From Peter Gerlach, Division K Governor
Division K was formed last year
from clubs in the realigned Divisions B (Central London) and H (South East
England).
Our first International Speech & Evaluation Contest was
hosted by Speakers Corner at the McGraw Hill building in Canary Wharf. It
was great to see such a solid turnout, about 70 people attending.

The International Speech Contest Chair was Peter Gerlach, the contestants Dave Brooks, Peter Bull, Lori Goossen, Flavia Gordon, James Green, Sneha HS & Isaya Taingwa
For the Evaluation event, Iain Scott took over as Contest Chair and the contestants were Colm Doherty, Nicky Kruger, James Green, Ian Macfie, Neil Pettigrew, Lydia Song & David Wilson
Before Ronnie Gillanders, our
District PR officer, presented the certificates, Julie Kertesz received an
“Extra Mile” award from Peter Gerlach for her commitment and dedication to
Toastmasters as well as for promoting Toastmasters outside of the organisation
through story telling workshops.
The results were as follows:
International Speech Contest
1st James
Green (Meridian Speakers)
2nd Flavia
Gordon (Lewisham Speakers)
3rd Peter Bull
(Bromley Speakers)
Evaluation Contest
1st James
Green (Meridian Speakers)
2nd Colm
Doherty (Russian English Speakers)
3rd Nicky
Kruger (Canary Wharf Communicators)
James Green will represent the Division in both contests at the District 71 UK & Ireland Conference, 10-12 May 2013, in Torquay The Riviera Renaissance
I personally would like to thank
the following for their support:
Ronnie Gillanders, our District
PR Officer, who came all the way from Ireland just to be with us, Matthew Lucas
(President of Speakers Corner) for providing us with such an impressive venue
and helping us with the organisation of the event, Dave Longley – my Division K
assistant governor for supporting me, for his advice and patience (lots of it).
I'd also like to thank Amber Raney Kincade, Julie Kertesz, Dave Longley and Jeanne Kruger, our area
governors for all their efforts and support over the last year, Jenny Taggart
from Bromley for putting the agenda together, Patricia Caesar for marketing the
event to more than 500 individual addresses, Iain Scott for chairing the
evaluation contest, Greg Ros and Jakub Pawlowski, our Division B and L
governors for attending the event and supporting me and the Division K with
their knowledge and experience.
Thank you also to our
functionaries - smooth running on the day was ensured by Chief Judge Ronnie
Gillanders and his team of judges, ballot counters Jenny Taggart, Julie Kertesz
& Melissa Gabrielian, time keepers Dave Longley & Sophie Xu, and usher
Katy Woolcott.
Without you all, this event would
not have been so successful. Thank you very much and I am very very proud to be
involved with such a professional and supportive organisation.
Photos by Julie Kertesz.