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TIMBRE TUNES

TIMBRE TALKERS TOASTMASTERS CLUB, CLUB # 1540871, AREA 19, DIVISION O, DISTRICT 20

First edition

2015-16

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE

President’s note ……………………………………………..3

Our Ex-Com has to say…………………………………...4

Live each day as if it is your last…………………….6

Seismic shifts in life……………………………………….8

Our journey in 2015-16………………………………...10

TTTM Mightier Pen - Article 1……………………….12

TTTM Mightier Pen - Article 2……………………….14

You will surely find us here……………………………16

Your Sincere Club Officers……………………………..16

Inside this issue…..

Editor’s Note:

It was a wonderful time spent along with fellow toastmasters to get

their ideas, articles and pictures for this first edition for 2015-16. I

thank everyone for their efforts, contribution and support during this

journey. Timbre Talkers Toastmasters Club presents “First Edition” of

TIMBRE TUNES for 2015-16.

“THIS IS IT!”

TM Tanujh Singh

VP Public Relations

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Dear friends,

It is my pleasure serving as President of the Timbre Talkers Toastmaster

Club for the term 2015-16. The club is celebrating its 5th anniversary on

this 20th October. The persistent achievements of the club have been

noted and recognized on all performance matrices which bear no

repetition. I take this occasion to express the gratitude of the club to all its

leaders (past or present) – DTM Salu John, DTM Praveen Madhavan, TM

Nanda, TM Murali, TM Baburaj, TM Rajshekhar, DTM Anil Lobo, TM

Vishwanathan, TM Xavier, DTM Vinod Raman, TM Alifiya and TM Anand

Pillai. The contributions of each one of them have been unique with one

common denomination of “selfless commitment” and to my mind this has

taken the club where it stands now.

I have no intimate personal knowledge of other toastmaster clubs but my

half gray hair bear witness to my past and continuing association with

multitudes of groupings – social, professional and organizational. My

experience with Timbre Talkers has been unique in many ways which I

enumerate as commitment without apparent reward, encouragement to

everyone to perform, selflessness, constant churning of leadership and

excellent teamwork under a loose hierarchy. All of these qualities in any

organizational set-up are performance enhancers. I am fortunate to work

with the current leadership team which is dyed-in-the-wool in the similar

attributes which the past leadership demonstrated. We assure the

toastmasters fraternity that we will keep marching.

I have a word for the potential toastmasters. Come and experience

yourself. You have nothing to lose except self-imposed cap on your

potential. Your talent will bloom in an environment which is

collaboratively competitive. Believe me you will not regret joining a

toastmasters club. Neither I have regretted nor have I met a person who

has expressed any regret.

(Aftab Alam)

20 October 2015

“My experience with

Timbre Talkers has been

unique in many ways

which I enumerate as

commitment without

appa r e n t r ewa rd ,

e n c o u r a g em e n t t o

everyone to perform,

selflessness, constant

churning of leadership

and excellent teamwork

u n d e r a l o o s e

hierarchy”.

PRESIDENT’S NOTE…..

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“I have really enjoyed my last one and half

years spent with Toastmasters. It has helped

in unleashing my hidden potential at

leadership front and improving public

speaking skills. It was one of the best decision

I made in life to join Toastmasters club.”

NANCY VIJO , VP EDUCATION

TANUJH SINGH, VP PUBLIC RELATIONS

“Year 2015 16 has been a quite fruitful and

challenging one with a new set of hands in

the Ex-com with a twist of uniqueness and

focus on quality. Looking forward to exceed

TTTM'S good will.”

“It is a great opportunity for me to be a part

of such a dynamic Ex-com of such a

prestigious club. I am eagerly looking

forward for the day when Timbre Talkers

will produce a world champion. I wish all

the success to the club on this 5th

anniversary.”

Our Ex –Com has something to say…..

ANAND PILLAI, VP MEMBERSHIP

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Our Ex –Com has something to say…..

