The Reigate Rhetoric

The Reigate Rhetoric The Reigate Rhetoric is a public speaking club, part of Toastmasters International. We meet on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month at 7.30.

Come along and learn how to practice your public speaking skills in a safe and supportive environment

22/07/2026

What a wonderful evening at Reigate Rhetoric Toastmasters, on Monday 13 July 2026 and a particularly special one as it marked my first meeting as Club President.
Julie opened with an engaging warm-up before Freddie expertly guided us through the programme as Toastmaster. We enjoyed three excellent speeches: Jen’s “The People Pleaser’s Guide to Not Pleasing Everyone”, Richard’s “The End of the Rebellion” and my own, “Schoolbag in Hand”. Sophie, Kieran and Freddie followed with thoughtful and constructive evaluations.
After the break, Kieran led a lively Table Topics session, Clinton provided the evaluation and I closed the programme as General Evaluator. My sincere thanks to everyone who took on a role and made the evening such an enjoyable and supportive one.
It was a privilege to chair my first meeting as President. The presidency is an annual leadership opportunity, and all members are encouraged to put themselves forward.
Toastmasters is a welcoming space to build confidence, strengthen communication and leadership skills and learn through constructive feedback. Whether you are an experienced speaker or just beginning, we would be delighted to welcome you to Reigate Rhetoric.

11/06/2026

It was a really enjoyable meeting that we had on the 8th of June. For the first time our very own Julie took the role of Toastmaster. We have been very used to Julie as Sergeant at Arms opening every meeting and this time she was on stage for pretty well the whole evening. She did a really great job and was very warm and encouraging for all of us.
Clinton gave us a great warm-up with a lovely sentence starter of “I am very happy when…..” And we all had something to say about that.
The three speakers were super strong. We were privileged to hear Jen's icebreaker when she talked of her lifelong fear of public speaking and how this was a first step in trying hard to overcome it. Freddie dug deep to find something in his life that was challenging and the best he had was planning a 24th birthday party. He brought lots of humor and care to it and Ruth drew some life lessons from a weekend of bonding with friends. We were all delighted to see that Jen won the trophy for a heartfelt speech.
The evaluators of the speeches were Clinton, Kieran, and Ritesh. It's really interesting to note that the evaluators continue to improve and the quality of evaluations is really strong. Clinton took the trophy.
Alan gave us a lovely table topic loosely based around the theme of things that he did at the weekend. It was funny and everyone rose to the challenging topics that he gave us.
They were very well evaluated and Ruth really came into her own, sharing all of her thoughts about these speakers.
As well as offering a general evaluation I ran a mini AGM where we elected our new Committee. They will take over on the first of July and before then this year's committee will have their final few jobs to do.
All in all it was a great evening and a constant reminder of why I keep coming back to Toastmasters after nearly 20 years!

16/05/2026

11th May meeting.
This meeting felt very special, and we were delighted to have such a good time. As ever, Julie opened the meeting well with some encouraging words and a quote. We had a new joiner – Sophie – and she is already participating in the meeting, which is great to see. Heidi was Toastmaster and she brought the evening together really well, and with plenty of encouragement for everyone.
Comfort gave us such a helpful subject for the warm up, asking us to think about how we prepare for speeches. Lots of helpful tips came out from the group.
Then three speeches, as ever. Julie shared with a very personal experience and her relation to obstacles that get in our way. Alan talked about being an independent visitor, which was fascinating. And Ritesh shared about having to drive on the right on a trip to Paris. Julie won the cup, with her moving speech.
Then the evaluators. Natalia had her first outing in this role, and did really well. Richard is well into his evaluation groove and really adds value. Clinton is now becoming a bit of an evaluation master, and he took the cup.
Topics was run by Andy, and he gave us some quite deep and meaningful questions to respond to. It was joyful to see the cup won jointly by two former members, returning as guests – Dave Lister and Steve Harris. All evaluated very well by Kieran, who seems to have gone on a standup course. Ruth was on Harkmaster duty, and managed to ask 30 questions in about 4 minutes! Super impressive. The evening was brought to a great end by Freddie, with a very focussed and encouraging general evaluation.
The meetings just seem to get better!
No meeting on 25th as it’s a bank holiday. So the next meeting is 8th June. See you there!

