Latest News

On April 24th 2023, Elizabeth Opoku-Denki was crowned Gabbler of the Year 2023 at the 34th Grand Final of The Gabblers’ Club, which was held in the Ballroom of The Bristol Hotel in the presence of the Deputy Lord Mayor of Bristol – Cllr. Steve Smith.

Prior to the final, the competition – which is open to all lower sixth students at schools in and around Bristol – was hosted by The Bristol for six preparatory dinners where entrants had each made three speeches that accounted for 50% of the participant’s scores; with their final performance accounting for the second 50%.

In the biggest Grand Final the competition has ever seen, more than 250 guests heard Elizabeth speak eloquently and entertainingly for four minutes on the topic of ‘Small Talk’, and wow both audiences and judges alike with her captivating speech.

The night also saw Lucy Haseltine of Queen Elizabeth Hospital win the runner up prize, with her speech: ‘Dr Who?’, and Yijing Ren (Badminton School) and Gracie Joyce (The Redmaids’ School) take home third and fourth place prizes for their speeches ‘The Spice of Life’ and ‘Challenging Behaviour’. Theo Power was also awarded the Most Improved prize with his speech, ‘In the Dock’.

This year’s Grand Final marks a proud moment for the Gabblers Club, as it completes its first competition since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the organising committee would like to thank all the fantastic young people who took part this year and made such a fantastic competition possible. The committee looks forward to repeating the success of this year’s competition in September with a new cohort of participants.

If you’re a Year 11 student in Bristol or the surround area and are interested in participating in next year’s Gabblers competition, speak to your head of sixth form and ask them to express their interest in participating to Brian Kirkup (Club Chair) on brian.kirkup159@btinternet.com

The Gabblers Club is a renowned and longstanding after dinner speaking competition for sixth form students in Bristol and the surrounding areas. Unfortunately, due to COVID, the club has been unable to run its annual competition for the last two years; but now it’s back and better than ever and gearing up for its illustrious grand final later this month.

The Gabblers competition sees a group of around twenty students meet for six dinners over the course of the academic year, across which they will deliver three, four-minute speeches on diverse topics ranging from ‘pet hates’ to ‘pacemakers’. Each of these speeches is marked by and receives feedback from a panel of judges. After the six dinners, all the participants speak one last time at the grand final – a black-tie event with an audience of two-hundred people and the presence of the Lord Mayor of Bristol. Their marks from their initial three speeches, as well as their speech at the grand final are then combined to decide the ‘Gabbler of the Year’, as well as several other awards including ‘Most Improved’.

Previous winners of the competition have included renowned comedian, Mark Watson (1997), magician Chris Cox (2001) and award-winning writer and performer Travis Alabanza (2013).

Despite the break imposed by COVID, which saw the club unable to run its grand final in 2020, this year the competition has seen nineteen participants from sixteen schools – including Bristol Grammar School, Badminton School, St. Mary Redcliffe & Temple School, and the Kings of Wessex Academy – take part and develop their public speaking abilities. All participants are now in the final stages of preparing their speeches for this years’ grand final which will take place at The Bristol Hotel on Monday 24^th April.

Over its more than 30-year existence, the Gabblers club has seen hundreds of students participate in the competition and reap the myriad rewards of taking part in this unique experience, including developing their confidence and maturity, as well as aptitude for public speaking, in a way that has gone on to help many in their professional lives.

Reflecting on this years’ competition Club Chairman, Brian Kirkup, commented:

“It has been a delight to see the Gabblers Club in action again, following a two-year COVID induced hiatus, and an honour to have worked with so many passionate and eloquent young people and see them grow and develop their speechmaking prowess over the last few months. We are incredibly excited to be back at the Bristol Hotel for our 34^thGrand Final and look forward to seeing all our young people’s hard work payoff in what – I have no doubt – will be a very special evening”.

If you’re a Year 11 student in Bristol or the surround area and are interested in participating in next year’s Gabblers competition, speak to your head of sixth form and ask them to express their interest in participating to Brian Kirkup (Club Chair) on brian.kirkup159@btinternet.com

Last night, March 25th 2019, Shanaz Sharonsenthil was crowned Gabbler of the Year 2019 at the 32nd Grand Final of The Gabblers’  Club, which was held in the Ballroom of The Bristol Hotel. The competition is open to all lower sixth students at schools in and around Bristol. Prior to last night’s final, The Bristol had hosted six preparatory dinners where entrants had each made three speeches that accounted for 50% of the votes; last night’s performance accounted for the second 50%.

Over 257 guests heard Shanaz speak for 4 minutes, entirely without notes, and her powerful, philosophical and  elegant speech, ‘Wise Cracks’ enthralled everyone.