NANDINI NARENDRAN , SECRETARY

“Being a new member to the Toastmasters’

community, I consider it an honour to have

received the post of ‘Secretary’. The systematic

and timely functions that me and other Ex-com

members have to fulfill has instilled a sense of

responsibility in me. I also find immense joy in

completing the duties entrusted to me. Ex-com

2015-16 is different!”

"Before joining the Club, I used to think that

public speaking skills are gifted and cannot be

groomed. How incorrect I was! It has been a year

on this journey of Timbre Talkers Toastmasters

to improve my public speaking skills. Being part

of excellent executive committees, my journey as

the treasurer of the Club since last four months

has been smooth.”

SAGAR DAMANI , TREASURER

PRITHA BANERJEE , SERGEANT AT ARMS

“I consider fortunate enough of being given the

responsibility as ‘Sergeant At Arms’ for 2015-16.

It’s been close to one year as a Toastmaster and I

am enjoying every bit of it. I wish huge success to

TTTM club in future.”

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Live each day as if it is your last

The purpose of being given a

Life is not fully understood till

one matures, has all perspec-

tives in mind cleared and under-

stood and is able to give his own

sane judgement about what is

right or wrong. We are all born

for a reason and have to go back

from where we came else death would never come to

anyone.

My eyes opened up when I heard a testimonial given by

a Cancer-surviving fighter who is just 27 and a mother

to a 4 year old. Diagnosed a year ago it initiated with a

pain in the thigh and leg which many of us can have and

we shrug it off. After repeated tests and proper diagno-

sis through MRI, it was identified as Ewan's Sarcoma,

something which happens to 2 in a million.

I'm sure the first thing that crossed her mind was "Why

me?" But then, I would have thought it to be "

Wow ! I'm one of the two lucky ones in a million !!! ...

And then when the reality sinks in, I would be dis-

traught, dismal, depressed and all the possible" Nega-

tive D's". No but this lady didn't. She asks : " So now

what is the next step?". She wants to fight this battle

against all odds. She wants to tell her husband, her ba-

by , her family how much she loves them every day, she

wants to do all the whacky things she never did before,

...she wants to live each second of every minute of every

hour of every day.

Of course treatments are on, painful and expensive, but

she will do them to save the rest of her cells from acting

funny too and grow abnormally, she will put on a brave

smile, blog sites, research her illness and teach others

who are suffering a similar fate to fight back. She loves

to write, so she writes her feelings, pouring her heart

out, she encourages others to feel beautiful as they are

women too and have a right to live, nevertheless a short

time, but to start off where they are ending it without

hope. She gives them hope. No, she gives us all Hope !!!

Isaac Asimov quotes : Life is pleasant, Death is peaceful ;

it is the transition that's troublesome. I believe hope,

thanks and a prayer is all you need to live on each day .

It has been my motto to live each day as if it is your last,

as no one is given a second chance. A moment lost is lost

forever. Capture these moments by clicking photo-

graphs for the moment is lost but you have it in

memory and print. Forever again is a relative term and

sometimes you can hold onto those moments, make

memories and live with them. So cherish what you have

today and love those who love you unconditionally so

that regrets are not a part of your life. Transition we

have not seen, but be positive about it too and it might

just be a dream.

If you feel like splurging on something you desired for

long, go for it, for tomorrow you might not have a

chance. We are taught to save for a rainy day, but who

has seen tomorrow ? An only son ( a cousin of mine)

whose parents saved so much so that now they have

lands in their names, houses and flats to live in, bank

balance is perfectly untouched and growing with inter-

est ( pun intended), happiness is galore and him just

when 34, after having celebrated his only son's ( my

nephew) birthday meets with an accident after a

month and does not see another day. His wife and child

don't want to touch any of those savings or properties

which were for him....as the main protagonist in their

life is no more and happiness comes knocking at their

door giving them a second chance to live again in the

form of that child growing , smiling, behaving like his

dad, but who is fatherless and never knew what a dad

could be like !!!

