Division J consists of 5 Areas and 22 Clubs from Buckinghamshire to South Wales, along the M4 corridor, about a distance of 180 miles one way. 

1. J4 is in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire and is being looked after by Helyn Ashford, who was our Division Director last year and previously Area Director for J10. She has been in Toastmasters since 2020 and really immersed herself in District roles. This is shown by her taking on this AD role whilst living in Wales. 
2. J7 is in Oxfordshire and being looked after by Dominic Heaney who has been in Toastmasters since 2019, he has nearly completed 2 pathways and has been a member of 3 clubs. 
3. J10 is in Wales and is being looked after by Sarah Pantry who has been in Toastmasters since 2019 and having immersed herself in club roles, has taken the plunge to Area. 
4. J11 is in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire and is being looked after by Adrian Lane who has been in Toastmasters since 2015, the area has been blossoming, and last year won 3 out of the 4 speech contests at Division. 
5. J22 is in Oxfordshire and is being looked after by Andrew Graner, who has been a Toastmaster since 2018, unlike the other Area Directors Andrew doesn’t live in or near his Area, in fact he is in California. Andrew was J22 AD last year and kindly agreed to continue this year, for which we are very grateful. 

Alison Morris is the current Division Director and has been a member of Thame Speakers since 1998. Having been involved in a vibrant club which has hosted a few District Conferences. She has been an Area Director 3 times, this is her second stint as a Division Director and she has also been District Administration Manager. We cannot finish without mentioning her husband who has been a member of Toastmasters since 1991 and great support to Alison in her roles, so much so, it is said you get 2 for 1 whenever she visits. She is also a member of the District Trainers Bureau and received Area Director of the Year for 2024/25. 

We have several people who have been members since before 2000, with the longest serving member joining Oxford Speakers in 1980. Currently our membership is 544, which has increased over 10% since the beginning of the Toastmasters year. As with all clubs we have renewals coming up and are doing our best to encourage all members to renew.  

In respect of potential Clubs we have one that is currently pre chartered and are working to get them over the line. One club is struggling to get over the good standing line but we are determined to revitalise this club, with the help of District. Otherwise all clubs are either 20 or above members or very close to achieving that goal.  

Clubs have been working very hard to meet the deadline of submitting Club Success Plans and completing Club Officer Training, with a 100% take up within the timescales. However they don’t get any time to “sit on their laurels” as they need to organise and run Humorous and Table Topic Competitions.  

The Area Directors are busy doing their visits and preparing their Area Contests, which the Division Director will be supporting and to help as required (apparently bring cake is a re-requisite). We have set the Division Contest for 1 November at Sudbury Hall, Chepstow, from 10am till 4pm. This is a venue we have used for a few years as it is ideal for competitions and training. We will be holding not just Division Competitions but also training workshops for both members and Club Committee Members, so do think about coming along. Details will be on D91 calendar soon. 

For the last 3 years we have had the Distrct Area Director of the year awarded, a testament to the work that the Area Directors have put into the Division. We have also had someone on the District Committee since Division 71 has been formed. 

Alistair Driscoll from J22 has attained the top accolade of DTM this year, so congratulations to him   

Since the formation of District 91 Division J has been Presidents Distinguished 5 times and  Select Distinguished 4 times.  

Our Division has a can do attitude and this was shown last year by Gloucester and Worcester Speakers, thinking out of the box, with unusual break out rooms. See picture for Gloucester but as we had to put 2 of the table topic competitors at Worcester in the disabled toilet, as this was the only room available as it was raining outside, I decided not to give pictorial evidence of this. 

We are very proud of Jean Gamester DTM, who has been voted in as 2nd  International Vice President for this year. Jean started her Toastmasters journey in 2006 at Thame Speakers being a very active member both at Club and District, she moved to Cardiff in 2018 continuing her meteoric rise. We wish her a continuing journey at International level and are appreciative of her also taking on the role of President at Cardiff Speakers, when does she sleep???? 