Runner up, Aiden Malik from The Kings of Wessex Academy, spoke very entertainingly about ‘Buying Time’. In third place was Sofia Batalovic from Badminton School who spoke about ‘The Icing on the Cake’. The  award for Best on the Night was taken by Bristol Cathedral’s Syeda Begum whose speech was entitled ‘Smart Water’.Chloe Cooke from Churchill Academy was awarded “Most Improved” , her speech last night was entitled ‘Rocket Science’.

However, the entire audience would surely agree that each Gabbler was a winner, showing a large audience just what a seventeen year old can achieve.

Bristol, 28 March 2017: Last night (Monday 27 March), Connie Forster of Downend School in south Gloucestershire was crowned Gabbler of the Year 2017 at the 30th Grand Final Banquet of The Gabblers Club held in the Ballroom of The Bristol hotel.

Connie was the first student from Downend to ever win the prestigious annual award, which gives young people the skills and confidence they require to speak clearly and effectively at public appearances. The competition is open to all first-year sixth form students at school in and around Bristol. Prior to last night’s Grand Final, all of the entrants had made three speeches that accounted for 50% of the votes; last night’s performance accounted for the second 50%.

Connie Forster giving her speech in The Bristol Ballroom; Deputy Lord Mayor Councillor Chris Davies (L) and General Manger of The Bristol Mark Payne (R) present Connie with her prize

Over 200 guests at the gala dinner heard Connie speak eloquently and amusingly on the subject of “Vulgar Fractions”, during which she spoke about fitting in and not fitting in, with references to topics as diverse as bikinis and society.

In second place was Ignatius de Pedro of St Bede’s Catholic College, who gave a well-delivered talk on “The Bees Knees”, with third place going to Katherine Hamilton of Redmaids’ High School  talking about “A Stitch in Time”. The prize for Most Improved Gabbler went to Olivia Mowl of St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School, with the prize for Best Speech on the Night going to Gabriel Marriage of Bristol Cathedral Choir School for his talk titled “Loose Change”.

The Gabbler of the Year event was set up in 1987 by David Geddes, then general manager of Clifton Hotels, and is “the foremost after dinner speaking experience for sixth form students” in the region. It is organised by The Gabblers Club, run entirely by volunteers, which exists only thanks to the generous sponsorship of The Bristol.

Lord Mayor Praises Bristol’s Gabblers

On Monday night, 28th April, 19 of Bristol’s finest 6^th form public speakers wowed an audience of 250 at The Bristol Hotel. The Lord Mayor, Councillor Faruk Choudhury, and the High Sheriff of the County and City of Bristol, H.L.M. Bothamley, were amongst many distinguished guests at the Gabblers Club Grand Final – an after dinner speaking competition for first year sixth formers from Bristol and Somerset area. The Lord Mayor in his formal response to a toast to the city of Bristol said that this unique club was one of many of the diverse, cultural and community based opportunities that helped make Bristol “the best city in England to live in.”

Once again there were some stunning speeches: Alexander Russell, Q.E.H., and Ryan Frankcom, Cotham School, were particularly good. Also considered for the prize of Best On the Night, were: Sean Jones, Downend School, and Grace Sodzi, Redland High School.

The competition runs over a series of “practice dinners”, and is designed to bring on those who need guidance on how to improve their content, presentation and delivery. Several Gabblers turned themselves from the shy boys and girls they were at the start of the season into confident and competent speakers. Although not rewarded with a prize, Sophie Mogg, King’s Oak Academy, really impressed several of the committee and the judges. She spoke, as did quite a few, with that delightfully winning, self-deprecating and almost unassuming manner of someone who has their audience in the palm of their hand.

“You are all winners,” declared the Chair, Brian Kirkup, as he closed the evening.

Prizes:

Gabbler of the Year 2014: Alec Simms, Bristol Cathedral School

Runner Up: Joseph Bunting, Bristol Grammar School

Third: Karn  Chatikavanij, Badminton School

Most Improved: Nike Fleming, St. Mary Redcliffe and Temple School

2^nd Most Improved: Sophie Cox, Churchill Academy and Sixth Form Centre

Best On The Night: Josiah Hartley, Clifton College

Our 2013-2014 season began with 9 varied speeches which showed remarkable confidence from the speakers considering this was their first Gabblers Dinner.

Topics, for their first speech, are allocated according to the students personal interests and included Cooking Up a Storm, Guilty Pleasures and Famous Last Words.

The Bristol Hotel served an excellent meal that went down extremely well with all our new Gabblers.

Since the first Dinner our Vice Chairman, Tim Anderson, who teaches at Kings Oak Academy, gave an interview to BBC Radio Bristol, talking about Gabblers past and present.