TM Rohaina Tanveer

“I believe hope, thanks and a prayer is

all you need to live on each day . It has

been my motto to live each day as if it is

your last, as no one is given a second

chance. A moment lost is lost forever.“

LIVE EACH DAY AS IF IT IS YOUR LAST

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Create an aura of positivity around you; if you glow

with happiness, all around you do. Act like you want to,

within limits of course, hurt no one with harsh words,

feel the beauty around you, fall in love if you have to,

dance to your favorite music , sing your heart out, lis-

ten to people who need to talk to you, go on that

dreamed holiday destination, sit on the beach with

your favorite music and book, surf the seas, take that

paraglide to see the world from above , or rather fly

kites to see how high yours goes, appreciate the life

given to you, Don't take anyone for granted, and grow

each day in mind, heart and life. Each moment you

should Thank Him and feel the bliss of living again.

Don’t worry about tomorrow for Tomorrow will come.

It's not that I'm afraid to die,

I just don't want to be there when it happens.

LIVE EACH DAY AS IF IT IS YOUR LAST (continued…..)

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SEISMIC SHIFTS IN LIFE

How many have

experienced an

earthquake or a seismic

shift?

So does anyone know

what does a cow

produce in an

earthquake? –

MILKSHAKE.

What did the ground say to the earth?- you crack me

up.

On January 26th 2001- GUJARAT a state in India was

affected by this natural calamity- EARTHQUAKE.

A magnitude of 7.7 recorded on the Richter scale, one

of the worst earthquake mankind had ever seen.

Parts of India and Pakistan were affected . 3 major

towns of Gujarat- Bhuj, Anjaar and Bachchav with

many villages were affected. The effects of the

earthquake were so severe in Bachchav that within

seconds the entire town was in ruins. Not a single

house stood erect.

As a part of my Profession I was privileged enough to

go on the rehabilitation team to render my service to

the needy people there. Since Bhuj was easily

accessible in terms of transport and other facilities

the rehab department by the government was set up

there.

I got to treat many patients, and every patient had a

different story to tell. Some emerged as heroes

themselves and other to cope up with the destruction

while others had surrendered themselves to the

situation what life had out them into.

The most unique amongst them was this young

teenager kid- SAMEER. This boy always had a smile

on his face and a positive vibe around him.

On the day of the earthquake except his mother and

him all his family had traveled to the nearest big city

to celebrate India’s national holiday as 26th January

was India’s republic day. At 8:46 am in the morning

the heavy tremors of the earthquake woke him up,

before he could understand anything he was buried

alive under the ruins of his house. Unfortunately he

lost his mother but he fought his way out alive

through the debris. Though he was out but his right

leg was caught in the ruins. He tried frantically,

patiently to free himself but he just could not . There

was so much of physical destruction around that no

physical help could reach him.

It took a few hours till a recuse team arrived in a

helicopter to free him. But that too was not

successful.

After withstanding 3 days and 3 nights of severe cold

and being fed by a few morsel of food sent by the

rescue team via the helicopter this boy did not give

up the zest and zeal for living. When all ways and

means to set himself free were exhausted the only

choice offered to him was to CUT HIS OWN LEG

WITH A SAW. Sameer accepted this last solution to

live. There after he was lifted up by the helicopter

and taken to the near medical centre.

When I treated him he always showed a willingness

to do all the exercises as his goal was to play and run

like before. Once I asked him “did he ever regret his

decision ? or how difficult was it for you to take this

decision?”

He looked in my eyes and said – “I wanted to live, if I

had not taken this chance I would have not been able

to live my dream. I was not ready to die a painful

slow death”

Life too has offered us a paramount situation where

we had or have to make a tough call. We too have

been put through devastating, difficult and

disoriented situations.

Is finally up to us how we come through it- Victorious

like Sameer or surrender by saying “I quit” .

TM Alifiya Lakdawala

SEISMIC SHIFTS IN LIFE

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Sameer decided to seize the opportunity what life of-

fered him. If not he would have been forgotten, unre-

called and gone. But he decided to emerge as a gusty,

grandiose and a gallant human.

Sameer’s courage and motivation helps me too move on

in my life- no matter what obstacle life offers me. I urge

you all to remember this great heroic child and move on

persistently toward your goals no matter what hurdles

come.

Finally concluding by saying- a quote by APJ Abdul

Kalam- “ Waves are inspiring not because they rise and

fall; but because each time they fall they never fail to rise

again.

