The chair, Garry Costain, set a friendly tone for the evening, welcoming members and the guest. Our first activity of the evening was a warm-up session in which we considered seeing life through someone else’s eyes for a few minutes. Not surprisingly, members wanted fabulous experiences such as winning the lottery or twisting in somersaults from a 10m diving board.

One of the newer and less experienced members, Chris Stark, gave an entertaining and personal speech: My Food Obsession. His experience of gaining and losing weight was a subject many could relate to. He spoke about how seemingly unconnected events in his life coincidentally reflected in his body shape. He has transformed his eating regime. He built great rapport with the audience ending on a high note that made us laugh, “who doesn’t want to look good naked?”

The second speaker, Doug Weale, presented a profound and sometimes chilling account of the human condition, entitled Hope. He demonstrated a skill that few of us can achieve, not just a coherent speech without notes but including many poignant quotations.

After the interval, John Beale took the chair for the impromptu speaking competition. Each person was asked to speak for two minutes on the subject of their favourite thing. Trevor Kenning won this competition with a talk about Buenos Aires in which he managed to bring in items from previous speeches to make us laugh.

Meetings are held on the second and fourth Thursday of each month at the Royal Temple Yacht Club, Ramsgate. For more information find us on social media or contact Deb Percy on 01843 607192.