FOUNDATION HISTORY
Aylesbury Speakers Club, the oldest surviving speakers club in the United Kingdom, celebrated its fiftieth anniversary under the Presidency of Khai Eng Tyler, an enterprising Berkhamsted resident and local businesswoman. Through a committed belief in the club forum, and the benefit of the Toastmasters International educational program, in enabling 'ordinary' people to enjoy and find their voice and confidence in the setting of a supportive social club, Khai Eng and her husband, Rex, together with fellow Toastmaster, Alastair Watson Gandy, set out to establish Berkhamsted Speakers Club.
The aim: to create a successful club from within the talented internationally diverse population of Berkhamsted and the surrounding communities. Additional newly enrolled Toastmasters members * were co-opted on to the founding committee to organise a formal launch for the club, through a fund-raising lunch on Sunday, 22nd July, 2007, at Berkhamsted Civic Centre attended by 140 guests (including the Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Hertfordshire, Miss Linda Haye); the proceeds of the day to enable the club to secure a permanent forum at the Friends Meeting House on Berkhamsted High Street.
The club's informal foundation meetings began in February 2007, and until its first formal meeting at the established forum in the Friends Meeting House, Berkhamsted, on 14th August, 2007, were warmly and hospitably hosted by Khai Eng and Rex at their business premises (Cooks Delight). Their appetising generosity is legendary, especially, to those of us fortunate enough to have been part of the founding committee.
* Evelyn Reeder - Aylesbury and Berkhamsted Speakers Club
James Moss - Berkhamsted Speakers Club
Mukul Sethi - Berkhamsted Speakers Club
Valerie L. Tranfield - Berkhamsted Speakers Club