Life too has offered us a paramount

situation where we had or have to make

a tough call. We too have been put

through devastating, difficult and

disoriented situations.

SEISMIC SHIFTS IN LIFE (continued…..)

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OUR JOURNEY IN 2015-16

Meeting # 120 Meeting # 119

Meeting # 123 Meeting # 122

Meeting # 121

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OUR JOURNEY IN 2015-16 (continued…..)

Meeting # 125

Meeting # 124

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TTTM MIGHTIER PEN CONTEST—ARTICLE 1

ABSTRACT IDEAS

Throughout the History

of mankind, there were

many great people who

have contributed a lot-

whether it is in Politics,

Science, Literature, Arts

and Sports. They changed

the course of human

existence in many ways.

What would have been the fate of our world without

some of these great people? This question is highly

hypothetical but it will be interesting to spare some

thoughts in this regard.

We will talk about two such great people in history.

Mahatma Gandhi- Indians call him Father of nation. For

the world, he is the symbol of non-violence and

peaceful protest.

He was in the forefront of the Indian independence

movement and many believe he got freedom for India.

Without Gandhi, India would have ever achieved

Freedom from British?!

The answer is India would have still achieved

Independence though bit before or after 1947, but many

events which followed would not have happened:

Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela could not have

accomplished what they did. Both of them have credited

Gandhi as a source of inspiration in their struggles to

achieve equal rights for their people.

Gandhi’s greatest achievement was in motivating and

mobilizing the masses of India across the states,

regardless of their differences in language, religion,

caste, creed and sex, to come together and fight for the

cause of freedom in a peaceful manner. Human history

has not seen such mass movement before.

Remember, Gandhi managed to achieve all this when

electronic media was practically non-existent; most of

the Indians were illiterate, most of the Indians were

living in villages where even Radio and Newspapers

were seen as luxuries. How did he manage to do this? It

was through his technique of participatory management

that he appealed to one and all to see it as their

campaign rather than his. Simplicity, sincerity and

clarity of thoughts were the hallmark of his

communication. His philosophy of non-violence and

peaceful protest make Gandhi relevant even today.

Albert Einstein Said of Mahatma Gandhi after his death:

“Generations to come will scarce believe that such a

person in flesh and blood ever walked upon this earth”.

That summarizes his greatness.

Now we will see another great person in history.

Time magazine named him as The Person of the 20th

Century.

He touches our everyday life, even without us realizing

it. The GPS system in our cars guides us safely through

the traffic. Our purchases in the supermarket are

registered by a scanner cash register. And we take our

holiday snaps using our new Digital camera. The

inventions of these items are based on theories of one

man-Albert Einstein.

One of Einstein's theories states that time is not as

constant as the light is; the time goes slower as one goes

faster, even though the one does not feel anything. In

addition, Albert Einstein accomplished world’s most

famous equation, E=MC2. It explains the links between

the energy and mass. He showed that the mass of atoms

contains enormous quantities of energy. It is widely

believed that this equation was the basis for developing

nuclear weapons and nuclear power.

He also came up with the special theory of the relativity,

stating that light is constant, and that it is impossible to

go faster than the speed of light. Many of present-day

inventions have Einstein’s influence.

Without Einstein's achievements, it would be hard to

believe that the world would be the same place as it is

right now.

After Hitler’s rise to power, Life for Jews in Germany

became extremely difficult. Being a Jew, Einstein moved

to the United States.

TM George Joseph

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TTTM MIGHTIER PEN CONTEST—ARTICLE 1 (continued…..)

Einstein, after the settlement, sent a letter to then US

President Franklin D. Roosevelt in order to suggest

that the United States must develop an atomic bomb

before Germany did. The letter later contributed to

Roosevelt’s decision to fund what became the

Manhattan Project which developed Nuclear Bomb.

The Second World War came to end with the Nuclear

Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.

Just Imagine Hitler with a Nuclear Bomb! History

would have been something different today.

After World War II, Einstein was offered the

Presidency of the State of Israel; but he declined the

offer. He won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1921, and

is known as the most influential scientist of the 20th

century.

