The Speech : Colin Davis

By Colin Davis

I can’t remember how many speeches I have delivered but it is part of the job, both prepared and extemporaneous. I never let myself get fazed by any occasion or size of audience. In the Philippines not long before I retired, the Child Protection section asked me to deliver a speech at a workshop which had been organised by the Asia Foundation. I don’t know why, but I didn’t pay much attention to the details, leaving it up to the programme specialists to tell me anything important. They gave me a speech, which I glanced over. The day came and we left for the event at the time the section told us.

When we got there and walked into the large ballroom setting, I was horrified to find that we were late and the first speaker, a senior judge, was already delivering his speech! I was the next speaker and I was even more horrified to see who the dignitaries were: the head of Asia Foundation, the Vice President of the Philippines and next to him the American Ambassador. I walked calmly up and stood a little in front of the lectern and high table, listening to the judge’s speech. When he had finished, the head of the Asia Foundation announced that I had at last arrived and that I would now make a speech. Often the section would have written down the names of the people I need to recognise or whilst I was waiting to make my speech I would have quietly noted down those names, but in this case, I was completely at a loss and had no time to find out names.

Thankfully the judge had left his speech on the lectern so I took his name from that. The Vice President was easy as was the American Ambassador but I had completely forgotten the surname of the head of the Asia Foundation. I had only met him at cocktail parties and had just called him by his first name, Steve, so that’s what I did. I just looked across and recognised him as – Steve! Which got a laugh so I was over the first hurdle.

My speech went well and as I gained confidence and had the room paying attention, I stopped and spent some minutes describing the dire plight of many young girls and boys, tired, cold, lonely, afraid, hurting and wondering if they had a future. Then I asked for a minute’s silence to think about these children. The American Ambassador was so moved by my speech and actions that she threw her prepared speech aside and spoke passionately on the subject for 15 minutes!

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