Toastmaster David Lister Picture: TONY PIKE (0354945)

JERSEY’S David Lister had a prestigious honour on Sunday night when he acted as toastmaster for the 25th anniversary celebration for the Northern Guild of Toastmasters.

The gala banquet and ball was held at the Imperial Hotel in Blackpool, the venue where the guild was formed in 1985.

The guild is now recognised as one of the premier organisations of toastmasters in the country.
Mr Lister spent about 20 years as a toastmaster in Cheshire before moving to Jersey in 2002.

The toastmaster is a British institution and the regional guilds are associations dedicated to promoting excellence in the maintaining of etiquette and the running of any type of event.
Mr Lister said that he was really honoured to officiate in front of his peers.

‘You cannot get much higher than being asked to act as toastmaster from within your body.
‘It is my home guild but they felt it was worth bringing me in from Jersey,’ he said.

He was first asked about two or three months ago and when the request was made, he said, they told him ‘that they wanted it doing right’.

He said the evening went well and it was thoroughly enjoyable. ‘There were some London toastmasters there and they felt that I had done it the London way, so they were happy, as were the Northern Guild members,’ he said.