The extempore speech competition organized on 15th August was the fourth programme by the Ladies' Wing this year. It was conducted as part of the Independent Day Celebration.

As decided, the contestants eligible were of only the children of the club members who were between 8 years to 15 years old. For making the contest more interesting, the participants were divided into two groups: Group A - 8 years to 10 years old and Group B - 11 years to 15 years old. The participants were charged a nominal entry fee of Rs.25/-. Ladies Wing managing committee requested their members Mrs. Nupur Mallick, Mrs. Bulbul Sengupta and Mrs. Debjani Sarkar to judge the competition and they willingly agreed.

Various schools across Thane had their own Independence Day programme, which resulted in less turn out of the participants. The programme started at 1:00 pm on that day. Amongst the participants there were many who were new to such a competition. Mrs Mallick explained the rules to the participants before the start of the competition. During the competition contestants were called, one by one. He / She had to pick out a topic from the lottery box and then they were given two minutes to think about it, followed by three minutes to speak out their thoughts.

After the contestants had finished their speeches, it was time for the judges to arrive on a decision and declare the winners. Flower bouquets were presented to the judges to thank them for their efforts. They also advised the contestants about the appropriate method of an extempore speech and how they could present their speech effectively. At last the prizes were distributed to the eventual winners of the contest.

It was a great event and all the participants enjoyed it. The Ladies Wing members who had put lot of efforts in organizing this event had the satisfaction of having concluded it in style.

(Article by Subha Thakur)