Pau. St. PIERRE : ° Paulitics & Perspectivese THE WORLD will little note nor long remember that the 4H clubs of the Fraser Valley held their speaking contest here last Friday. Well, too bad for the world. Fort Langley has its own priorities. The crowd was small. Nine child speakers, some mothers, some fa- thers, brothers and sisters with a few grandparents added; a chair- man and three judges. Farm people, or as close to farm people as be left to us here before the last of them are gone to make way for multinational agricorpora- tions and world class golf courses. In the tradition of being country, everybody is squeaky clean and shiny as a fresh husked chestnut or pips out of a Granny Smith apple. They are undemonstrative. Maybe at Little League ball games they shout and stomp, but here in Or ‘An old friend who was involved in several Royal tours of Canada once told me that that is one of the primary lessons taught by kings to" princes — never pass up the opportunity to use the bathroom. ’’ ee the United Church Hall during of- ficial processes which come before the coffee and cakes there is a touch of solemn Sunday to it all. Kids join 4H clubs to learn farming skills. Each raises an animal and keeps meticulous re- cords to show, at the end, a profit or a loss on the agricultural ven- ture. Those tending to horses and some other animals may keep them at the end of the contest period. Others who have lambs, pigs and beef calves finally sell them for meat, with pride and tears. Dorothy Anderson, who orga- nized Friday night’s contest, says that public speaking was added to the 4H program at the time she was a 4H kid, 30 or so years ago. Perhaps it was felt that if farm- ers were to have any chance of be- ing noticed in the second half of this century they would have to learn to speak up for themselves. So, a Friday night in the old Fort Langley, nine little kids, nine to 12 years of age, make that 10- mile-long walk to the front of a room and commit that loneliest of all deeds. Many an adult, possibly most adults, are thrown into the purple fantods when faced by such a prospect. The 4H speakers may use notes to aid their memory, but they may not read their speeches. (The same rule applies in Parliament, but in HOLLYHO Far away is close to home. Spectacular island setting 150 kilometres north of Vancouver. Retreats and workshops from May to October. Morning yoga and meditation, natural history tours, gourmet vegetarian and seafood cuisine. Arts, music, family week and much more. $75/day, double occupancy. $575/five day workshop. Write for our free 24-page brochure: . Hollyhock, Box 127, Manson's Landing, Cortes Island, BC, VOP 1KQ. or phone 1-935-6465 A pas . pal . Parliament they don’t follow it.) It is also forbidden for 4H speakers to use any visual aids ex- cept gestures. Each must speak more than three minutes and less than five or suffer loss of points. None may be given timing signais. Adults, when they do summon the will to start a speech, usually don’t know when to stop and ramble on trying to remember what point they were originally trying to make. In 4H, that isn't good enough. There is more. Much, much more. . The three judges independently score each speaker on no fewer than 15 aspects of the speech. Does the topic suit the audience? Does the speaker maintain eye contact? Are gestures natural, appropriate and effective? What about coher- ence, continuity and clarity? Does the child remain accurate and relevant for the three to five minutes and does he develop a log- ical conclusion? It’s so strenuous an operation judges are provided with an aide who collects and collates their score-cards and reminds them should they fail to assess grammar, fluency, poise, projection or some other section on their charts. All this for 10-year-olds? Yep. Seems to be. They may be nervous, their voices high pitched and their arm gestures stiff but there isn’t one who doesn’t make a credible speech. If they stay in 4H, Demosthenes wil! be replicated across the entire agricultural community of Canada and we won’t have a Parliament dominat- ed by lawyers any more. For the record be it reported that the winner in Fraser Valley in 1990 was Hawley Bennett of 26695 56th Ave., Langley, who gave ad-- vice on speech raking. Among the things to remember, she said, ‘‘Use the bathroom first, even if you think you don’t need to.”” An old friend who was involved in several Royal tours of Canada once told me that that is one of the primary lessons taught by kings to princes — never pass up the op- portunity to use a bathroom. Second-place winner was Krissy Erickson of 9484 131A St., Surrey. Her topic was Human Bones. Did you know that you had more bones when you were a baby than you have today? It’s true. If you don’t believe it, ask Krissy. Or ask the orthopedic surgeon who was one of the judges and was rather impressed by her erudition. In her peroration Krissy challenged her audience with a classic oratorical flourish: ‘*Without bones, how would we keep our squishy parts together?”’ Have your elected repre- sentatives said anything so elo- quently of late? SS © HOLIDAY THAT HEALS - Residents concerned over house moving HOUSE MOVING could be a way of ‘trecycling’? homes that would otherwise be demolished, but it has proved unpopular with West Van- couver residents on 18th Street. Contributing Writer WEST VANCOUVER, -DISTRIGT-COUNCIL . And while a house at 1952 Bellevue Ave. sits up on blocks waiting transfer to 4312 Erwin Dr., West Vancouver District Council is faced with the protests of 18th Street residents disturbed by the noise created by the previous two houses that have been trucked to the waterfront at the foot of their street. To allow movers to put the Bellevue Avenue house on a barge and take advantage of high tide, the house must be moved at night, when stricter noise bylaws are in effect. Eleanor Malkin, who has lived in West Vancouver for 47 years, expressed her concerns about the move at Monday night’s West Vancouver Council meeting. Having observed the last move, she said she was disturbed that the house blocked access to her apartment building while it sat at the corner of Bellevue and 18th Street waiting for telephone wires to be moved. The house was then moved far- See Moves Page 11 9 - Friday, April 13, 1990 - North Shore News Apritis Dental Health Month IF YOUR BANKER says you don’t qualify to buy at these prices Try SQUAMISH Paid advertising by The frend of Squanwsh Keep Smiling! THE DENTAL PROFESSION OF BC JUBILEE GIVES YOU THE ADVANTAGE 6.9% FINANCING OR UP TO $1000 CASH BACK (on selected vehicles) Over 3.8 million dollars of new vehicle inventory in stock. 50 fresh used cars, detailed, al inspected, ready for sale. Competitive pricing and convenient business hours. A full-service customer satisfaction dealership. 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