Stop Press...Stop Press......

Results of the Cliff Hanger Story Competition.

This event jointly run by Swindon Speakers Club and the Swindon Festival of Literature proved very popular.  As the Swindon Advertiser reported the audience were kept in suspense by stories from a variety of genres.  The closing story was a mystery set in a library which was very appropriate considering the location for the event was Swindons splendid new Centrel Library.
One competitor was inspired to write her story during the coffee break and eveyrone in attendance agreed that it was a throughly enjoyable evening.

You can read the winning public story here.
You can read the second place public  story here.
you can read the winning club story here

Charter Dinner 2010.

A great time was had by all at Swindon Speakers Annual Charter Dinner, in the elegant surroundings of Cirencester’s Royal Agricultural College, on Saturday 6 March. We were privileged to have Mr Joe James, the Immediate Past President of the Association of Speakers Clubs as our keynote speaker, who also presented the annual club trophies. As usual we made a book on the length of the speech, made money in the raffle and listened to some scintillating after-dinner wit. You can see all the glorious photos of this event in our photo gallery under the section "Charter Dinners".



Swindon Festival of Literature- Cliff Hanger Stories Event.
This year for the first time the club has been  invited to get invloved actively with The Swindon Festival Of Literature.  On the Thursday 13th of May 2010 7.30-9.30pm  Swindon Speakers will be running a "Cliff Hanger Stories"  event in Swindon Central Library (2nd floor Reading Area). 
Come and join Swindon Speakers and members of the public presenting short "cliff hanger" stories/novelettes.  The idea is that you write a short story or first chapter of 5 minutes' duration which you then read the first 3 minutes of.  If you can leave listeners hanging on your every word and wanting to hear more...you could be the winner and will be asked to read the rest.  Swindon Speakers will present their own stories in the first half of the evening and then it's over to you the general public.....and there will be prizes, plus the kudos of being the first person to win, what we hope will be a regular event. 
If you don't want to do a "cliff-hanger" we still need you as a voting audience and you get to hear all these thrilling short stories!
Please see press for more details nearer the time and see the Swindon Festival of Literature Programme. You can download a PDF entry form here or an MS-Word one here. You can return the Word version by email to secretary@swindonspeakers.co.uk

YouthSpeaks
2010 has kicked off and it will be a very full speaking year.  As a club we are incredibly pleased to have one of our members helping to judge young speakers competitions that have been organised by the Rotary Clubs of Great Britain. 



'Speaking for the Terrified'
Swindon Speakers will shortly be running an morning's 'taster' course under the auspices of New College for those who want to overcome their nerves and get on their hind legs to speak in public. For more details, either watch this space or look out for the New College course brochure.

District Competition Winners 
Swindon Speakers Club is very proud to announce that at the  District Competitions held on 15th November  last year in Gloucester, our very own Lynda Wright carried off the silverware for the Topics Contest, beating all the other hopefuls to win FIRST PLACE and be presented with the prestigeous SEVERN BOAR TROPHY.  Congratulations to Lynda and well done Swindon Speakers who have now won this trophy twice in the last three years!

But it doesn't end there...at the same event there was a novels contest, and our relative newcomer Brian Barber picked up the RUNNER UP spot against very stiff competition from more seasoned competitors.  Well done Brian and once again well done Swindon who have several current club members names on that particular trophy from previous years.  Maybe next year we can "Do the double"?

If you would like to read Brians story click here.

Swindon was also pleased that Robert Ayers was able to present his novel and as only the winner and runner up novels were read out in full, we have provided a link here, so that anyone who would like to read how "The Board Meeting" ends, can do so.

Hosting Email and Web Design Provided by Multidata Broadband