The History of Norwich Speakers’ Club
Towards the end of 1990, the members of the Articulate Speakers Club of Dereham realised that a significant number of people were travelling from the Norwich area to attend meetings. As a consequence, the Articulate Speakers began meeting at Norwich based venues from January 1991. The first of these took place at Caistor Hall Hotel, Caistor St Edmund and whilst well attended, did suffer from the exuberance of customers in the bar area!
More suitable meeting places were investigated, and on 7th February 1991, Articulate Speakers began meeting in the conference room of Norwich Union Fund Managers in Sentinel House, Surrey Street, Norwich. These were very plush surroundings offering first class accommodation and facilities, however NUFM needed to convert their conference facility into offices and Articulate Speakers was on the move again.
The next venue for meetings was the Yare Valley Adult Education Centre, Thorpe St Andrew, Norwich from 13th June 1991. This was a very much a classroom environment and fairly rudimentary, but accommodated the club until the autumn of 1991.
A turbulent period in the clubs history began at this time, the core issue being where the ‘home’ of Articulate Speakers should be, either Dereham or Norwich. The name of ‘Articulate’ was originally associated with Crane Fruehauf of Dereham, (manufacturers of articulated trailers), who supported the foundation of the club. Under the leadership of the then President Peter Moore, together with Julian Hammond, plans were put into place to start an independent Toastmasters club in Norwich.
In September 1991, the club started meeting at the Norwich City College on alternate Thursdays and in Dereham on alternate Mondays. This continued until the end of 1991, and on 1st January 1992 Norwich Speakers Club was born!
Both clubs continue to thrive and now not only compete with each other in speaking contests, but also visit each other regularly.
By June 1993, Norwich Speakers had outgrown the accommodation at the City College and moved into the Assembly House, Norwich. In the spring of 1995, the members were again becoming restless and were contemplating another move when the devastating fire in the Assembly House accelerated the decision!
(Must have been the fiery speeches – sorry).
In May 1995, the Norwich Speakers Club began meeting at its present venue, The Annexe, County Hall, Norwich.
This venue offers the best of all worlds, an easy to reach location, plenty of parking and a first class training environment. The club has been here for over four years and is enjoying a tremendous surge in membership as one of the top clubs in the world within Toastmasters International.
Julian Hammond DTM
12/10/99