Toastmasters Abu Dhabi Chapter celebrates its 500th Meeting in style - Theme : Flying High

By Salim Sayyid
Pics by Fenella Andrade
Bellevision Media Network

Abu Dhabi, Sep 24, 2014: Abu Dhabi Chapter Club 1950 the Mother Chapter of UAE hosted its prestigious 500 meeting on 23rd September in the Grand Ballroom of the lavish premier five-star business lifestyle hotel, the Millennium Hotel Abu Dhabi situated along the famous Corniche stretch in spectacular style.

 

Abu Dhabi Chapter 1950 was established in 1995 by Mr. Vijay Manikoth and Dr. B.R Shetty. It was the first Toastmaster club in UAE and was responsible for the formation of Dubai Chapter and several other clubs thereafter.  The club has produced some of the finest speakers, leaders and who’s who of Toastmasters.

 

 

Hosting a gala event to commemorate the 500th meeting was no ordinary undertaking and it was only made possible with the help of an awesome Committee of dedicated Toastmasters and Etihad Airways, Al Sitara Gulf Contractors & General Maintenance LLC who were our main sponsors and NMC Health Care, Jashanmal and Ajanta Jewelers our support sponsors.

 

The meeting theme “Flying high” included outstanding role plays with Toastmaster Loyola Pinto at the helm as Toastmaster of the Evening. A series of superb presentations of Abu Dhabi Chapter over the years through the sheer brilliance and painstaking efforts of Toastmaster Abraham Thomas were highlights of this awesome meeting. The Project speeches of our talented Toastmaster Oudi Abouchacra and the charming and affable Madam Toastmaster Ingeborg Kuyvenhoven had powerful messages. Also, we had some clinical and constructive evaluations by two of our outstanding Toastmasters Sanjay Vissa and Bharat Mehta. Every role play be it the Sgt at Arms, Thought for the Evening or Greet Master or Videography was done with great enthusiasm.

 

The start of the meeting was intriguing and very exciting wherein an “Abu Dhabi Chapter” Airplane Flight AD1950 was shown taking off and finally landing with the dashing Pilot Loyola Pinto making a grand entry to “flystart” the meeting. Loyola Pinto as the Pilot performed his role with his usual gusto spiced with humor and elegance. The video showing all the former past Presidents in Pilot dresses effectively conveyed the theme of the meeting in superb style. Kudos to TM Abraham Thomas for this brilliant idea and his untiring efforts to produce this video that was loved by one and all.

 

The meeting was graced by the President of Toastmasters International Distinguished Toastmaster Colonel Mohammad Murad, Founder Vijay Manikoth, District 20 Governor Yasser Suleiman, LGET Sujit Sukumaran, LGM Saquib Khan and many other elite Toastmasters and guests from across the United Arab Emirates. It was heartening to see and meet some of the finest Toastmasters from United Arab Emirates bringing back a flood of pleasant memories of friends and old timers whose love and dedication strengthened the Toastmaster movement in the United Arab Emirates, changed lives for the better of thousands of Toastmasters over the years and made better human beings of all of us who were fortunate enough to join this program that was initiated by ‘the one and only Ralph Smedley.

 

We had the unique opportunity to watch Toastmasters International President DTM Muhammad Murad walk the talk in his presentation with an equally superb introduction of his by TM Abraham Thomas through yet another fine presentation showing the International President in some amazing nostalgic photographs.

 

Going down Memory Lane with some of the Past Presidents like TM Vijayan Manikoth, TM K.S. Manian, TM George Ambooken, TM N. Sekar, TM Ravindra Verma gave us Goosebumps and we relived through them some of the golden moments that led to the growth of our Club.

 

The felicitation speeches of District 20 Governor Yasser Sulaiman, Division H Governor DTM Sunil Kottarathil and Area Governor TM Anna Maria added flavor to the meeting.

 

The Commemorative Issue of “Speaking Up” was released by our VP PR Saima Imran whose painstaking efforts are truly laudable and appreciated.

 

The meeting was livestreamed by husband and wife team of TM Althaf and Reena.

 

The welcome and closing remarks of Club President Aby Hans once again demonstrated the fact that our leaders are indeed “Servant Leaders” who don leadership roles with exemplary services to the members though their selfless and untiring efforts.

 

All attendees were presented with a pure silver coin minted specially for the 500th meeting.

 

There are many things in this world that are valuable … work, family, health, possessions, and so forth. But it could be argued that the most valuable thing you’ll ever have in this world … outside of your health … is your TIME. My heart goes out to the Toastmaster volunteers of our Chapter, to the Sponsors and event attendees for gracing this meeting in spite of their very busy working and business schedule. Sparing their precious time to be a part of this milestone 500 meeting deserves the highest praise. Abu Dhabi Chapter Club 1950 will forever be grateful to them and will always hold them in high esteem.

 

The Toastmasters who worked behind the scenes to make this an unforgettable and memorable event will remain forever etched in our hearts. What drives them on is their unstinted loyalty and love for this amazing chapter without any expectation of reward or recognition. It would not be fair to single out any particular toastmaster as this event was the culmination of excellent team work and dedication. Abu Dhabi Chapter 1950 is indeed a wonderful chapter with such a rich tradition, with such a fantastic ambience and with such loving and caring members.

 

“All for one and one for all” is the famous motto of Alexander Dumas’s Three Musketeers and this motto holds good for our Abu Dhabi Chapter too. All our members have ONE common GOAL, that all are working for, so they work together to reach that goal. It’s a great motto for teamwork and the ability to get things done if all in a team work for it and this is exactly what this great club excels in wherein each member is working for the betterment of the other.

 

The Abu Dhabi Chapter Airplane took off to continue its flight and would land again for another milestone meeting – this last scene made us elated and also made our eyes sweat. All good things in life come to an end and leave behind some memories that can never be erased and one such memory will be the 500th meeting. A meeting that touched hearts and when it was finally time to say goodbye it was never easy for such occasions come once in a life time and all we have is only a life time!