AT the third meeting of the club it was pleasing to welcome back three people who had attended the open meeting, together with another potential new member.

The meeting was admirably chaired by Joan Witherington Perkins. Kashmir Garton gave a speech demonstrating the need for good construction which was evaluated by Alan Young.

Alan highlighted Kashmir's choice of subject matter which enabled her to demonstrate how to construct a speech to best effect. Kashmir is a very confident speaker, with clear delivery style, she now moves on in her assignment to learn how to incorporate gestures, pace and pitch in her deliveries.

Pat Langley then gave an educational presentation to explain to members the different types of speeches that we are called upon to deliver.

Pat took her theme as "the narrative speech". She explained the characteristics of this type of presentation and the positives and negatives of such a speech. She concluded by incorporating comments from the floor.

The impromptu speaking session was managed by Hazel Bradley who gave members objects to talk about .

A new member addressed this challenge with enthusiasm and talked without any preparation for three minutes!

The meeting concluded with an excellent evaluation of the impromptu session by Brent Hill who always finds constructive comments to make about members delivered with his usual humour.

Members were reminded about the Area Topics Contest to be held on the following evening where a Redditch member would be competing with other clubs in the area for a place at the district competition on October 16 in preparation for the national finals in Glasgow in April.

If you are interested in learning how to speak in public with confidence come along to take a look at us - we meet alternative Tuesdays at 7.30pm, for 7.45pm, at the Quality Hotel, Redditch. For more details, call Alan Young on 01527 459516 or visit www.redditchspeakersclub.co.uk