There are many great people who influenced and

changed the world. The world you and me are living

today is the result of contributions of many great

people in many ways. Let their stories inspire us to

make little difference in our own way to improve this

world.

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TTTM MIGHTIER PEN CONTEST—ARTICLE 2

THEISM, ATHEISM & WHY I MAY

BE AGNOSTIC Science has always tried

explaining how the universe

came into being through

various theories, especially

the “Big bang theory”,

“Pulsating theory” and

“Steady state theory”. If one

examines closely, the starting

point of all of them is a

‘possibility’. The “Big bang theory”, for example,

explains that the universe began as very hot, small,

and dense, with no stars, atoms, form, or structure

(called a "singularity"). Then about 14 billion years

ago, space expanded very quickly (thus the name "Big

Bang"), resulting in the formation of atoms, which

eventually led to the creation of stars and galaxies. But

how it happened, we don’t know. According to the

“Pulsating theory”, the universe is supposed to be

expanding and contracting alternately i.e. pulsating. At

present, the universe is expanding. It is possible that at a

certain time, the expansion of the universe may be

stopped by the gravitational pull and it may contract

again. After it has been contracted to a certain size,

explosion again occurs and the universe will start

expanding. The alternate expansion and contraction of

the universe gives rise to a pulsating universe. The

“Steady state theory”, on the other hand, is a now-

obsolete theory and therefore, does not have to be

detailed here. Basically, to sum it all up, all Scientific

theories that ‘explain’ how the universe came into being

are based on ‘hypotheses’ and could not be explained

without them as a starting point. Having said this, I

personally feel “Atheists” have failed explaining this

using Science.

Part of the reason why I believe atheists have their

belief is the inherent notion that ‘God’ is an entity that is

present to fulfill every wish of man the moment he

wishes for them. But in reality, we see that this entity

does not work that way! So a group of the population

chooses to dismiss this idea as ‘irrational’, ‘ridiculous’ or

‘incomprehensible’.

“Religion” is another term that is relevant in this

context. The world has seen crimes take place in the

Middle East and other Asian countries in the name of

‘Religion’. Islam is the world’s fastest growing religion.

The people who cause religious wars and crises in the

Middle east are religious fanatics who misunderstand/

misuse their holy books by ‘reading between the lines’

in order to allow themselves the ‘permission’ to fulfill

their individual interests. And guess who finally takes

the blame for such actions of man; poor ‘God’! Well, by

just the indifferent ‘atheists’.

The communal riots that took place in Gujarat, India in

the 1900s and then in 2002 is also another example of

the tensions ensuing among people of different religions

and fights to gain control over landmarks to establish

their own religion as ‘supreme’ over the other.

Hinduism, one of the most ancient religions of the

world, is in fact considered to be a ‘way of life’ and not a

‘religion’ in the first place! So is Islam. If we chose to

look at these two ‘religions’ as ‘ways of life’ instead, a

lot of misunderstandings/misconceptions will already

be cleared for good.

Revered books of either religions like the “Bhagavad

Gita”, “Mahabharata” or the “Holy Quran” all teach the

same things. They explain how an individual can live an

‘ideal’ life by fulfilling his responsibilities in the different

roles he plays as a member of his family, society and

country.

A “theist” is a person who believes in ‘God’ as the

creator and ruler of the universe. Every ‘theist’ follows a

certain ‘religion’. What is a ‘religion’? A dictionary

defines it as “the belief in and reverence of supernatural

power/powers, regarded as creating and governing the

universe and a particular variety of such belief, esp.

when organized into a system of doctrine and practice.”

Where there is a group of people who must be brought

under one roof, it will have a set of rules that everyone

who is part of the group is expected to follow. Thus, in

simple words, we can say that a religion is a ‘following’

of ‘theists’.

“Theism”, however is not to be confused with

“Superstition” which is an irrational belief that has ‘God’

to do absolutely nothing with it.

TM Nandhini Narendran

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TTTM MIGHTIER PEN CONTEST—ARTICLE 2 (continue…..)

