Christmas Celebration Meeting

Christmas starts early for us at Gurney-Hydro Toastmasters...

We're having a joint celebration meeting with Voices Toastmasters this 16th Dec @ Gurney Hotel. Be prepared for the double excitement & fun filled evening that is awaiting you. Experience the joy of sharing thru gift exchange session.

For more details, please email us at gurneyhydrotmc@gmail.com. Be there or be square!

Ho, ho, ho... Merry Christmas!

Yay.. We did it first!

Congratulations President Chan! We got an email from the District that we are the first in Division S to achieve the Distinguished Club status.

Well done everyone.. Let's keep it up the great teamwork!

Announcement: Tying the Knot (at last)..

Dear Joanne & Kent,

May love happiness joy, prosperity and harmony ever sweetly surround you both, forever we relay..

With love from all @ Gurney-Hydro Toastmasters

When Was The Last Time You Had A Laugh?!!

Join us on 19th August 09 @ 1945 @ Hydro Hotel for the one and ONLY!

Program Sheet:

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0ASjfyQ-ITqLDZGR3NmdoaDhfMzRoajN3ODVkcg&hl=en

Tips & Rules On Crafting A Humorous Speech:

http://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0ASjfyQ-ITqLDZGR3NmdoaDhfMTloc2txbThwdA&hl=en

Good Deed followed by Good Food @ Pulau Aman

Lend a Helping Hand

It was a meaningful weekend…

Association Yee Ran Jing Sheh Handicapped Children’s Home has been around since end of 2002 around Bukit Tengah. They are an independent, non-governmental and non-profit association that is registered under the Jabatan Pendaftaran Pertubuhan Pulau Pinang. They basically provide shelter and care for the physically and mentally handicapped children and adults. Up to date, thay have 56 inmates living in this home.

Through observations at the home, it is to note that most of the inmates are bed-ridden and suffer from moderate cases of hydrocephalus (water build-up of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain leading to enlargement and swelling), rheumatoid arthritis (frozen and locked joints) and deformational posterior plagiocephaly (flat facial bones on the back of the forehead).


The committee members are dependent on funds raised through fairs, donations from various NGO organisations and on-off contributions from avid philanthropists. Donations from public can be rather sparse during non-festive season.

All contributions will be utilized for the expansion of the building and other daily use materials that they require.

Gurney-Hydro Club, in collaboration with Hydro Hotel, has visited the Association Yee Ran Jing Sheh Handicapped Children’s Home over the weekend.

In a short period of two weeks, we have raised a whooping RM 9,429 and collected donation in goods from friends and family.

This day would not have been successful if not for support and kind donations from the following:

A group of young & happening kind hearts from Gurney-Hydro Club
Hydro Hotel – GM & staffs
Pentamaster – CEO & staffs
UMW – Sam & colleagues
Agilent – Weng Keong & colleagues
KCS Electrical Sdn Bhd
Sofresh Marketing Sdn Bhd
GST Fine Foods Sdn Bhd
Yogee Enterprise
Flantech
D’Quest Venture
..…and many more kind individuals

After some good deed, we headed off to Pulau Aman for some good food followed by a Toastmasters meeting. Hmmmm? Now, who says Toastmasters ain’t fun? Our pictures says it all.

















Everyone was waiting for the boat to arrive at the Jetty. We were so excited when the boat arrive. Little did we realized, we left Lynda and Weng Keong behind. (Of course we went back to get them)







The boat ride only took us about 10 minutes to get us over to Pulau Aman.

















Soo Huey and my personal favourite is the Mee Udang Goreng. Yuuuummmmm... After our makan session, we continue with the usual Toastmasters meeting.


Kyle doing his Speech Project No 4 on "How to Say It". Title of his speech was “Waking Up in Turpan”. Hehe, dunno what’s Turpan, well, too bad, you’ve got to be present to find out more.

As for Joanne, thanks for sharing with us on tips on what's required for Humourous Speech Competition.

Just look at her facial expression, you would have known how interesting the “Battle of the Sexes” was :)


Word of the Day by Sam – “KIND”. In French translation by Jacques – “gentil”.

After evaluations and all, we left for Penang about 4:30pm.

That afternoon, we all went home happily knowing that we have all done our little part to change someone else's life. Thanks again for those that had contributed in every ways.

