Dear Toastmasters and Friends,
What a fantastic party!
When I arrived yesterday to help arrange the Polterkeller for our party, Kristina Koch, Angela Saxby, Laura Beyer, and Mateusz Bukowski were already there, hard at work. This team of organizers has labored diligently behind the scenes for months to prepare a smashing holiday party for Zurich, Mosquito Hill and Zuriberg Toastmasters, for our fellow Toastmasters from Zug, Bern, and St. Gallen, and for our welcome friends. There isn’t enough room to record everything each one has contributed, so I’ll simply point out that without the magnanimous investment of time, talent, and even property, from each of them, our party would have been impossible.
Special kudos to one of our younger Toastmasters, Laura Beyer, whose raffle and dessert buffet last night displayed tremendous creativity, not to mention industry, as she baked and bustled the entire week to dress our tables with irresistible treats and gorgeous raffle bundles.
Big thanks to Frances Turley and William Horan, who shared their stories and a walloping serving of hilarity, and to Kamran Derakhshan, who conducted a feisty and stimulating Table Topics tournament.
Thanks also to Toastmasters who donated raffle prizes: Kristina Koch, Jack Vincent, John Styffe, and Selina Man Karlsson.
Finally, thanks to all of you who simply showed up with your smiles, your social elixirs, and your dancing shoes, and helped to make it a warm and wonderful evening none of us will ever forget.
Douglas Hope, the Toe for Toe dance leader, told me that 200 years ago, when villagers congregated regularly for Céilidhs, quarrels between friends and neighbors would be forgotten as they danced together. That historical sketch epitomizes the spirit which we hoped to foster between Toastmasters and friends in our three clubs and beyond, when we selected a Céilidh as our holiday party activity for 2012.
So as we conclude a remarkable year and contemplate 2013, I trust we will carry this sense of camaraderie and collaboration between Toastmasters and friends into the new year.
We hope to see all of you again soon,
Olivia Coker
President
Zuriberg Toastmasters