Over the years the Bridgetown Toastmasters Club has served the community well, working with such organizations as the Royal Barbados Police Force, The Barbados Youth Service, the 4-H Movement and a number of Schools and youth groups.
Over the years the Bridgetown Toastmasters Club has served the community well, working with such organizations as the Royal Barbados Police Force, The Barbados Youth Service, the 4-H Movement and a number of Schools and youth groups. By far the most important community event for the Bridgetown Toastmaster club was the annual Alfred Defreitas Inter-School Debating Competition.

The competition was named after the club’s founder, Mr. Alfred Defreitas, and was started by the Club in 1983 in response to the limited comment on public issues and the acute shortage of debating clubs on the island at that time.

The government secondary schools were selected as the most suitable institutions in which to pursue these objectives at time, and topics were selected for their currency and the national interest.

During the life of the competition the following schools were champions.

1983 - Alexander School
1984 -Springer Memorial
1985 -Barbados Community College
1986 -Queen College
1987 -Barbados Community college
1988 -Ellerslie Secondary
1989 - Lodge School
1990 - St. George Secondary

The competition was also critically acclaimed in Barbadian media, with finals televised by the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and carried live on radio – Voice of Barbados (VOB)

Unfortunately the debate was discontinued when the club reached the stage when existing membership was pursing either academic or career interests, and could no longer volunteer the great deal of time necessary to ensure the success of the debate.