Dozens of current members, ex-members, district officers and guests celebrated with a dinner at West Tamworth League Club on Saturday.

President Bob Kirchner OAM said the non-profit group – which supports people to improve their communication, public speaking and leadership skills – had been invaluable to him and many others.

He joined the group “because a friend suggested I should go along – that’s what happens a lot of the time”.

“I basically stayed because I could see it was doing me good,” Mr Kirchner said.

“I wasn’t very good at speaking in front of groups of people and, being at Toastmasters, I could see that changing almost every meeting I went to.”

Mr Kirchner decided he’d stay in the group as long as he was enjoying it and benefiting from it.

That was about 40 years ago.

He credits the group with helping him advance in his career, as he went from being a copywriter at 2TM, to joining the BAL Marketing division and helping to develop events such as AgQuip and the Tamworth Country Music Festival, then to becoming the manager of Radio 2MO in Gunnedah.

“I later become fairly heavily involved in the leadership side of [Toastmasters] and last year was the equivalent of the district governor, covering about two-thirds of the state.”

Mr Kirchner said that when people asked him what had kept him in the group so long, he always gave the same answer.

“I always learn something, I always get inspired by the people there and what they do, and I always have fun,” he said.

“We encourage people to have fun while they’re learning, or learn while they're having fun.”

There are several clubs in the city and the region, but Mr Kirchner said they were often small.

“For a lot of people it can be quite frightening – [but] you can change your life, whether personal life or your whole life.”

- information submitted by Bob Kirchner

The club was established in September 1966 after a meeting held to gauge interest in establishing a branch of the public speaking organisation in the city.

Tamworth chiropractor Len Welsh, who had been in Toastmasters while studying in America, was contacted by a fellow chiropractor from Taree who suggested Len should start a club in the city.

Len invited local government administrator Roger Jones and Tamworth dentist Bruce Stewart to join in.

All three had been involved in Apex, but Roger had recently retired from that organisation after featuring in public speaking competitions.

Apex had a very strong inter-club debating competition at the time and Bruce’s club had had a fair measure of success.

Bruce had also taken part in national public speaking competitions as a schoolboy in New Zealand.

The three sat down and drew up a list of potential members, the first meeting was held and the club launched soon after with 33 charter members: Bill Ashton, Reg Brody, Jim Busbridge, George Byer, Ted Cameron, Graham Cunningham, Jon Cassell, Barry Dillon, Ces Dillon, Graeme Emanuel, Russ Ewart, Barry Facer, Mike Fraser, Gilbert Gordon, Norm Hemmett, Mick Jones, Roger Jones, Rex Lyons, David McIntyre, Tony Mooy, Graham Murphy, Jeff Patterson, Charles Regan, Gordon Rich, Tom Roche, John Roworth, Gene Scott, Bruce Stewart, Mike Stewart, Claude Thompson, Jim Watson, Len Welsh and Cliff Wooster.

The charter executive was president Roger Jones, vice-presidents Ces Dillon and George Byer, secretary Bruce Stewart, treasurer Norm Hemmett and sergeant-at-arms Len Welsh.

The new club met originally, and for many years, in the then-RSL Club in Kable Avenue.

In those days, Toastmasters’ membership was restricted to men, but within 10 years, the door was opened to women.

During the club’s 50 years, hundreds of Tamworth and district locals have been members, meeting first weekly and then twice monthly to develop their communication and leadership skills.

As a community service, the club has conducted numerous short courses in public speaking, speechcraft for adults and youth leadership for students, including at Calrossy, Farrer, McCarthy and Oxley schools.

In 1980, members of Tamworth Toastmasters travelled to Quirindi at the request of Quirindi Quota Club members to look at starting a club there.

Quirindi Toastmasters chartered in 1981 and so began a steady period of growth for the organisation in the north of the state.

Gunnedah Toastmasters followed in 1984, Armidale in 1988 and Narrabri in 1989.

A second Tamworth club – City of Light – was established in 1988 but closed down in the late 1990s.

More recently, Tamworth has seen significant growth in Toastmasters with an advanced club – North West Speakers & Leaders – formed in 2011; a second community club – Tamworth Communicators – a year later; and a third – Sun-Up Speakers (a breakfast club) last year.

The city’s first corporate club was also established last year at Tamworth Regional Council.

Parallel with Tamworth’s growth, Inverell club (now Sapphire City Toastmasters) launched in 1993, Inverell Breakfast in 2000, Glen Innes in 2002, Moree in 2003, Tenterfield (Federation Toastmasters) in 2013, Fossickers Way (Barraba/Bingara) in 2015 and a new club dedicated to helping members develop training skills – Trainers On Track – last year.

There are also clubs at Muswellbrook, Singleton and Cessnock to the south, and Dubbo and Orange in the central west, as well as many more throughout metropolitan and regional NSW – a total of almost 400 in the state.

Tamworth Toastmasters is the fifth oldest of current active clubs in its district and the 15th oldest in NSW.

As an organisation dedicated to helping its members develop more effective communication and leadership skills, Toastmasters in Tamworth has seen a number of members achieve the organisation’s highest recognition, the Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) award.

Local architect Harry Ellis was the first, followed by well-known journalist and musician, the late Jazzer Smith.

Local radio professional Bob Kirchner was next, then farmer and grazier Stewart Dowe, public works specialist, the late Ian McEachern, builder John Taylor and most recently, tourism industry specialist Alison Edwards.

Ray Burgess, a longtime former member of Tamworth Toastmasters, now based at Glen Innes, achieved his DTM this year.

Over the years, many local members have had success in Toastmasters public speaking competitions.

The most successful of these is Stewart Dowe who won through to a semi-final of the World Championship of Public Speaking in San Diego in 1995.

For more information about Toastmasters in Tamworth, go to www.tamworthtoastmasters.org.au or search “Toastmasters in Tamworth” on Facebook.