“During the 1980s and 1990s Rostrum held an Annual Autumn Convention. Early events were held at the Lazy Crab at Mandurah or on Rottnest. In later years they were held at Club Capricorn near Lancelin.

Club 11 (Rostrum Foothills Speaking Club) ran the Saturday night event called ‘Foothills Follies’, a type of review show where all clubs were able to present skits and other entertaining items. The winner was awarded the rather elegant trophy (a fully restored wooden dunny seat complete with chain).

As its own contribution Club 11 introduced the Pirates Sketch. This broadly involved a group of Club 11 members in pirate attire responding to various prompts with the chorus ‘Rrrrrr………….’. The skit had at least 2 airings over this period and took on a form of legend status.

When the 75th Anniversary of Rostrum WA Variety event was held in November 2023 Club 11 decided to reprise the Pirates Sketch for an encore performance. Led by Erica Bowman as quiz master the assembled motley crew reminded all in the audience of how we had mastered the art of ‘Rrrrr………’ Our performance attracted much mirth and praise and certainly added a Monty Pythonesque moment to the night’s proceedings.