As a Division our members are not only involved in their Clubs and Area there are a number of us who have been involved in the BETA COT training as well as CSP and other training sessions. There are many more wonderful things I could mention but I don’t want to make any other Divisions under pressure.  

Division J has a great team of enthusiastic and dynamic leaders 

All Hail Division J  

As District 91 Toastmasters continues to flourish with a supportive Trio and DLT, Division D stands out as a beacon of energy, innovation and community spirit. Today we celebrate achievements, highlight upcoming opportunities and share pictures of transformation from our vibrant clubs and members. With 6 Area Directors  refered to as the ‘MARKIMS team’ – Milica, Ana, Rafael, Kanti, Ian, Monica and Smita and all our club officers and past district officers supporting us, we are poised to make our mark. Indeed we are fortunate to have the privilege of supporting our clubs and serving our members as well as contribute to our district’s success.

Division D at a Glance

Division D comprises a diverse network of Toastmasters clubs, each dedicated to nurturing communication and leadership skills. Our clubs span corporate, community and institutional, reflecting the dynamic character of our division. Our 30 clubs across 6 areas, with 817 unique members from all walks of life—students, civil servants, other professionals, homemakers, retirees, and entrepreneurs—Division D is truly a microcosm of the Toastmasters vision: empowering individuals to become confident speakers and effective leaders. Our total memberships went up by nearly 10% in the last 2 months to 849 up from a base of 772 thanks to efforts of most clubs. We are a huge geography from Watford Speakers to Woking Speakers (55 miles) and from Wandsworth to Windsor, Maidenhead & Burnham (45 miles) with clubs in Hammersmith, Richmond & Ealing.  Many district directors were/are members/mentors of Division D with Vanessa and Steve (Guildford Speakers), Rupa (Wembley Stadium Speakers and past Trojans member) Diane and Arnaud (UK SALT). Diane is our Division mentor with all of them as key Advisors. Many younger leaders from other divisions like  Andrew (J), Andrea (A), Ron (B & H) etc have come together to join, support and assist in member growth. With only 6 clubs less than 20 members and 15 clubs over 25 members we hope to be Presidents Distinguished same as last year and remain grateful to Deborah Stevens and Russell Searle our last 2 division directors and their teams. The focus remains on member experience enhancement and retention with a special focus on strengthening and supporting our corporate clubs.

Spotlight on Our Clubs

• Bridging generations, our Maidenhead club houses our most experienced and veteran toastmaster Norman who had joined toastmasters 41 years ago & Peter of Harrovian Speakers is soon to complete 39 years. Our deepest regard for them & the 112 members (14%) who have spent more than 10 years
• With 12 out of our 29 Base clubs having 30 or more members and each growing rapidly, it is obvious that the legacy effort and brilliance of past leaders as well as current executive committee members needs to be celebrated. Epsom Speakers soon will celebrate its 60 years while Wembley Stadium Speakers chartered 18 plus months ago displays exemplary service and commitment to communication enhancement (amongst others), of ALL its members. Thank you  Penny, Costa, Gillian, Amanda, Brendan, Jin, Alex (Epsom Speakers) & Rupa, Sushil, Angelie, Katrina (Wembley Stadium Speakers) and so many more.
• Our club members like networking, socialising and taking many pictures. Indeed our club VPPRs love to take pictures for the social media.

       

Sutton Speakeasy celebrate each meeting with a group photo

• Clubs like London Athenians, Watford Speakers, Reigate Rhetoric, Camberly Speakers etc. have become renowned for their welcoming atmosphere and creative meeting themes like the ‘Greek God and Goddesses’. Camberly Speakers in July were the hallowed halls of their own Olympus, they gathered for a council of wisdom and inspiration, themed around the mythology of Ancient Greece. The session presided by Toastmaster Goddess, Nur, guided all in exploring the pantheon of almighty gods. With the precision of Athena’s wisdom, evaluations were both insightful and enlightening. Naturally, each role was performed with the grace and skill of divine artisans. Rachel was the “Best Dressed Goddess.” The evening concluded with a message -“There is a potential hero in each and every one of you. Just listen to your inner God.”

