Division B – The Brilliant Division
For those whom I haven’t met; I’m Andy Hessey and I’m the Division Director of Division B which covers Central South West London from Kensington and Hammersmith, to Southwark and down to Clapham and Brixton. I’ve been in Toastmasters over six years and maybe more familiar to people in D91 as #Zoomtroll at contests and conferences. Yes .. I am THAT troll!
So why on earth is Division B called Division Brilliant Bounceback? Well, to put it bluntly… Division B is back, baby! I was appointed in mid-October. On my first day, I had just two out of my five Area Directors but wow, have we turned things around in the last few weeks!
Areas and Directors
Let’s start our whistlestop tour of the Division by paying tribute to my Area Director team. The two old hands are Chris Jolly and Flora Ruffin. Let me tell you, as a DTM this isn’t Chris’ first rodeo and his experience across West London’s Area B6 is vital and Flora is the steady hand across Area B9. These two areas have some really strong established clubs such as London Athenians, London Corinthians and London Business School as well as one the District’s newest clubs FTI Consulting
Area B8 will be ruled by Aneeta Phillip who is also the VPE at London Victorians. You’ll recognise Aneeta as she’s always got a smile on her face and is going to be a wonderful addition to the team. As well as those Victorians, Aneeta’s patch takes her South of the river to Brixton and Clapham. Area B52’s new Area Director is Luca Marengo and he will be bringing his enthusiasm and his Italian charm to his clubs including Polish Your Polish and Kings Speakers.
While my team are awesome we are still missing one arm – we are searching for someone to work with Area B18 in the heart of Victoria and Holborn. I always say that my year as Area Director was so much fun, you get to really stretch your leadership skills. If that sounds like something that would appeal to you, get in touch. You don’t have to be based in that area to become their Area Director, so what’s holding back?
I cannot wait to see what happens in the International Speech Contest in the Spring. We have a huge pool of talent in the Division and a great history of success… and for other Divisions; don’t be too upset when we sweep the board at the District contest in May!
Division B Contests
We now enter December having crowned two excellent Division speech champions with London Business School’s Aruna Shanmugarajha strictly Samba dancing his way in the Humorous Speech Contest. In a really tight and genuinely funny contest, Aruna was joined by London Victorian’s Adam Paldyna who was laughing his way through heartbreak and Joel Morales bringing home the bronze medal for London Cardinals by making lemonade!
In the topics contest, all I can say is that the four bravest people in London were the ones on the topics stage. Did we softball them with an airy-fairy question? Did we give them something full of gravitas asking them how they would solve world peace? Did we buffalo!
What we asked them was simple – “Please explain why you decided to run naked through the bear enclosure at London Zoo covered in honey” … Now, I don’t know about you, but I think this is a fundamental question that needs answers!
Former District Director, Florian Bay from London Victorians set the tone by stepping onto the stage and whipping off his belt like a Chippendale and gave us a full-blown defence of his actions and ended up taking the title. Jakub Sokolowski from Polish Your Polish who has only been a Toastmaster for a couple of months put up a brave battle against the bears and escaped with 2nd place while Harvey Domingos came an impressive third.
I cannot wait to see what happens in the International Speech Contest in the Spring. We have a huge pool of talent in the Division and a great history of success… and for other Divisions; don’t be too upset when we sweep the board at the District contest in May!
Watch Out!
Division B may have been in a bit of a hiatus at the start of the Toastmaster year, but we are roaring (a bit like those bears at London Zoo!). With just under 500 unique members – a fifth of whom have joined since July, we are a Division on the up.
Expect many many things from Division Brilliant Bounceback in the second half of the programme year and if the thought of being in the slow lane is not something that you want, come and join a Division B club. Don’t forget you can be a dual member so you don’t have to leave your friends behind to come and ride on the B Train.
Andy Hessey,
Division Director, Division B, 2022-2023