That’s it for now…. Till we blog again. Tada~

Exercising Our Muscles And Traditions @ Pantai Kerachut!

One fine day (June 7), members of the Gurney Hydro TMC decided to take a stroll in the jungle and to be one with nature at the "End of the World".

It took us an hour to strenuously wade through the jungle trek, among pesky mosquitos, huge ants, and fallen logs. It was so very tough that we had to play a game - everyone in the hiking line had to construct a word based on the last alphabet of a word started by another person, etc.


All the while, Bernard was way out up front leading the way. More exercise needed eh, other members of the Gurney-Hydro TMC?

Thankfully, when we reached the "End of the World", the world didn't end with a sheer cliff off into oblivion. Instead, we were presented with a beautiful beach.

What's to do on a beautiful beach on a lovely sunny day, you may ask?

Well, for one, you could hold a Toastmasters meeting. We held a short Toastmaster's meeting where the TOM was in charge (TOM = Toastmasters of the Morning). Dylan gave an assignment speech and table topics centered around the being one with nature. That is - the topics required the participants to choose an object where they would associate themselves with and give a speech for at least 1 minute. During the process, we learned that the French word for "joyful" is "joyeaux" from Bernard.

Another thing to do on a beautiful beach would be to throw your Immediate Past President (IPP) into the ocean. Yes. This is our wacked Gurney-Hydro tradition of sending off the ex-President at the end of the term. Remember how King Arthur was mysteriously carried off to Avalon in a boat after he was mortally wounded during the Last Battle? We were thinking of something similar, but there was no boat for Queen Joanne.

Incoming President Chan will need to hire some bodyguards next year. Anyone up for hire?

Of course, how could we forget food?? While we were savoring bits and pieces of kuih and sandwiches to make up for our glycogen losses, Wan and Bernard were chatting away on the origins of the universe, Easter Island, evolution, aliens, and string theory.

The truth is out there...

It was already past noontime when the feeding frenzy ended, so we ended up taking a few more photos and hitching a boat ride back to the main entrance of the hike.

Alas, we were still hungry so we ended up at "No Eye Deer" for our late lunch. It's really confusing if you tell people over the phone that you are at "No Eye Deer" for lunch, but it's not as bad as say... the place called "Bed" (in Bellissa Row). Imagine telling "I am in [insert shop name] with John and Mary, you wanna join?"

That would make a grown man blush.

New Members Induction Ceremony cum Hydro Hotel Visit

Date : 5th April 2009
Venue : Hydro Hotel,
Batu Feringghi, Penang

Members of Gurney Toastmasters enjoyed the best of Hydro Hotel's Buffet Sunday Hi-Tea, especially the pudding! ehem..and we meant it!

It is a 'ritual' for a new member to be inducted into the family of any Toastmasters Club. (Normally, induction is held on a yearly basis during Joint Installation Banquet dinner but we do have our own induction at the club level. )

This time round, our induction coincides with the F1 Sepang Race 2009 and we were so spoilt to be inducted at Hydro Hotel by the poolside.

Three new members, one 'used-to-be' member and five Gurney Toastmasters members gathered for a Sunday Buffet Hi-Tea with a plan, not to take over Hydro Hotel but to spread the goodness of Toastmasters in the hotel itself! Nothing was hard to do as the General Manager himself was inducted that day.

Programme of the day :

2.30pm START : Hi Tea @ Coffee House next to Poolside.

Wonderful environment and lots of varieties of food. Everyone was happy and relaxed catching up and getting to know one another more.

4:00pm Hotel Tour to the Meeting Room, Business Centre, Rudi's Office, Lounge etc.

4:30pm Meeting started by Ai Li, TOE.
Welcoming speech by Sam Koay, IPP
Word of the day by Rudi

- "AUF WIERSERSEHN!" (German : until we meet again)

Humour session by Sam & Muthu.

Assignment speech by Soo Huey

- "What have you missed today?"

