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Merv Tobin - Area
Govenor congratulating Helen Rixon for
Club Toastmaster of the Year for being an
outstanding member.
WELL
RESPECTED TOASTMASTER RETIRES
One of Bathurst Toastmasters most stalwart
members retired this month due to ill
health. Jack Bacchus, since coming to live
in Bathurst eight years ago, had been a
local Club member and prior to that was a
member of U3A Toastmasters Wollongong. There
he was President and Publicity VP several
times and filled various executive positions
within that club. In appreciation of his
contribution to the Bathurst Club a small
farewell party was held at Jack’s house, attended by executive
members of Bathurst Toastmasters, where he
was presented with a small token of their
regard. Apart from being a brilliant
speaker, Jack is also an accomplished short
storywriter, poet and humorist, and has
frequently entertained the club with stories
on the imagined exploits of his late dog
"Buster".
Jack had a lifetime working in various roles
in the printing and publishing industries,
for the most part with Consolidated Press or
its subsidiaries. In that lifetime he saw
many changes as technologies evolved in
typesetting and printing. Beginning as a
junior he graduated to management early and
in his final years held a number of
executive positions, including that of
operations manager, in one of the two
companies which pioneered the introduction
of computerised photo-composition into this
country.
Jack still enjoys putting his thoughts into
words and his literary skills are often
featured in the letters section of the
Sydney Morning Herald. Woe betide any club
member who missed them! Despite persistent
physical difficulties Jack intends applying
these literary skills in producing the
Bathurst Toastmasters newsletter, which
needs reviving.
Apart from winning various club speaking
competitions in both clubs, and speaking at
Area and Divisional level, Jack was the
recipient of the 1997 Jazzer Smith Award for
disabled Toastmasters. This recognises the
contribution he made to better communication
skills in the community. A further example
of that was the hugely successful
Speechcraft course he presented in Bathurst,
in association with Jenny Maclennan, in
2002.
In spite of a lifetime living with polio
Jack has remained positive, and gives credit
to the many Australians, friends and
colleagues who, as he says, gave him a fair
go. That of course can work both ways and at
a recent meeting the Bathurst Club awarded
Jack Life Membership as a further token of
their appreciation.
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