Club Culture
Our members and guests all agree that St Paul’s Speakers has fantastic, supportive environment within which speakers can improve their skills. Our club caters for all levels of ability. Whether you’re delivering your first speech or are a seasoned speaker, we can help you grow your confidence and reach the next level in your public speaking journey.
We’re proud of our reputation as one of the friendliest clubs in London. Thanks to that reputation we have a diverse mix of members of all ages, nationalities and professions from all over London. Our meetings encourage everyone to challenge themselves in a relaxed atmosphere. We believe in helping our members to develop their speaking and leadership skills, but that this doesn’t preclude us having a lot of fun along the way.
Everyone can benefit from a mentor to really get the most out of the Toastmasters programme, so we offer all members the opportunity to be assigned mentors from within the club.
History
Believe it or not, St Paul’s Speakers is actually one of the oldest clubs in London! St Paul’s Speakers is the 3rd incarnation of a line of clubs that have existed in the St Paul’s area – firstly as a public club “Sedgewick” in 1998, then as a corporate club “ToastMarshters” for Marsh Insurance. Unfortunately, this iteration of the club did not fare well in the financial downturn of 2008, with member numbers slowly eroding. In response and in a move to return to its “open” roots, St Paul’s Speakers was relaunched as a community club in March 2009, welcoming speakers of all abilities throughout the area.
Within four months, the founding members had rebuilt the club’s membership to twenty individuals and attained “Distinguished” club status – a momentous achievement. Building on its early success, the club eventually found a permanent venue at “The Spectator” in January 2010, continuing to flourish and make its mark on the London Toastmasters scene. Elevating itself to “Select Distinguished” club status in July 2010, St Paul’s Speakers was now firmly established with not one but TWO club members winning through to the London Divisional finals.
The club has attained Distinguished status every year since 2011, rising up to President’s Distinguished in 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2015/16; Select Distinguished in 2014/15 and 2016/17.
Meetings now take place in St Botolph’s without Aldersgate, Aldersgate Street, London, EC1A 4EU.
St Paul’s Speaker continues to thrive as one of the premier destinations for improving communication and leadership skills.
Past Presidents
2009/10 – Alan Thomas
2010/11 – Greg Ros
2011/12 – Diana Lowe
2012/13 – Helen Mahony (first half year)
2012/13 – Raphael Kopel (second half year)
2013/14 – Dennis Peper
2014/15 – David Saer
2015/16 – Florian Bay
2016/17 – Caroline Morgan & Thien Trang Nguyen Phan
2017/18 – Christopher Walker
2018/19 – Rakesh Patel
2019/20 – Ricardo Zimbron
2020/21 – Jessica Guzzetta-King
2021/22 – Martin Madden
2022/23 – Lewis Kyriacou