‘Greek God and Goddesses’-Camberly Speakers encouraged by Doug, Martin, George, Rich, Bob, Milica, Jenny, Nur etc.

• Toastmaster Ernie organised this week a ‘Red Carpet’ themed meeting for Woking Speakers. People were dressed up and walked the red carpet to collect awards including the Best Tech Head (like the Oscars?)

The Red Carpet themed meeting at Woking Speakers with Event Organiser VPE Ernie, Club President Milica and the Red Carpet Award winners.

• Focused on communication enhancement and tangible growth through mentorship, many clubs like Riverside Communicators https://bit.ly/RiversideCommunicators , Epsom Speakers, Sutton Speakeasy, Surbiton Speakers have a mentorship initiative pairing experienced Toastmasters with new members.

Sutton Speakeasy- L to R: Donald joined to deliver a better speech at his daughters wedding and stayed to motivate and serve others. Biraba served twice as VP Membership and is the President now. Jonathan won the best table topic twice as a guest and just became a member. Kudos to Amanda for serving selflessly and enabling an enviable mentoring program.

• If you love receiving 14 minutes of un-whitewashed evaluations on your (potential paid public speaking) speech, the new UK SALT Advanced club is the place to visit. Members tackle topics from global affairs to personal development, mental health, marketing, AI etc sharpening their critical thinking and persuasive speaking abilities. It has an advanced mission that the current 25 members are committed too under Ron’s capable Presidentship. Sponsored by Eddy & Smita DTM under the guidance of Diane DTM and Mo the club has distinguished mentors in Arnaud DTM and Andrea.

When UK Salt members meet face to face unplanned at a COT in another division far away from their homes….cacaphony, laughter and smiles pepper the event. It is never about us but ‘Service before Self’ ! Ruth is the Assistant Division D Director for  Smile More and Clap. This initiative is for encouraging members to have fun as well as Sponsor, Mentor & Coach clubs in the district.

When Rupa DTM spoke about her Leadership journey from Trojans to District Director and more, there was pin drop silence. Truly Inspiring ! She was presented with the Outstanding member pin by Arnaud DTM on behalf of Division D for her continued service as IPDD. Credentials Chair and now District Parlimentarian as well as chartering and motivating Wembley Stadium Speakers, organising the Corporate Summit in June 2025 amongst many other initiatives.

Amazing banter and fellowship comraderie.  ‘Let us chat rather than pose for a picture’. Note : The Division D Director evaporated!! However only our 2 past district directors started leading the way to pose for the picture.

 

Recent Achievements

Division D members, most clubs and areas have shone brightly over the past 2 months.

• We are proud to announce that past district director and current Parlimentarian Rupa received her well deserved DTM award. Kudos to her and heartiest congratulations.
• This year also commenced well with 35 levels being filed in Pathways of which 9 are level 4 and level 5 awards
• 2 new areas D20 and D61 with 9 clubs, warmly welcomed by cutting cake in a Division Event on 26^th July 2025.

Welcoming Area D20 Club officers with a Fudge Cake being cut by Immediate past Area Director Casper who is also part of the Club Growth District Team as  District Mentor Assignment Lead On the extreme right are 2 Jal Richmond Leaders Club officers Yannis and Stefan. Disclaimer: To the best of the organisers knowledge equal opportunity for devouring the fudge cake was provided !! Also it was nut and gluten free.

• 3 new clubs chartered – 2  on 30^th June 2025 (JAL Richmond Leaders and UK Speakers and Leaders) and Richmond and Wandsworth Communicators club chartered on 22^nd July 2025.

