Youth Leadership Westminster Academy

From Andrew P Bennett District 91 Youth Leadership Adviser

How good to be able to share with you news from Toastmasters Julia Kettlewell and Mark Mortimer who are coordinating a Toastmasters Youth Leadership program at Westminster Academy.

We are particularly excited as this is our very first collaboration with Rotary Interact – a youth work which the Rotarians have established splendidly at the school. Indeed the program participants are already looking towards participating in the Rotary Youth Speaks Contest in 2015.

Westminster YLP Nov 2014

Ten 6th formers have attended 3 sessions so far. They have been making good use of storytelling techniques to bring their Ice Breaker Speeches to life and express their points of view with clarity. A panel discussion proved a great success as did their first venture into the wonderful world of Table Topics!

Session 4 looks in more depth at organizing your speech, learning to speak from the audience’s perspective and having, already discussed what makes a good opening, we move on to what makes a fine conclusion to a speech.

It is wonderful to have Toastmaster Mark (from sponsoring club Excalibur Advanced Speakers) Toastmaster Julia (the very able President of Grosvenor Square Speakers), Rotary Interact and accompanying teacher from the Academy Ashraf Shah Noor working together alongside the young people as they discover their Speaking and Leadership Skills.

Westminster Academy YLP takes place once a month on a Tuesday morning. Feel free to contact Julia or Mark if you would like to attend as a guest. We always let our schools know in advance if there is to be a visitor at the session and respect the signing in/security badge protocols.

If you do attend it is highly likely that you will find yourself participating in the speaking. There is nothing better than witnessing first hand how the Toastmasters Youth Leadership Program enhances and extends the participants skills. These are skills that they will take with them throughout their lives.

Martin Berry DTM

Martin Berry 2014Martin Berry became the first person to achieve the ultimate accolade of Distinguished Toastmasters in our newly formed District 91(UK South). He is interveiwed by Bob Nisbet, DTM on our new member website.

Here are some quotes (read the full article at http://d91toastmasters.org.uk/articles/)

Before Toastmasters: I never guessed the speeches would be so personal, so entertaining, educational and often funny or uplifting. It was as good as going to the theatre.

Biggest thrill: the Woking Speakers’ Christmas Panto, “The Wizard of Niz”. which I wrote and directed for my HPL Project. It was an amazing experience to watch the players perform my words so brilliantly, and even better, the audience laughing their socks off. I just thought to myself: “They like it, they like it!! “.

Who was responsible for getting Martin to a Toastmasters club? The one and only Doug New!

Leadership workshops

From Graeme Phillips, Division L Governor

London Division L Toastmasters has a special free Saturday event for you!

We start with our Club Officer Training from 12.30-2.30pm followed by an exciting range of speakers running a series of workshops. Read all about them and book your place on Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/club-officer-training-and-presentations-6-december-tickets-14525212301

We look forward to having you with us on 6 December, St James Park, SW1