Posts Tagged ‘Western Division’

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A 4th Division for WA Toastmasters?

March 26th, 2010 by David Nicholas

When and Where will it come?

Currently we have 3 Divisions, 50 active clubs and an active membership of about 800, which is an average of about 16 per club.  You can check out the current nominal membership on the WA DCP page. When the Renewals figures to the end of March are published next month you will find that my estimates are approximately correct.

District WA challenges us to do better

The Toastmasters International Directors have started a process for WA members and clubs to separate from District 73 and form our own Provisional District.  The process is already underway.

    In May this year the District 73 Council will elect a District Governor for the whole of District 73, a Lt Governor Education & Training and a Lt Governor Marketing for WA and a Lt Governor Education & Training and a Lt Governor Marketing for the balance of District 73 – Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia.

    In May next year, 2011, the District 73 Council will elect the 3 top officers – District Governor, Lt Governor Education & Training and a Lt Governor Marketing – for both WA and the balance of District 73.

    On July 1, 2011, we will be a Provisional District, with all the privileges and responsibilities of Toastmaster Districts.

How do we go from Provisional to Full District status?

Earlier this year the International Directors redrafted the previous rules.  My understanding of their published results is this:

We can apply for full status when we have at least 60 clubs with an average membership of at least 20 members.  When we have reached those two targets, there will be an assessment made of our general efficiency and prospects for further growth.  If we pass that, we’ve made it.

So why do we need a 4th Division?

Essentially a Division needs at least 16 clubs with 4 Areas of at least 4 clubs each.  You can see my Maths – when we go through the 60 club target we will be close to qualifying for a 4th Division.  Further, we will have to show there are prospects for further growth, and the best evidence of that will be more new clubs coming onstream.

We need a challenge, a friendly rivalry between our 3 existing Divisions, to drive the steady growth necessary to become a full District.  Currently I am Western Division Governor and the WA New Clubs Coordinator.  So, I issue these challenges

    To Western Division to be the growth engine which drives us forward to split off the 4th Division

    To the 2010/11 Western Division Governor to continue our current growth and to do even better

    To the current Innercity and Perth Division Governors to galvanise their Area Governors and emerging leaders to match Western or do even better

    To Toastmasters living in the northern corridor based around the railway to Joondalup to seize the opportunities available in that enormous population base which hasn’t had a new Toastmaster Club since Stirling was chartered in 1994.

Ambitious plans for Western Division

Currently I am discussing with Mark Richards, the District 73 Lt Governor Marketing and a prominent Western Division member, a forward plan which will achieve the first of my challenges – for Western to split off a new District.  This year looks like being very successful with the Division on track to be President’s Distinguished along with 3 of our 4 Area Governors, all of whom will finish with a new club.  That involves 3 new clubs with no loss of any current clubs.

The railway to Mandurah is the key to our forward plans.  New suburbs are springing up on either side of the railway.  We are developing a plan to set up new community clubs based on the new suburbs.  Mark and Robyn Richards established a blueprint for publicising and forming such community clubs with their founding of Canning Vale.   Now the Canning Vale club, through member John Palmer, is setting out to follow that blueprint in Southern River.

How do we raise our average membership from 16 to 20+?

Well, that is a different issue.  It wont be easy, but it has to be achieved.  Next week I will have some suggestions.

For any queries or more information
David Nicholas DTM
Western Division Governor
WA New Clubs Coordinator

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Western Division Contest Results

November 8th, 2009 by David Nicholas

Victoria Quay took the honours

Victoria Quay from W21 took on the task of organising the Western Division first round of Contests.  The Club hosted the event at its regular venue at the Fremantle Bowling Club in Ellen Street.  It could have looked like an arranged result when the two winners came from the host club, but all the Judges were from outside the Division, including Chief Judge Martin Lindsay, P30 Area Governor, and member of Morning Star in Perth Division.

The Humorous Speech Contest

Neville Simmons
Neville Simmons
Humorous Contest Winner

Division Governor David Nicholas was the Contest Chairman. His photo is tucked away at the end of the story.

There were 4 contestants, one from each of our 4 Areas.

Peta Anderson, from Successful Club and W16 Area, spoke about “Little Demons”

Diana Veitch, from Fremantle Gourmet and W28 Area, spoke about “The Captain”

Robert Price, from Bunbury and W29 Area, spoke about “Noble Gesture”.

Neville Simmons, from Victoria Quay and W21 Area, spoke about “The Vindictive Cat”. Neville confessed that he is a salesman – but fortunately he is the trustworthy one. He took us with him on a mission to sell a bathroom renovation in a leafy seaside suburb. Trust is the key to a successful sale he told us.  He thought he had the sale in the bag after seeing a set of cat photos on the way into the house and then establishing a kind of bond with the cat in the bathroom. But the vindictive cat had other ideas.  Did Neville really tread on the cat’s tail?  The cat’s yowl killed the deal and as he left Neville realised that the cat had turned out to be much more resourceful and intelligent than he could ever be.