Officers of Jal Richmond Leaders and UK Salt chartered on 30^th June 2025 cutting the Chocolate Cake at 9.36am at a Division D COT event. Chocolate needs no timers !!! Behind the scenes Timer Milica flashing her Red Coat frantically as we took our time devouring the cake.

 

• Judges Training and Chief Judges Workshops supported by Paul our district Chief Judge and Smita DTM, hosted by UK Salt (Advanced Club chartered June 20^th 2025), with many humorous and table topics workshops scheduled in September.
• 176 Club officers attended 3 Division D COTs with a couple more to follow on the 30^th & 31^st of August 2025. 65% of Division D officers trained with 75% of the clubs having 4 or more trained. Kudos to all 3 newly chartered clubs for having all their officers trained as well as Burnham Speakers, London Athenians, West London Speakers,   Harrovian Speakers, Watford Speakers and  Wembley Stadium Speakers

VPPR’s and SAAs being trained in the 60 min breakout by Immediate Past ADs Duncan and Casper

Presidents being trained on contests by Immediate Past District Chief Judge and Past District Director Arnaud DTM. Arnaud is also Division D Advisor. Thank you Arnaud for all you do for us and the district! 

Also past District Director Rupa DTM trained the VP Memberships while past AD Ramesh Halai seen at the top corner trained the Secretary of the clubs.   

They finally posed possibly when the PQD Seema Menon DTM and the Division D Director Smita Narayan DTM sandwiched most in between…. Or was it on the photographers request? Could be soon after the chocolate cake disappeared too!! Too groggy to remember a month later at the time of publishing this update but this surely was a great looking bunch even after 4 plus hours of Club Officer Training.

Most did hit the bar later well organised by the Host Club Trojans with Harsh the President and his EC beaming. In a nutshell Harsh personifies some of the spirit of Division D. He came as a guest a few months ago to JAL Richmond and to Riverside Communicators. He joined Riverside as JAL had not chartered and then also visited Trojans. There he volunteered and decided to serve as the President.

Kudos to the multitasking ADs Ana, Kanti and Ian well supported by AD Rafael and AD Milica.

• Distinguished Club Program: Several clubs in Division D have achieved DCP goals and added members. Notable is Sustainable Speakers with 6 DCP goals achieved. All clubs achieved DCP Goal 10b with many doing early renewals Goal 10a.
• Pathways Milestones: Members continue to excel in the Toastmasters Pathways learning experience, completing advanced levels in Dynamic Leadership, Presentation Mastery, and more. Enrolments are being prioritised for new members.

Upcoming Events

The coming months promise an exciting array of events and opportunities for all Division D members:

• Area Speech Contests are scheduled commencing 8^th October with Division Contests & Conference scheduled for October 25^th  2025 and April 11^th   Please save the dates and try to attend. The venue can take 200. We have special guest speakers.
• Leadership Workshops: The division will host a series of workshops in September & October, designed to help members develop leadership competencies, including team management, conflict resolution and strategic planning. There will be public speaking practice workshops as well.
• New Member Orientation: For those new to Toastmasters, an orientation session at the end of each month will be hosted in rota by clubs to introduce the structure, benefits, and opportunities within Division D and District 91.
• Club Officer Training: COT2 will be held at the beginning of November, providing essential resources and support for club leaders.
• Open Houses in Corporate clubs like BMS scheduled for September

Meet a Member: Growth Stories

One of the greatest strengths of Division D is its diverse membership. In each division newsletter, we feature the journey of Toastmasters whose growth inspires others. Please subscribe to our social media.

Educational Focus: The Power of Feedback

One of the cornerstones of Toastmasters is the art of giving and receiving constructive and motivating feedback. Division D clubs strive to maintain a supportive environment where members can learn from one another. Evaluators play a crucial role, offering insights that highlight strengths and suggest areas for growth. This culture of continuous improvement is what sets Toastmasters apart, ensuring that every speech, no matter how small, becomes a stepping stone toward greater mastery. 4 Evaluate 2 Motivate sessions will be conducted in the run up to the evaluation club contests.

