Punggol Park Toastmasters Club 20th Anniversary Message

As part of Punggol Park Toastmasters Club’s 20^th Anniversary, I contributed the following message as the Division Director, Division G (2020/2021). 

Punggol Park Toastmasters Club is a club with history.  It produced Singapore’s first world champion of public speaking, Darren Tay Wen Jie.  This is an achievement that has inspired Toastmasters in Singapore.  Since then, we have had Manoj Vasudevan as champion, and we have had Wiwiek Najihah binte Hairudin as a finalist.  Now, we have Ng Kin Foong, who has dominated the speech contests in recent years, and is knocking on the door as the next world champion.  That is the legacy of one club, inspiring others. 

Rhetoric is one of the oldest skills of humanity.  It is the basis of our civilisation.  In Toastmasters, Punggol Park Toastmasters Club was one of the temples of rhetoric in the community.  It is a fixture of Division G, and its members are a pillar of the community.  Punggol Park Toastmasters Club has a proud tradition of its members serving in the District.  It gave District 80 a District Director, in Patricia Lum, who now serves at Toastmasters International level.  It gave us many Area Directors and Divisional Council members. 

Punggol Park Toastmasters Club is not a club anyone joins to merely be a better speaker.  It is a club with history, and people join to be part of that history.