By Mohamed Athif
The 257th Gavel meeting was held in the ENTC PG seminar room at the usual hour of 5 PM. The President, Vibhanu Arachchige called the meeting to order. The national anthem was led by Samavath Mallawarachchi. The president introduced the Gavel Club to the many newcomers from level one, welcoming them to the club.
The Toastmaster for the day, Nuran Arachchi introduced the role players of the day and for the round robin session, invited the members to share how they felt after winning something. As it was a season of many victories for the Gavel club itself, the members enthusiastically shared their feelings on winning and losing. A Gavelier described winning as “a guilty pleasure you get by defeating someone”
The Table Topics were then introduced to the house by the Table Topics Master, Dilshan Pathirana. The well balanced set of topics ranging from “The future of Mora sports” to” That awkward moment you fell in love with an elder sister or a younger brother” were invitingly interesting. Several newcomers and experienced members shared the stage, bringing delight and wisdom to the listeners.
The Speech Olympiad IX Champion, Samadhi Poornima made a convincing account on how we ourselves make our surrounding hell or heaven. Zinthah Nawaz from level one entertained the audience with a well-crafted speech on why he wanted to marry when he was 16. But for Afnan Marzook the Gavel stage was an ideal platform to pour out his frustration of still being single in a humorous speech. The Table Topics session came to a close after 12 such wonderful and heartfelt speeches.
After the timer’s report and Ah-Counter’s report by Ama Kalpani and Pringa Gamage, respectively, the evaluators presented their reports. Samavath Mallawarachchi and Sirimevan Jayasundera provided the speakers with valuable feedback on their speeches pointing out the pros and cons in particular which was invaluable for other members as well.
The day’s meeting was special because two prepared speeches were to follow the Table Topics session. Praveen Kumarasinghe made his ice breaker speech on “This stupid fool”, introducing himself to the Gaveliers. Malith Jayaweera delivered his speech “Uncle Malith” which was magnificently crafted to inspire the audience conveying the message that it’s never too late to learn anything. The evaluators, Vibhanu Arachchige and Sirimevan Jayasundara gave insightful evaluations to the speakers while the house applauded them with standing ovations.
Thilina Shehan presented the grammarian’s report pointing out mistakes and suggesting improvements to the speakers. The grammar tip of the day consisted of some nouns that can be used both as singular and plural, such as “family”, “committee” and “government”.
The general evaluator, Chanaka Madushanka evaluated the role players and suggested things to be improved. The house was delighted to see the immediate past President Charith Akalanka who had joined the meeting. The President adjourned the meeting bringing to a close, another memorable gathering of Gavel family
Role players for the day
Toastmaster – Nuran Arachchi
Table Topics Master –Dilshan Pathirana
Timer – Ama Kalpani
Ah Counter – Pringa Gamage
Grammarian – Thilina Shehan
General Evaluator – Chanaka Madushanka
Table Topics Evaluators – Samavath Mallawarachchi and Sirimevan Jayasundera
Prepared Speech Evaluators – Vibhanu Arachchige and Sirimevan Jayasundera