Division Director’s Message

Dear Toastmasters,

As we enter the renewal period keep the focus on renewing each member through their needs comprehension and fulfilment. I am filled with pride at our collective achievements. Division D is more than a collection of clubs—it is a family of individuals dedicated to personal and professional development. Whether you are participating in contests, attending workshops, or supporting your club’s initiatives, know that your efforts make a difference.

Let us continue to embrace the Toastmasters values of integrity, respect, service, and excellence. Reach out to fellow members, step outside your comfort zone, and remember: every voice matters. MCA : Grow the M-members and yourselves, grow your C-clubs, grow the A-area and the division will thrive continuing our past legacy.

Smita Narayan DTM  Division D Director

Resources and Opportunities

Division D members have access to a wealth of resources and support:

• Pathways Learning Experience: Explore paths like Dynamic Leadership, Effective Coaching, and Strategic Relationships to tailor your learning journey.
• Mentorship Program: Connect with experienced members for guidance, feedback, and encouragement.
• Speechcraft: Short-term programs ideal for newcomers looking to develop public speaking skills quickly.
• District 91 Website: Stay up to date on events, goals, and opportunities
• Many current and past District Leaders associated with Division D have formed Division D Extended Advisor Mentor Council Group and some of them are walking, talking and immensely approachable encyclopaedia All one needs to do is ask the club leadership or the area leadership as the case maybe.
• Opportunities for mentoring members of other clubs do exist

 

How to Get Involved

There are countless ways to participate and benefit from Division D

• Attend club meetings regularly and volunteer for meeting roles.
• Take part in speech contests and workshops.
• Invite friends or colleagues to experience Toastmasters.
• Engage on social media and share your Toastmasters journey
• Provide leads for members & new clubs and feel free to sponsor, mentor or coach a club.

Looking Forward

As Division D continues to grow, we look forward to welcoming new members, launching innovative programs, and celebrating the unique achievements of every club. Your enthusiasm, participation, and commitment are the keys to creating a thriving Toastmasters community. Let’s keep empowering voices and inspiring growth together. Help the other divisions when asked to serve too.

Until next time, keep speaking up, leading boldly and supporting each other! Socialise and have FUN!

Post club meeting social drinks for Riverside Communicators when the Area D29 Area Director Ian was invited for a club area visit this month of August. Assistant Division D Director PR Duncan, VPPR Bhupinder, VPM Surinder, President Bayan, Immediate past President Madhuranticka, Kim, Zara , Mr. Magician new member and others like Ruth do look happy before they head home towards midnight. Missing the Smiths, Smita, Mr. Searle, Mr. Sharky and many others smitten by this club.

 

 

 

 

The following is a transcript of Olgas’ conversation:

How do you feel about your time as division director?

I feel excited, it was a challenging year, a lot of difficult decisions to be made, a lot of challenges to raise to, but I think I learned quite a lot.

I had an opportunity to visit a lot of clubs and one of my goals was to visit all of them, I’m almost there. [I am] understanding them better, learning what they are doing, and how we can help.

I was also given a privilege to set a vision for the whole division and deliver to that vision and as I said raising 2 challenges: Division C is 60% corporate clubs and I do enjoy a good challenge, and that’s how I feel about my division director role this year.

What is your next challenge?

I am pleased to have a successor so we will be handing things over pretty soon and, my goal will be to support him and the vision going forward, and my next challenge is to achieve my DTM.