Robin Richards
Robyn Richards
Table Topics Contest Chair

The Table Topics Contest

W16 Area Governor Robin Richards was the Contest Chair. Her Table Topics subject was: With summer approaching, tell us what you look forward to most at this time of the year.

Again, there were 4 contestants, one from each of our 4 Areas.

Tania Park, from Jetty and W29 Area, doesn’t look forward to summer because of the heat. She will skip from tree to tree, hugging the shade, as she shops in Busselton.

Diana Veitch, from Canning Vale and W16 Area, looks forward to glorious beaches in Esperance, so far away via the 4 wheel drive, that she can revert to childhood experiences in Rhodesia and swim without any clothes.

Vicky Post, from Powertalk and W28 Area, looks forward to sunshine and heat as she remembers what it is like at this time of the year where she was born in Denmark.

Mark Hamilton
Mark Hamilton
Table Topics Contest Winner

Mark Hamilton, from Victoria Quay and W21 Area, invited us to join him in scuba diving this summer in a great spot off Rockingham. He took us through his mid-life crisis in Queensland in the army to a belated decision to have some fun and learn a new skill when he came to Perth. $4,500 later he was being instructed in underwater computing skills to record each dive so it could be uploaded onto the net when he came back! Really! There didn’t seem to be much time left over for the diving. He promised that if we joined him there would be no recordings.

In his brief acceptance speech, Mark said how much he enjoyed the opportunities he had enjoyed by joining Toastmasters, and particularly at his club, Victoria Quay. Now that the pressure of the Contest was over, he intended to encourage others to take part through his role as the Vice President Education.

The Judges

P30 Area Governor, Martin Lindsay, from Morning Star in Perth Division was Chief Judge.
He was supported by Gwen Gibbons from Sandgropers in Perth Division, by Bernice Takla from Durack in Innercity Division, Pat Wallace-Bell from Ngarlundhu Wankga in Perth Division, by June Lyndhurst in Sandgropers and by Peter McDonnell from Stirling in Perth Division.

Martin Lindsay
Martin Lindsay
Chief Judge

The Judgesy
Our Judges – Gwen, Bernice, Martin, Pat, June and Peter

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District Report

Mark Richards
Mark Richards
Lt Governor Marketing

Mark Richards, the Lt Governor Marketing, is the third ranking officer in District 73. Western Division is one of 10 Divisions in District 73 which currently covers clubs in WA, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania.  Here is his report.

Membership in the District is moving along at great knots with 592 new members across the District already, over 100 in front of last year.  Innercity has 62, Perth 56 and Western 55 new members.  There were 12 clubs in the District achieving the Smedly Award this year with 3 of those clubs from Western, those being Canning Vale, Fremantle Gourmet and Mandjar.  2 new clubs have formed this year, both in Melbourne.  Many new clubs are forming in the West with demo meetings at CSBP (now chartering), Mundaring, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Rockingham, Highgate and Applecross.  There have been 160 education awards given so far, with 56 of them from Western Division, which is 36% of the total.  this includes 4 of the 9 DTMs so far this year.

Don’t forget the District Council meeting on the 21st, which includes 2 workshops with Cliff Boer.  Well done Western Division for holding such a wonderful contest.

We had two Toastmasters

Gerry Prewett
Gerry Prewett
W28 Area Governor

Mark Richards
Michael Foster
W29 Area Governor

Gerry Prewett, W28 Area Governor, was Toastmaster for the Humorous Contest.

Michael Foster, W29 Area Governor, was Toastmaster for the Table Topics Contest

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And there were many other important people who served us well

Peter Law
Peter Law
W21 Area Governor

Peter Law, the W21 Area Governor, had many roles. He was Sergeant at Arms, responsible for setting up the hall, and for supervising cleaning up afterwards. Here you see him retrieving part of a Contest Aid that didn’t want to leave at the end. As well he was the Usher for the Table Topics Contest.

Karen Patterson from Victoria Quay and John Palmer from Canning Vale were the Tally Counters.

Sandra Morton from Cannington Communicators and Phyll Lightbody from Canning Vale were the Timers.

They weren’t on the program but Gail Jenkins and Karen Patterson from Victoria Quay handled the Afternoon Tea, which was a great success.

Canning Vale Club conducted a raffle. It was a noisy, happy affair just before the end of the meeting. Everybody seemed to win a prize including the Division Governor who hadn’t had time to buy a ticket!

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Thanks to the audience who encouraged the contestants so energetically.

David Nicholas
David Nicholas DTM
Western Division Governor

It wouldn’t be much of a contest without an audience. It was a great audience and a great contest.

Neville and Mark will represent Western Division at Creswick in Victoria in May, 2010. After their wonderful performances in such strong fields we know they will do very well.