If ‘atheism’ is the result of rational thinking of man,

‘superstition’ is the result of his irrational thinking.

‘Atheism’ is based on fearlessness because if you are

affiliated to no beliefs, you are also free from the conse-

quences of those beliefs and that is supposedly, a mark

of ‘maturity’ or ‘intelligence’. ‘Superstition’, in my opin-

ion, is the exact opposite of ‘atheism’. It is nothing but

extreme fear, sometimes more on a psychological level

that deludes one into thinking ‘if you don’t do a certain

thing, you will be punished by God. If you don’t give

Him the respect He deserves, He will cause your death,

misery or deterioration of health.’

God is seen as someone that is out to

get you, when in fact, this is not what

‘God’ denotes. This faulted thinking is

because of the notion that ‘God’ is a

supreme power, the strongest of all in

the universe that plays man like a pup-

pet in one sense. “Religion” and

“Theism” is certainly to blame for this

representation of Him. Therefore, I am

not a complete ‘theist’. I do believe in

the existence of ‘God’, but not in the conventional rep-

resentation. So the other part of me supports

“Agnosticism” which says that the truth validity of cer-

tain beliefs such as whether or not there is a ‘God’ can-

not be explained or known. If the theist argument that

‘God’ is a supernatural being who created the universe

and all living and non-living beings is true, then He has,

by all means, the right and ability to destroy everything

in the blink of an eye because that is what ‘supernatural

beings’ do! If that were the case, the world would al-

ready have ended millions of years ago. And if ‘God’

knew every one of His creations were not going to obey

Him, He may not even have caused the ‘Big bang’ or any

similar event that caused the existence of the universe

as we know it. Why, only to destroy it later? Or at least,

there would not have been a single ‘atheist’ living to-

day! So we end up with the only rational point that

‘God’ is not a ‘superhuman being’ and as far as the crea-

tion of the universe is concerned, how it all started can-

not be known.

Every living creature is actually part of a cycle of births

and rebirths. The activities one does in a particular life-

time can cause ‘good vibes’ or ‘bad vibes’. Thus, the in-

dividual influences the future of that individual. Good

intent and good deed contributes to good ‘karma’ and

future happiness, while bad intent and bad deed con-

tribute to bad ‘karma’ and future suffering. ‘Karma’ in

the present affects one's future in the current life, as

well as the nature and quality of future lives. So expect

good only if you do good. A few verses

from the ‘Mahabharata’ explain this

clearly; “Happiness comes due to good

actions, suffering results from evil ac-

tions, by actions, all things are obtained,

by inaction, nothing whatsoever is en-

joyed. If one's action bore no fruit, then

everything would be of no avail, if the

world worked from fate alone, it would

be neutralized.” Our ‘fates’ are to blame

for all the miseries we face in our lives

because of karmic deeds in past lives.

“Atheists” don’t believe in this either as they are people

with no beliefs except that there isn’t any belief!

Now finally, the big question is “how do I define ‘God’?”

It is a ‘consciousness’ that is within every individual

and the power of the word “I am” as explained in the

Hindu Vedic texts. In fact, the ‘Vedas’ themselves are

considered to be apaurus eya, which means "not of a

man, superhuman" and "impersonal, authorless". Man

could do wonders with his mind if he tapped into the

potential of what is inside him. There is infinite power

within us that can be awakened by reaching closer to

‘God’. ‘God’ is also ‘love’ because most of us experience

immense joy when we help the homeless, the sick or

the dying. Deep in our hearts, we all know it to be true

because no one is born an ‘atheist’. And everyone’s an

‘atheist’ till the airplane starts falling!

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YOU WILL SURELY FIND US HERE…..

Your Sincere Club Officers………………...Your Sincere Club Officers………………...Your Sincere Club Officers………………...

1st & 3rd

Tuesday of

every month

7:15 pm to

9:15 pm

www.timbretalkers.toastmasters.org

TIMBRE TALKERS TOASTMASTERS CLUB

AND OUR ROADMAP IS………………………….

TIMBRE TALKERS TOASTMASTERS CLUB, CLUB # 1540871, AREA 19, DIVISION O, DISTRICT 20