 

We asked Division Director Sushil Shah the following questions:

1. Can you share a bit about your background and what led you to join Toastmasters?
2. Can you share a surprising or funny moment from your Toastmasters journey?
3. If you could describe your leadership style as a movie genre, what would it be and why?
4. What’s the most unusual or creative idea a team member has brought to the table under your leadership?
5. What’s one thing you always do before a Toastmasters meeting that might surprise us?
6. If you weren’t spending time leading the Division, what hobby or activity would we find you absorbed in?
7. If you were stranded on a desert island and could listen to only three speeches from your Toastmasters experience, which would they be and why?
8. If you could have any superpower to help you in your role as Division Director, what would it be?
9. What are some exciting plans or events on the horizon for the Division?
10. and finally if anyone was considering being a future division director, what would you say to them

 

Watch the interview below:

Edited transcript

1. Can you share a bit about you’re your background and what led you to join toastmasters.
Hi I’m Sushil I am currently the Division 8 Director, I’ve been Toastmaster for about 8 years and my background comes from being an IT professional. In 2016, I was at the point that I was looking to change direction and progress my career. What it led to was somebody asking me “do you know how to do an interview?”, so I said “I know how to do an interview but when I’ve done them they give me a lot of feedback”. The enquirer asked me if I had heard of something called a Toastmasters. So I did some research, and I happened to stumble upon a club that was on my commute to work, but it was neither near my home not near work but I fell so much in love with that club. From the first day, I was absorbed and observed to see what it was that I was looking for, the next year I took committee role VP education, then president, then area director and the story continues till today. I am still enjoying toastmasters and being division director, it has been life changing for me, literally. I got a new job in a new company, I worked for a couple of big named technological companies and I’m currently working as a senior leadership in one of the largest companies in the world. That’s the journey for me in Toastmaster.

2. If you were stranded on a desert island and could listen to only three of your speeches, which would they be and why?
I don’t like listening to my voice, therefore the three speeches I would listen to again are:

• One from past president and our current global director, she came to Toastmasters meeting wearing a white sari on the occasion of Orna South Indian festival and she talked so passionately about her mother and she showed a photo frame. That visual that really stuck in my mind.
• The second one was delivered by another Toastmaster, and she talked about how she was able to being a Samarian and a person who was suffering from suicidal thoughts as she booked back into her life that was so inspiring and that she took out the inside outside on the substance element of the story.
• And, the most memorable speech in my life, was a speech about Bob Marley’s speech and her dad giving her advice to don’t worry be happy. I could listen to that speech endlessly on a loop. There was so much drama in her speech, so much visual speech, and the way she brought across the speech to the audience that was amazing.

These 3 speeches on a desert island inspire me to do another speech in the next meeting of Toastmasters.

3. If you weren’t spending time leading this division, what’s hobbies and activity will we find you absorbed in?
Two hobbies that comes to mind is cricket and travelling. Cricket got me into Toastmasters, I still play cricket on weekends even during winter and summer. One of the ambitions that I have is to travel from London to India in a car someday before I complete my toastmaster journey. I will want to do a speech on that journey.

4. What’s one thing that you always do before toastmasters meeting that might surprise us?
I always try to go on easy speak, look at the agenda, and see who’s coming. If I see the agenda is not complete, I can enquire to the Toastmaster of the evening. Why it’s surprising? Because a couple of times when I’ve turned up at the meeting I didn’t know that the meeting was only table topics or didn’t know who the guest were, therefore by looking at the agenda I can find out and I can push to the Toastmaster to complete the agenda. I would recommend others to do that, and maybe volunteer yourself for roles to finalise the agenda, or encourage the Toastmaster to finalise the agenda as that is their role as Toastmaster.

5. If you could describe your leadership style what would it be and why?
My leadership style is unsurprisingly: Wolf of Wall Street. If you look behind the scenes, he is actually supported by trusted friends, his work is taken forward by his friends, and he relies on them to take it forward and to give him the feedback to drive it forward. My leadership style is always to rely on people I can trust and they can rely on me back and so trust and collaboration is important to my leadership style.

