OH YEA! Oh Yea! Oh Yea! It’s not a problem that besets your average town crier, who wanders down the high street clanging his/her bell and bawling at all and sundry, but having to speak in public can be daunting for some folk.

Many would rather eat razor blades or walk through snakes than address an expectant gathering at anything from a wedding or funeral to a business meeting or just the local parish council on a matter of importance.

When you’re berating doggie doo’s on village playing fields, you shouldn’t come over all shy.

But spread the news because help is at hand. A new club aimed at helping its members develop their public speaking skills will be starting up in Malvern in May.

Malvern Speakers is billed as the newest branch of Toastmasters International, which is undoubtedly accurate, but may rather give the wrong impression to anyone who equates toastmasters with impressive gents in red tailcoats who take the lead and act as masters of ceremonies at society events.

This is nothing to do with that.

The organisers want to emphasis this is a group for anyone to join, you do not have to be a seasoned speaker to go along, the group has been set up to help anyone who wants to speak in public, be the audience two or 2,000. It’s not just about confidence either. The president of the newly formed club is Steve Birch, an electronics expert from Cockshot Road, Malvern. Ironic for a communications specialist, Steve suffered with a stammer from childhood.

“I was always stuttering and stammering as a kid,” he said. “It was just embarrassing if I had to speak to a group of people. I remember we had to give Bible readings to the class at school and I nearly died. I couldn’t speak at all.”

The problem disappeared when he was taking drill as a sergeant in the Royal Signals (in the same way that people who stammer can sing perfectly well) but persisted in adult life until about four years ago.

It was then that Steve’s girlfriend, Australian veterinary nurse Caroline Bellhouse, suggested they go to a Toastmasters International meeting, the nearest of which was in Cheltenham.

“I first went to Toastmasters when I was working on a sheep farm in Australia,” she explained, “and found it great fun. People were talking about all sorts of things and it was very social.”

Steve went along, sat at the back and said nothing. “Then after a few meetings I thought: ‘I could do that’,” he said. So he joined in and has never looked back.

Using methods, techniques and presentations taught by the Toastmasters, his stammer has disappeared. We spoke for an hour and there was never a blip. “Now I can’t shut him up,” added Caroline.

Toastmasters International has 10,000 clubs and 200,000 members in 80 countries worldwide.

Its aims were summed up by its founder in the 1920s, American Ralph C.Smedley, as: “To afford practice and training in the art of public speaking and in presiding over meetings, and to promote sociability and good fellowship among its members”.

The Malvern group has been formed among the nucleus of people from the town have been attending meetings of Cheltenham Toastmasters for some years.

Meetings will be held fortnightly on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 7.30pm at the Great Malvern Hotel, Graham Road.

The first two meetings, on May 14 and 28, will illustrate the format and procedures used to improve members’ speaking and chairmanship skills.

There will be no charge for these ‘demo meetings’ and anyone interested will be welcome to go along.

Toastmasters’ meetings normally follow a set agenda and include prepared speeches by members on subjects of their own choosing, as well as short off-the-cuff talks on topics chosen by the chairman.

An important aspect is evaluation by other members of the strengths and weaknesses of each speech, which is always conducted in a friendly and constructive, rather than critical, way.

Members take turns in presiding over meetings, making speeches, evaluating others’ talks and the overall conduct of the meeting itself.

There are also regular regional, national and even international competitions in which clubs can take part. Members can also work towards formal Toastmasters International qualifications which can be useful additions to a c.v.

Steve added: “Attending Toastmasters at Cheltenham really helped me get over my fear of speaking in public. From once being so tongue-tied that I had to leave the groom’s speech on my wedding day to my wife, I progressed to being able to deliver a 15-minute eulogy at my father’s funeral.”

And we’ll all say Oh Yea! to that.

l For more information on Malvern Speakers, call Steve Birch on 01684 568676 or 07831 846997.