Susan is national speaking champ

Wed 16th June 2010 12.28PM

SUSAN Allan from Wilmslow wasn’t lost for words when she triumphed in a national speaking contest. She lifted the title despite stiff competition from members of almost 200 Association of Speakers Clubs from across the UK. Delighted Susan was presented with The Cheltenham Plate at The association’s annual conference in York. This was the third time Susan had been in the national finals.

Susan won it with an impromptu speech with no advance warning of the title, ‘Happy Returns’, which was announced just seconds before she took to the stage. Susan knew that the best ‘happy return’, for her, would be the return of the World Cup to England this summer and so her speech was born. Any nerves Susan had about public speaking were conquered when she went on a speaker’s course at the Wilmslow Guild. She made friends with several other members on the course and they all decided to join the Stockport Ladies Speakers Club together. The club meets fortnightly at The Deanwater Hotel in Woodford, and they’re still having fun.

She is now the Education Director for the club having also been the President in 2008. A former Estate Agent, Susan now enjoys After Dinner Speaking and speaking for Clubs and Societies around the North West. She said: “I am absolutely delighted to have won such a prestigious trophy. Public Speaking is something that most people avoid at all costs, and yet to succeed at it brings such tremendous rewards.”