Winter 11 Featuring: The Buckingham Palace Awards Ceremony ...

BRANCHES
Colchester and Northeast Essex
Geraldine Watson planting the Wollemi pine
An afternoon event was held to mark
the service of Geraldine Watson,
former Chairman of the Colchester &
Northeast Essex Branch on 4 June.
Janet Edwards, Vice-Chairman and
her husband, Colin, kindly opened
their home in Ardleigh, to host a
garden party for around 30 members.
Special guests were Steve Roberts,
Regional Officer and Margaret Furst,
Secretary of the East Region, who
brought a message from Alexander
Finnis, President of the Suffolk
branch. Current branch Chairman,
Brian Cooke, referred to Geraldine as
“a true ambassador of the ESU”
before proposing a toast to her many
years of service. Margaret Furst
acknowledged Geraldine’s depth of
knowledge of ESU matters, recording
her thanks for the guidance she herself
had received. Prof James Raven,
branch President concluded the
speeches with an optimistic view of
the future of the ESU, embracing the
qualities exemplified by Geraldine.
Brian announced the planting of a
Wollemi pine tree in her honour in
due course, while Janet presented a
bouquet on the day. There was also a
special presentation of a bottle of wine
to David Watson, Geraldine’s
husband, who served as Branch
Treasurer over a lengthy period and
undertook the video recording of
several ESU events.
Brian and Chris Newton, Branch
Secretary, attended the England &
Wales final of the Public Speaking
Competition on 7 May, introducing
two students from Colchester to the
competition, Chiyiang ‘Ada’ Chao,
from Taiwan and Soo-Yeon Lee, from
South Korea. They enjoyed the
afternoon, which gave them the
opportunity to meet a range of
members over brunch as well as
listening practice during the
competition.
In October, a total of around 30
members and students were
entertained by pianist Matyas Bacso at
Colchester English Study Centre.
Matyas played a variety of music
including jazz standards and
Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue as well
as his own compositions. Brian
interviewed the Hungarian performer
about his personal background and
musical career. There was an interval,
which allowed members of the
audience to meet each other and
network.
In November, Colchester & Northeast
Essex Branch held a public speaking
competition for local international
students at Colchester English Study
Centre. The event attracted seven
entries, split into two groups, relating
to the participants’ level of English.
Two participants in group 1 (the more
elementary level learners) spoke on a
topic of their choice for two minutes
and they were declared joint winners.
Those in the other group spoke twice
for three minutes, first on a choice of
one of four prescribed topics. The
votes of the audience decided the
winner which resulted in a tie between
two entrants. Brian presented prizes
worth £20 each to Elisabetta Santoru
from Italy and Marzoog Alhothaly
from Saudi Arabia in the level one
group and Jaein Yoon from South
Korea and Ales Perlik from the Czech
Republic from the level two group.
The event was followed by the branch
AGM, where Bob Foster was elected
to the committee.
Hertfordshire
Peter Kyle
We began the Autumn Programme
with a visit to the Theatre Royal,
Windsor in September and a series of
concerts in the National Gallery.
Our Celebrity Dinner was held at
Porters Park Golf Club in November
and our guest speaker was Peter Kyle.
The format for the talk was more of a
dialogue than a formal address;
initially with Nigel Rogers, our
Chairman who began by asking about
Peter’s early life in the North-East and
how that lead on to his involvement
with Shakespeare and the Globe
Theatre. Peter then went on to answer
questions about the ESU from the
audience, some of whom were not
members, in an inspiring and
interesting way. This led to several of
our guests asking for membership
application forms! Our Patron, Sir
Simon Bowes Lyon and Lady Caroline
were also present, and very keen to
talk to Peter about the future direction
of the ESU, in particular the Schools’
Public Speaking Competition, as Sir
Simon has for many years attended
our branch final and been impressed
by the high standard of the teams’
presentations.
DIALOGUE 45