29/04/2026

27th April
Tonight’s meeting was a very special one, for a number of reasons. I’m writing this on Wednesday, and still have a warm feeling about it!
As ever, Julie opened the meeting well, with an inspiring quote and some encouragement. Then our Toastmaster, Ritesh took us through the night. His first time in the role and he did a great job. He was supportive, clear and even tried a bit of US style audience participation!
Julie brought us a joyful warm up question, about what inspires us. Everyone shared so richly.
And four speeches, which were all outstanding in their own ways. Natalia and Andy both did their ice breakers, and gave us different perspectives into their backgrounds and principles. Heidi gave us a heartfelt experience of personal challenges she’s faced. And one of our founders, Dan Magill returned to the club to practice his competition speech, ready for the District competition on Saturday. Good luck Dan!
Natalia won the best speech prize, with her powerful and heartfelt speech.
The evaluators all did a great job, and Alan walked away with the prize, with a caring and sensitive evaluation.
Ruth gave us some quirky and reflective questions to have a go at in the Table Topics section, and Clinton evaluated them well. He also managed to do a topic, and indeed won the topics speaker prize – that’s a rare thing to happen that the evaluator does this too!
Michael was our careful listening Harkmaster, and challenged us to see how many stats we remembered. And Kieran took time out from setting up his new business and preparing his wedding to give a great general evaluation.
This club feels so supportive and caring, and each evening brings something special. Members really take care of each other and of guests. It is a special place to be. Thanks everyone for coming, and see you for the next meeting, on 11th May.

15/04/2026

Meeting 13th April 2026
Our first April meeting went really well. We’re definitely in the groove of having full, fun and engaging evenings. Thanks to everyone for contributing and for playing your parts. And in particular, thanks to Heidi for organising every meeting, getting all the roles filled and taking care of everything.
The evening started, as ever, with a great opening and a quote from Julie, to set the mood. Tonight it was about mistakes and learning from failure. Thanks Julie!
The Toastmaster was Heidi, stepping in last minute as there had been some changes. Heidi’s been Toastmaster a fair few times now, and always brings positivity, fun and energy to the role.
The warm up was organised by Ritesh, who asked us about new years resolutions! Mainly because it’s his own new year this week, in Nepal. That got us thinking!
We had two great speeches. Michael shared about his mentor and role model, Bob, who seemed to be running his organisation in an ethical, person centred way. It was inspiring to hear. I evaluated him, and was happy to be able to observe and see Michael’s continuing improvements.
Second speech was by Richard, who gave us a great insight into his youth, his journey and his vision. And a rare mention of rap music at a Toastmasters meeting! He was evaluated by Alan – his first evaluation, which was great to hear. Well done Alan for stepping up.
I offered a brief tutorial about giving good evaluations, and shared some structures of how to evaluate well. We have great evaluators at the club, and I was happy to point out some of what is being done well. Evaluations are such a great way to help our speakers grow and develop.
Kieran’s table topic session was fab – all about risk, comfort zone and stretch. 5 speakers managed to offer heartfelt, engaging and interesting thoughts. Freddie evaluated them well, and managed to offer commendations and recommendations to all.
Clinton had two roles to bring the evening together. He was Hark master, and quizzed us in a thorough but also jovial way, to see how well we’re listening! And then the general evaluation was outstanding – bringing all the learning from the evening together. It was super strong.
The evening was lots of fun, we had a couple of guests, and continue to offer great experiences. Thanks everyone for coming along!

Address

Reigate Community Centre, 53 High Street
Reigate
RH29AE

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+447766078318

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