And there will be two more Western Division representatives over there after the Evaluation and International Contests in March next year.

See you at the District Convention.

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Steve Barry DTM

September 2nd, 2009 by David Nicholas

Congratulations to Steve

Steve Barry
Steve Barry

Steve Barry has added Toastmasters highest award to his illustrious career in Toastmasters.

It began in June 1998 when he was one of 6 participants in a Speechcraft Course conducted at Notre Dame University by Victoria Quay.  At the end of the 6th and final session I invited the Speechcrafters to come next week to the first meeting of a new Toastmasters Club.  It was Steve, in his typical, infectiously enthusiastic manner, who responded immediately and urged everybody to come along.  They all did and so Gateway was under way.  It chartered on October 1 that year and the District 73 Governor, Dick Briggs, came across from Melbourne to join us in the celebratory Charter Dinner in December.

Steve Barry DTM – the shy one

His DTM has been a long time coming because of his shy retiring nature.  Shy?  Retiring??  Yes – bubbling, infectiously energetic Steve likes to be in the back room, encouraging others to come forward and bask in the limelight.  He will do anything for you, but he doesn’t expect anything in return.  He is probably severely embarrassed by this public acknowledgement of his success.

Fremantle Gateway

Steve was the first President of the club in 1998 and he has held most, if not all, officer roles in the club since then.  Gateway has been one of the most successful clubs in the District in those 11 years – in fact it is the second most successful club since the current award system was established.  You can see the evidence for this on a site maintained by a member of District 5 in Arizona, and identify the only club to have a slightly more distinguished record than Gateway.

Since that foundation year Steve has been the only member to maintain continuous membership.  It’s no exaggeration to call him the rock on which the club has built such a powerful record.

Powertalk

And it’s not just Gateway.  Powertalk was having membership problems.  Steve and Glenn Wright offered to help and became Club Coaches.  The success of their diligent work with a lot of help from Ross Wilkinson and Sue Voloczi was recorded this year when the club was Presidents Distinguished in the nick of time in June.

Fremantle Gourmet – why not?

Gourmet is another great success story – in collaboration with Ross Wilkinson again.  Steve was the inaugural President.  You can read the story of the foundation of that very successful club and Steve’s pivotal role in it at Fremantle Gourmet Charter

I have been privileged to know and admire Steve Barry since that first Speechcraft meeting in June 1998. He is a big man with a big record of success and it’s a great honour to be his friend.

David Nicholas DTM

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Western Division Report

August 16th, 2009 by David Nicholas

Status report at August 14, 2009

Western Division has had an amazing start to the 2009/10 Year.

The Distinguished Club Program

Member awards across the whole of District 73, with its 10 Divisions, currently amount to 71 Awards.
Of these, Western Division has contributed 33 Awards – 45% of the total from the 10 Divisions. This is quite extraordinary.

Distinguished Club Goals across the District, with 10 Divisions, come to 57 DCP Goals.
Of these, 23 or 40%, come from Western Divisions. Again extraordinary.
Further Western has 2 clubs with 6 Goals!! right now – Canning Vale and Fremantle Gourmet.

What a start to the year for the hardworking members of Western Division. You can view the latest figures for Member Awards and Club DCP progress at
the toastmasterswa.net website.

New Clubs

I have set a target for our 4 Area Governors – each has a goal of ending the year with at least one extra club in the Area.
Here is progress to date

  • W16, Governor Robyn Richards – John Palmer from Canning Vale has already had a Demonstration Meeting for the Jacaranda Gardens club
  • W21, Governor Peter Law – Ross Wilkinson from Gateway is close to finalising arrangements for a Demonstration Meeting for the Applecross Club
  • W28, Governor Gerry Prewett – Gerry from Cannington Communicators is close to finalising arrangements for a Demonstration Meeting for the Victoria Park Club
  • W29, Governor Michael Foster – Michael from Mandjar is close to finalising arrangements for a Demonstration Meeting for the Rockingham Club

Club Officer Training

Right now 10 of our 15 Clubs have had 4 or more Officers trained. 4 Clubs in W29 should be added to this number next weekend when Michael Foster conducts training down in Busselton. Only Amity is in difficulty of meeting the target.

Division Council Meeting

The Area Governors and I will be meeting together on Sunday afternoon, August 30 for an hour’s Council Meeting.
We will be discussing at least the following

  • Distinguished Club Progress in each Area
  • Prospective New Clubs
  • Governor Club visits
  • Club and Area Contests
  • Using the toastmasterswa.net website
  • Criteria for Division and Area Awards

This is only the start

Yes! We have begun very well. Now we need to plan carefully and work hard to continue the success and make this the best year in the history of Western Division and District 73 – while District 73 still has us.

David Nicholas
David Nicholas DTM
Western Division Governor 2009/10
9457 6468

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