Spinnaker’s first meeting of 2026 got off to a great start with Dale chairing and mystery roles to be filled. We welcomed two guests Chetna and Rory to help fill the ranks.
Timer and Ah Counter Jinny had two roles to fill, and her report at the end were interesting and at times hilarious. She especially mentioned having to give Angela the first bell of 2026 in table topics.
Grammarian Megan’s word of the day was “scintillating”, meaning brilliant, clever, animated or sparkling, but in her report she said there were actually three words of the day – scintillating, mystery, and rust!
Table Topics Mistress Jacqui used the mystery theme for her topics, with Angela saying the greatest mystery when renovating her mother-in-law’s house was discovering the huge garden; Mike said his mystery in the computing world was knowing enough about IT to realise he didn’t know enough about IT; Priyanka told us about the mysterious random places she finds things in her home placed by “the toddler”; Chetna talked about the mystery of losing things from her jewellery box and finding them in the garden; Rory dispelled the mystery of why he came to Toastmasters tonight; and Quentin said that for his holidays were planned to be doing nothing, but he ended up doing heaps of things which was quite a mystery to him.
Table Topics Evaluator Katina thought everyone had done well with the topics, even though some admitted their speaking was a little rusty. Even our two guests got up and gave us a speech. She awarded Quentin the Speech of the Day for his table topic about his mysterious “nothing” holidays.
Vice President Education Dale gave an educational on the Evaluation and International speech contests, outlining the eligibility rules, judging criteria, and how timing works. Evaluator Priyanka thought Dale did a good job of explaining the contests, and she was encouraged to consider entering the contests.
General Evaluator Katina complimented Dale on the organisation of the meeting and said that even though it was well planned, everyone seemed a little rusty, there were mystery roles, we started late, and the technology let us down when the laptop wouldn’t fire up, thinking it was still on holiday, we had a most enjoyable meeting and it was great to be back!
If you are interested in finding out how Toastmasters work, please contact us on spinnaker@toastmasters.org.nz and we’ll get back to you pronto to invite you to our next meeting.
Spinnaker Toastmasters Club, Plimmerton, Porirua, New Zealand 