5.00 pm Table topic session with 8 participants
Speech evaluation for prepared speech by Yap Heng Weng
Table topic evaluation by Muthukumaran.

he, he commented that he never had evaluated 8 table topics before in his entire history with Toastmasters! Everyone had fun and was actively participating :)

Induction Ceremony by Cheah Ee Liang (Area S3 Governor)

- Announcement of new members with Mentor
Chan - Dylan (Mentor)
Rudi - Ai Li (Mentor)
Weng Keong - Sam (Mentor)
Kyle - Joanne (Mentor)

5:45pm Meeting ended. Closing speech by Dylan.

It was indeed a great induction ceremony for the new members and a great gathering for all!

WH Yap (Renesas Toastmasters Club) , Soo Huey (Achievers Toastmasters Club) and Ai Li

Kyle Lee (new member), Lynda and WK Wan (new member)

Jyh Woei (new member) and Sam

We had a few comments from the guest who joined us in the gathering and as usual,

"Gurney Toastmasters Club is ALWAYS THE MOST HAPPENING CLUB ~ EVER!"

* We wish to thank Muthukumaran (Penang Advanced Toastmasters Club), WH Yap (Renesas Toastmasters Club), Penny Ooi (Maverick Toastmasters Club), June Lim (YMCA Toastmasters Club) and Cheah Ee Liang (Area S3 Governor + Renesas Toastmasters Club) for making the event a more successful!

Division S International Speech and Table Topic Contest 2009

After several undefeated challenges from Club contest to Area then it is the time for Division Contest!

Every contestant in this contest is already winners! Some won the mind of the judges, some won the hearts of their admirers, some won the attention of the girls and others that were present, took home something priceless - the experience!

Division S International Speech and Table Topic Contest 2009 was held in Penang Adventist Hospital's Nursing College Hall. And mind you, it was so packed that the hospital might even consider to extend the hall!! :)

Both contest was participated by Champions of each Area, in total 7 Areas in Division S. That means, each contestants will need to face their competitors from 7 different background and experiences!

Gurney Toastmasters Club was representated by the President, Joanne Tan, who won the Area S3 Table Topic Contest and was the 1st Runner Up for the International Speech Contest. She represented the Area S3 to compete in the Table Topic contest, and mind you! It was a real tough topic!


"A Word A Day, You Will Learn A Whole Dictionary Someday" Do you agree on the idea, and why?


Stood tall with nothing but butterflies and words...flabbergasted with the topic, she carried on by saying that Toastmasters programme is already a dictionary itself! With every meeting's "Word Of The Day", it sure has helped her through many speechless moments. And eventhough a dictionary is worth a great study, but a teacher would worth more than what she needs. And she quoted her friend from US, Mr Solomon Olin, a tourist who was a great teacher to her throughout his 2 months, as he stayed in Penang, he taught her the meaning of being a human and how to be successful in mind, body and soul. Her last sentence was "It is never easy to learn a dictionary, but it was never easy to learn to be a meaningful human being. Thanks to the dictionary for the words and meanings, but thanks to people we meet for their guidance and great moments shared, priceless!"

Our Winner, the Division S' 1st Runner Up in Division S Table Topic Contest 2009.

Ushering the 'Chai' to Gurney Toastmasters!

With everyone all ready to usher in the year of Ox this Chinese New Year, Gurney Toastmasters are still in the mood of having their speech done and a traditional reunion with everyone in the 'family'.



We have been practising our tradition of having a reunion dinner together, if not, a reunion for all the members, past and present.



This year, with no exceptional reasons, "yee shang" was the main attraction! Supporting Gurney Hotel in their quest for charity, we purchase the "yee shang" for a great celebration after the meeting.




Wikipedia.com :


Yusheng , yee sang or yuu sahng (simplified Chinese: 鱼生; pinyin: yúshēng) is a Chaozhou-style raw fish salad. It usually consists of strips of raw fish (most commonly salmon), mixed with shredded vegetables and a variety of sauces and condiments, among other ingredients. Yusheng literally means "raw fish" but since "fish (鱼)" is commonly conflated with its homophone "abundance (余)", Yúshēng (鱼生) is interpreted as a homophone for Yúshēng (余升) meaning an increase in abundance. Therefore, yusheng is considered a symbol of abundance, prosperity and vigor.








At the same time, we have 2 new members that decided to join our Gurney Toastmasters family. What a great celebration indeed!