6. If anyone was thinking about being a future division director what would you say?
Just do it. What I did to understand when I took this position, is identify my learning path that I wanted to do, which was leadership journey. One advice, as I work in a full time job and I wanted to do justice to this role, was to rely on the team members like the area directors and club presidents that you work with. The biggest skill that you gain is time management and understanding the importance of collaboration and working with the people that you trust and they trust and depend on you, that’s the biggest leadership growth. So if you are thinking to be division director, go for it,  you won’t regret it.

Tell us a bit about yourself

My career background is very varied and I have worked in the hospitality sector as a Manager, large corporates as an International Director living in Singapore, public sector as a Non-Executive Director, self-employed as a personal consultant and currently in the not for profit sector.   The role I have now involves working with a large number of volunteers and I would never have got the job without Toastmasters where all leadership roles are voluntary.

What has been your Toastmasters journey

It started 17 years ago with a friend taking me along to a meeting, to be honest I didn’t really know what I was going to. I decided to go again and this time I was asked to do a Table Topic and amazingly I won.  Within a couple of months I was on the committee as VPPR, a role I knew nothing about but I soon picked it up and within a year I was President, followed by Area Director.  I have also been President of Excalibur, an advanced club, where I am still a member. I take great pleasure in helping others develop and grow and to that end I have been a club mentor as well as mentoring many individuals.  I have also helped hundreds of people with their evaluations, running workshops, having won the UK and Ireland (D71) Evaluation Championship several years ago.

What are you currently doing in D91

This year I took on the Division B Director role. It’s the largest Division in D91 with 28 clubs so it keeps us pretty busy.   I love being part of the wider District Executive Team, as well as supporting my wonderful team of six*, who are working really hard to support their clubs, and together we really do want to make Division B a Division of Excellence.   We love visiting clubs and seeing how each one has its own special vibe.  There have been a few challenges, such as more than 20% of members not on Pathways which is such a shame as that is the education program that people pay for when they join.  Having a structure speech by speech really does build confidence and develops verbal communication skills so we are currently running a project to get everyone onto Pathways now and in the future.

Delighted to say that there are members submitting completion of their Pathways projects helping their clubs to become Distinguished and the first three are London Athenians, London Cardinals and London Toastmasters.

We welcomed two newly chartered clubs The Good Growth Club and Product Madness and we are really excited to see how we can help them develop..

We also have to congratulate four clubs on their longevity.  104 London Debaters and London Victorians both celebrating 10 years. London Cardinals on 20 years and London Athenians on 30 years.  What a great achievement.

Most of the Club contests are now complete so we are busy preparing for Area contests and the Division contest on the 23^rd November.  On the morning of 23rd, working with Division C, there will be a series of interactive workshops open to all members.

*The amazing Division B Team : B6 Casper Wilcock, B8 Sabeer Peerbaccus, B9 Mary-Anne Ledger, B18 Krystyna Zarzycka, B52 Urszula Pozimska and Simon Mckee Asst. Div Dir.

What do you most enjoy

There are evenings when I feel, ugh it’s raining outside, do I really want to go to a Toastmasters meeting?  But I always do because without fail I come out buzzing whether I am participating or an audience member.  I get inspired by other members; their journey’s, their stories and the fact they give it a go. Which is probably why I am still a member and still enjoying what Toastmasters has to offer.

What are your challenges

Personally I always think of a challenge as an opportunity and I like to be challenged. Sometimes it forces me to think a little differently.  If anything, time is my challenge, with a full-time job, Toastmasters and a family life I do have to do a bit of juggling, but I enjoy it and I get a great sense of satisfaction when everything falls into place.

How has your experience in Toastmasters helped you in your day job

When I was interviewed for my current role in a charity it was like being in front of a firing squad but all that Table Topics practice came into its own. The fact I had been a volunteer amongst other volunteer leaders also helped. These days I enjoy standing up and speaking so I do get asked to do a lot of presentations on behalf of the company.   I also work with clients giving them instant feedback as well as facilitating training sessions, all skills I honed at club and leadership meetings. Thank you Toastmasters!