in the country.
“Left Handedness”, David Knox informed those present that approximately 11% of the world’s population is left-handed, that there are slightly more male ‘lefties’ than females, that on average they die younger than right-handed people and that five out of the last eight American Presidents were left-handed.
Eddy Jackson talked about a young student who challenged his superiors who had embellished results of tests on new products which resulted in him being ‘transferred’ to France but ended up running the company.
Jane Entwistle talked about Percy Shaw and his invention “Cats Eyes” which came about following a very hazardous journey where he could not see where he was going. On a recent journey Jane estimated that there approximately one million cats eyes on the motorways between Bristol and Lancaster.
James Douglas entertained members with an interesting talk about water, 75% of the total universe is made up of Hydrogen and that only one billionth of the sun’s energy reaches earth and that it takes eight minutes to arrive.
Carol Kershaw’s talk was about coffee drinkers and made reference to some drawbacks to drinking too much coffee, headaches and difficulties getting to sleep. Carol also made reference to various well-known people such as Napoleon Bonaparte and Sir James McIntosh and their opinions on this beverage.
Diana Douglas most interesting fact was about the Ukulele. A detailed explanation was given as to how chords are constructed on this easy to play a musical instrument, and that one does not have to be able to read music in order to play.
Sue Solloway talked about global warming and greenhouse gases and her very interesting fact was that the most abundant gas in the atmosphere is ‘water vapour.’ The talk also included information on carbon dioxide and that the biggest absorber of this gas is plankton.
Prepared Speeches – Evaluations
These evaluations were carried out by Diana Doulas, John Entwistle and Louise Jackson. All three were allocated speakers to evaluate and all three pointed out the strong points and offered some very helpful advice as to where improvements could be made. It would be fair to say that during the remainder of the evening speakers certainly took on board the comments made by the Evaluators!
Topics Session
The Chair for this session was Jane Entwistle and the theme chosen was inspired by her journey from Bristol to Lancaster. The Topics included ‘Road Signs,’ ‘Motorways or A Roads,’ ‘Speed Cameras,’ ‘Driving Tests,’ ‘Driverless Cars,’ ‘Compulsory Car Share’ and ‘Music in Cars.’
Topics Evaluation
The job of Evaluating the Topics was given to Carol Kershaw who highlighted the pros and cons of each contribution.
The General Evaluator, Eddy Jackson, commented on the evening as a whole, which was very enjoyable, well chaired. He also made some very positive comments on how much members had improved over the last year in what is a very supportive, constructive and fun atmosphere.
Business Section
The President informed members that a menu for the meal at ‘The Fleece’ on Wednesday 18th December would be sent out for them to choose what they want to eat and that they should let Sue know there choices.
The Education Director informed members that they should bring along something to read out at the next meeting, eg a poem, a newspaper article. The reading should last no more than four minutes.
The President thanked everyone for their valued contributions to what was a very enjoyable, interesting and fun filled meeting.
The Meeting closed at 9.28
Date of next meeting Wednesday 11th December 2019.