It was just great to see the alumni from the Max Your Voice training programmes’ past – and enjoy their company and the entertainment on December 5th. A special thank you to the excellent stand up and inspirational coach Tim Dingle, the amazing singer/songwriter Andrea Black and the award winning stand up comedienne, Julie Kertesz.  Especially grateful to Julie for coming to entertain us while she’s still recovering from a fall 6 months ago.  It may have temporarily affected the use of her right leg but it has done nothing to affect her comedy timing which is as brilliant as before.  Julie Kertesz received the silver award for the best comedy newcomer when she was seventy. The many friendly faces and the fun we had meant a lot.   I do sometimes need to encourage people to be more persistent when they’re being coached, but it pays off when you hear the results and see the difference it makes to their personal and career development.  Next year I’ll be starting giving open courses in Speak English Clearly  in February – the first evening course of 5 weeks begins on the evening of Thursday February 19th. Encouraged by Shabana Delhavi,  I’ll be contacting local schools and researching the benefits of the Speech English Clearly courses for teachers and pupils.  I’m looking forward to dialect and voice coaching work in theatre and film and continued work with interpreters.