Thursday, September 25, 2003

25 Sept

Speakeasy Toastmasters Mallow



Speakeasy club president Pat Duggan welcomed the large number of members and guests to the second Toastmasters meeting of the year. Our Toastmaster for the evening was Gerry O’ Callaghan who took us all through the evening’s programme which was packed with speeches, table topics and a table topics competition.
The first speaker was Ray Ryan who strongly disagreed with John Yeats – Autumn is NOT the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. It is the time for ‘Autumnal Slaughter’ as his speech title indicated. He urged everyone to join him in killing every wasp on sight as they had tormented and terrorised him since boyhood. Things took a completely different turn as we were treated to a wonderful demonstration on how to create ‘Sweetie Street’. Margaret O’ Regan described, with all the necessary ingredients, how to ice and decorate a kid’s birthday cake. The finished article was complete with front gardens and name plates and Margaret gave a colourful description of the important people who lived here in the ‘Shrewsbury road’ of birthday cakes…including the International Sports Event Organiser Vivienne Buckley and the politically connected ‘O Callaghans. You could possibly learn about the art of cake decoration during one of the evening classes suggested by Noel O’ Conner in his speech entitled ‘Activities’. Noel outlined all of the social and personal benefits of taking up either a physical or mental activity for the Winter months. Finally we heard a very moving story from Marie Fitzpatrick who shared with us a chance encounter which lead to a friendship with a family of fellow tourists in the Blasket Islands. Marie described the despair, horror and finally hope felt by that family after the discovery that their son was found to be suffering from a very serious illness.
As always each of the speeches was evaluated by club members. On this occasion we heard four excellent evaluations from John Dillon, Fiona Herbert, Michael Donegan and Pat Sexton. The role of evaluation is very important in providing the speakers with very valuable feedback and helps them to improve their public speaking techniques.
Every speech is timed and as such the role of Timekeeper is very important. On this evening both William Healy and Anne Buckley did an excellent job as Timekeepers for the regular speeches and during the Topics contest.
Another important part of the meeting – the Table Topics session was conducted by Vivienne Buckley. Topics directed at fellow toastmasters included what would you most like to do before you die, what drives David Blaine, the dangers of the internet and the quality of airline service. As usual there was a spirited and interesting response to these topics.
Don’t forget ….next Saturday, 27th September, Speakeasy Toastmasters Mallow will have an information stand at Tesco’s Mallow, from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm. It will be attended by members of Speakeasy Toastmasters and who will be delighted to chat with any member of the public about the club, it’s activities and our own personal experiences and achievements.

As usual, guests are very welcome to attend club meetings. If you would like to know more about Speakeasy Toastmasters you can ring Angela at 022 51071 or Sean at 022 22755 for information. Or you can log onto our website; www.clix.to/speakeasy. The club’s e-mail address is speakeasymallow@eircom.net

Thursday, September 18, 2003

18 Sept

Speakeasy Toastmasters Mallow

Second meeting of 2003/2004

With such a terrific start to the year last Thursday night, Speakeasy Toastmasters club is looking forward to their second meeting on Thursday, 18th September at 8:00 pm during which night the club Table Topics Contest will be held. This is a competition where toastmaster members are asked to speak briefly and off the cuff on a given topic – usually leading to a very interesting and entertaining night. The first and second place winners go on to compete in the area finals to be hosted by Fermoy Toastmasters club on the 14th October.

During last week’s meeting Jeremiah Ronayne gave a speech during which he presented the club with the ‘President’s Distinguished Club’ award. In many ways the club’s success has been due to the commitment and hard work of individuals like Jeremiah who go on to contribute equally well at international level within Toastmasters. Jeremiah has a very challenging role this year as Area Governor covering all of the toastmasters clubs in Ireland and the UK and represents this district in the US – a very big job! As a club we are very proud of Jeremiah’s success within toastmasters worldwide.

