That gloom laden phrase was the theme for our latest meeting. But despite the ominous subject there were plenty of laughs too.

To kick-off the meeting, our chair, Waseem asked “What one thing, if it were removed from your life, would create your personal mini dystopia?”

In no particular order our members couldn’t live without … music, their phone, being able to travel, reading, their glasses, silent alone time in the morning and their hairbrush!

The speeches followed. Saima gave a humorous account of the effects of technology and blue light on our brains in her F5 speech “Your Brain Called…It Wants A Refund”. Luckily mindfulness and hypnotherapy can negate this damage and restore your brain to factory settings. In her A3 speech, Tracie spoke with conviction and passion, explaining that a dystopia is built by tiny incremental steps that strip away what it means to be human – and that compassion, imagination and respect can stop that dystopia in its tracks. John then wowed us all with his impromptu speech. Rising to the challenge of a difficult subject and a pen that ran out of ink he shared his thoughts and insights – and the skills he’s mastered during his (almost) 40 years at Sutton Speakers Club!

A thought provoking Topics Session with Paulette at the helm followed and Ilkay rounded off the session with her positive and encouraging evaluations.

All in all, a great evening – and the dystopian theme proved to be nothing short of utopian for our members.