A “hughsive” 4 August 2020 meeting!

As our Grammarian informed us tonight, “Massive doesn’t cut it!” Therefore, our Spinnaker meeting was “hughsive” … you may or may not find it in the dictionary. The theme was huge, too. Our Chair Megan provided us with information about ‘World International Day’ throughout the meeting – who knew there was an International Lefthanders Day?

The word of the day was, of course, hughsive!

At Spinnakers, Table Topics are always a fun time, with lots of challenges and laughter. Table Topics Master Gary had our butterflies flying in order and formation and proceeded posing questions with aplomb.

Angela showed us how she wields her $850 vacuum cleaner with grace and precision throughout her house but still hates vacuuming. It certainly doesn’t help having to pick up numerous socks and sidestepping a grumbling husband, no wonder Angela thinks it’s a thankless chore!

Dale’s favourite family tradition is celebrating family birthdays – a bit of a challenge when there’s a 1,500 km moat between family members! It may be difficult to get everyone around the same table right now but Dale has great recommendations for finger-licking, plate cleaning meals and an excellent lager, go ask her!

Peter has a superpower, it’s true, even if it’s only in his dreams. He flies, he soars, he glides. He is an unidentified flying object, quickly swishing off to the Sahara to see snow in the desert. He sure has fascinating dreams.

Did you know, Albertus’ favourite sport is watching sport? At some point he decided he didn’t want to do the running around on the field himself, plus he developed an aversion to touching slightly sweaty bodies. Fair enough, and archery is really quite gentle on other people’s bodies, he does have a point there.

Ian confessed to a limited palate, having been trained on a variety of spuds certainly doesn’t help. But he truly is a connoisseur when it comes to Guinness, he swears he is absolutely besotted with the brew. Give him a Guinness and you make his year!

And Kathy, you took the words out of our mouths: if we could wish one thing, we would all wish the dastardly virus out of this world and get back to normal life again.

And these were just the table topics! They had us sitting upright, joining in, laughing and commenting. From then on we were treated to first class speeches, one more interesting than the next.

Angela told us about unlikely heroes, the 8 people of the IQR who deal with the hugely complicated logistics of sourcing accommodation, transport and security for people arriving in New Zealand. It was a fascinating insight into the workings of crisis management at its finest.

Ron (pictured below with his PERT equipment) advised us sagely that we live in dangerous times and on the shaky isles and we had best be prepared. Do not wait for the dark and stormy night, be aware, have a plan and be prepared! The best thing would be to join him and Jacquie as volunteer members of PERT and learn about emergency management and civil defence preparedness in Porirua.

And finally, Dale made us sit up and learn about a controversial subject – the rezoning of Plimmerton Farm from rural to urban and its development from rolling green hills to dense housing for thousands of people. The trick was that it was not only a hugely interesting speech, it was also a master class of how to handle a tricky audience that disrupts the speaker with interjections.

Altogether a very enjoyable night for everyone, with great conversations and everybody had a role to play. Club members are now keenly awaiting the upcoming contests. The first will be held on September 1: Table Topics and Evaluation. The contest for Humorous and International speeches will take place on November 3. Make sure you have these dates in your calendar.

President Gary also presented Albertus (below) with his trophy for winning the Division Humorous Speech Contest which was held online during lockdown. Well done, Albertus – your speech “The Kiss” was a gem!