New members profile :





Kyle Lee

Profession : Engineer
Reason of joining Toastmasters : To learn and improve communication skills

Chan Jyh Woei

Profession : Senior Account Officer

Reason of joining Toastmasters : To improve communication skills and brush up on his leadership skills too

* More about members feature up next , stay tune!!

GurneyTMC Caring Project

To many, Chinese New Year celebration is about having a great family dinner together in our cozy dining room with lots of fish, chicken, meat, vegetables and of course, great drinks!

To some, it's that time of the year where holiday begins with $$ and this is especially meaningfull for kids who love the feeling of 'ang pow' filling up their pockets and bags.

To children at the Children Protection Society, it's a whole different story.

With a little thought of sharing and a little effort to keep the spirit of giving and sharing a great Chinese New Year, Gurney Toastmasters Club members initiated a visit to the Children Protection Society (CPS). The centre, located at Scotland Road, Penang, is a shelter for children who were abused, tortured and even abandoned by their parents, and loved ones.

With approximately 30 children under the care of 2 house mother, the centre provide shelter, food and studies for the children aged between 5 till 18 years old. These children are from all over Penang and are from different races, but living together means a lot to them as support for each other are very strong can easily be found here, at the Children Protection Society. Don't be surprised when you meet some of very intelligent and active children there!!

We were there last night from 8pm till 10.30pm, to offer our help in terms of entertaining and guiding the children towards a better education journey. We separated the children into 2 groups, the primary school and secondary schools.

Sam, Ai Li and Benjamin Liaw (PAH Toastmasters Club) took the lead in providing education and motivation talk to the secondary school children while Joanne, Dylan, Wooi Fun (Intel Toastmasters Club) and Denise (Intel Toastmasters Club) brought some joy with games to the kids of those in primary school. We were glad that Mable, our long-missed member showed up with some dictionaries and even Mr Khoo and wife (Penang MCA Toastmasters Club) came with balloons sculptures to captures the heart of everyone there!

Thanks a million to everyone who offered their heart and hands to help cheer the children at CPS last night, 23rd January 2009. With this, i attached the pictures for your viewing pleasures and of course, with hope that you, would offer your love to those in need, especially during festive seasons like this.

* Gurney Toastmasters Club would like to extend our deepest appreciation to everyone that sent who send their love and support for this project by sponsoring money and food for the orphans.

To all the staffs at UMW, thank you for sponsoring in kind of purchase of dictionaries, reference books, motivational books and chess games.

To Joan Chan (Penang YMCA Toastmasters Club), thank you for your monetary support and advise for the project.

To KK Chee (Butterworth & Penang Advanced Toastmasters Club), Past District 51 Governor, thank you for your kindness in communicating with Tan Mark Bookstore which leads to the sponsoring of books and very useful workbooks for the children.

To Tan Mark Bookstore Manager, thank you for your kindness and support towards the project.

To Mr Soon Guan Pin from Thye Sun Hup Kee, thank you for sponsoring MILO drinks, water tumbler and exercise books for the children.

And here are the pictures!!








Sam giving motivational talk to the children in the secondary school.

Looking like a teacher, Sam!!

Joanne, Dylan and Wooi Fun helping out Ming in his charade acts.

Joe, one of our favourites, he's a life-wire!!

Q&A Session

Dato' Khoo (Penang MCA Toastmasters Club) with his balloons scultures!!

Some of the slides for the motivational talk by Sam , speech about encouragement, displine, confidence and future..

Joanne, Dylan, Wooi Fun and Denise in the secret talk with the kids..on the deepest darkest secret.

*The most heartache talk is from Joe, he was abused by his uncle - with belt and long stick.

Dylan in his 'too-too train sentence' game..

Check out Chun and Wooi Fun ! Priceless smile!

Chun, 7, a great fan of Nicholas Teo...sang us 'Tong Hua' at the end of the game.

The girls, Meena, Huey Ling, Letchu and Banu in their Tamil song..cute!

Sam and Ai Li helping out and briefing the kids on the books, which will be placed in their 'mini library' created by us.

Some of the books, games and MILO sponsored. Thanks a million to all the sponsors!!

Presentation of the sponsorship...

Ang Pow session!!

Balloon pic with the kids!!

Last but not least, a picture for all!! It is indeed a great memory and a great way to start a new year of the Ox!!