Do you know what Toastmasters can do for YOU?….Find out on Saturday 27th September when Speakeasy Toastmasters Mallow will have an information stand at Tesco’s Mallow, from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm. It will be attended by members of Speakeasy Toastmasters and we would be delighted to chat with any member of the public about the club, it’s activities and our own personal experiences and achievements.

As usual, guests are very welcome to attend club meetings. If you would like to know more about Speakeasy Toastmasters you can ring Angela at 022 51071 or Sean at 022 22755 for information. Or you can log onto our website; www.clix.to/speakeasy. The club’s e-mail address is speakeasymallow@eircom.net

Thursday, September 11, 2003

11 Sept

Speakeasy Toastmasters Mallow

Terrific first meeting of 2003/2004

The incoming president Pat Duggan opened the meeting with a very warm welcome to all members and especially all of the many visitors including those from the newly formed Macroom club. He also wished Jeremiah Ronayne all the very best of luck for the coming year in his new role as Area Governor. Toastmaster Eileen Corkery took us all through the programme for the evening, introducing some very fine speeches. Michael Cronin was the first speaker of the night with a short speech entitled ‘Back to the Good Times’ in which he ‘toasted’ the club itself and asked ‘what brings us all back for more’ to Speakeasy Toastmasters each year? The answer was summed up by Michael as ‘learning, laughter and lasting friendships’. Michael’s speech was evaluated by Dermot Meaney. Next up was John Murphy who spoke about the short stay he had recently in Dublin where as his speech title indicated ‘I walked among people but was invisible’. He described how he commuted by bus and train and on foot and realised that the other commuters on his route took no notice of anyone including himself. They were tuned into their own choice of media via the earpieces he noticed in virtually every ear. He described how glad he was to get back to Mallow where he would be frequently stopped for a word or two about the latest match or some other topic as he walked from A to B, and he realised he was happy to be no longer invisible. John’s speech was evaluated by William Healy. The third speech of the evening came from Michael Walsh with a highly entertaining speech about his schooldays at the ‘Partition Academy’ entitled ‘Back to School’. We heard some classic excuses about why he didn’t have his speech with him – including having brought the wrong copy! Michael described how he enjoyed his first day but on the second day had a new experience – he didn’t want to go. It was a hilarious account of his days in both primary and secondary school. He really enjoyed his schooldays but only now realises it! Kay Quirke had the pleasure of evaluating Michael’s speech. On a more serious note we heard from Tony O Regan who spoke about the importance of implementing high yielding farm methods in order to meet the demands of the projected worldwide population explosion. With a speech entitled ‘The mud on your shoes’ Tony lead us through some very surprising statistics including the fact that the worldwide population is increasing by 80-85 million consumers/year ‘i.e. another Mexico every year’ and will peak at 8 or 9 billion people by 2050. This means an extra 3 billion people to be fed and a doubling of food demand as a result. He concludes that high yielding efficient farming practises rather than low yielding organic methods are essential in order to meet increased food demand while leaving room for essential wildlife habitats. Tony’s speech was evaluated by Claire O’ Keefe. Our final speaker of the evening was the new Area Governor Jeremiah Ronayne who presented the immediate past president Pat Sexton with the ‘President’s Distinguished Club’ award. With a short speech entitled ‘Here’s to your success’ from the Special Occasions manual, Jeremiah explained that Speakeasy Toastmasters had won this award having achieved 10 out of 10 goals last year and were one of only 10 clubs in our district to do so. He commended Pat Sexton on his contributions to the club from it’s beginnings and especially as president to the club in it’s 10th year. Margaret O’ Regan evaluated Jeremiah’s presentation. The speeches were followed by a very entertaining Topics section which was conducted by John Stack. Topics ranged from summer activities to penalty points, new farming proposals, the smoking ban and legalisation of cannabis. The topics initiated lively discussions as usual with plenty of contributions from members and guests. With such a terrific start to the year, Speakeasy Toastmasters club is looking forward to their second meeting on Thursday, 18th September, during which night the club Table Topics competition will be held. As usual, guests are very welcome to attend club meetings. If you would like to know more about Speakeasy Toastmasters you can ring 022 51071 or 022 22755 for information.