Thursday, March 25, 2004

12 March

Speakeasy Toastmasters Mallow

Two break the ice

It’s always a very special occasion when a member delivers their first speech at a Toastmasters meeting. Last Thursday night was doubly special when two members ‘broke the ice’ and treated the members and guests to two wonderful speeches. First to speak was Denise O’ Callaghan, with a speech entitled ‘Here at last’ who took the scenic route to Speakeasy meetings; originating in Kinsale, and on to Mallow via Rockchapel and Tralee. She described her attendance at Toastmasters meeting as either total commitment or total madness, and whichever it is, we hope that it keeps driving her to the meetings – we want to hear more. Denise’s speech was evaluated by Mary Stack. ‘Birthday wishes’ was the title of the second ‘Icebreaker’ of the night, and was delivered by Paula Lane, and evaluated by Tony O’ Regan. This was another very entertaining speech and described Paula’s first encounter with Speakeasy when she sorted out the heating problems. We look forward to hearing much more about Paula’s many travels in future speeches. Gerry Kelleher delivered the next speech, ‘Never too late’, in which he described how those who are responsible for children might abuse their position of authority and offer humiliation and discouragement, instead of praise and encouragement. As Gerry demonstrated though, it’s never too late to do something about it. Gerry’s speech was evaluated by Joan Linehan. In the next speech Mary Buckley described the history and present usage of a single alternative to the many hundreds of drugs available to us today, which is often described as a ‘First Aid kit in a bottle’. The objective of this speech was to ‘sell a product’ and was as such a sales presentation. I think Mary convinced everyone present that Tea Tree oil is a powerful and wide ranging treatment with very many applications. Tim Ahern evaluated Mary’s speech. The final speech of the evening was delivered by Barry McCarthy with an interpretive reading of a short story entitled ‘Spanish Silk’. Everyone was drawn into this fascinating, sensual tale of obsessive love which was set in Argentina and was woven around a set of red silk undergarments. We were all spellbound and left wondering at its dramatic conclusion. The speech was evaluated by Pat Sexton.

The club will host a Tall Tales contest at our next meeting which is on Thursday, 1st April which will start at 8:00 pm. This promises to be a very entertaining night and as usual guests are very welcome to attend. We ask everyone to be at The Hibernian Hotel (Chapel Lane) at 7:50 pm.

Thursday, March 18, 2004

18 March

Speakeasy Toastmasters Mallow
Two break the ice
It’s always a very special occasion when a member delivers their first speech at a Toastmasters meeting. Last Thursday night was doubly special when two members ‘broke the ice’ and treated the members and guests to two wonderful speeches. First to speak was Denise O’ Callaghan, with a speech entitled ‘Here at last’ who took the scenic route to Speakeasy meetings; originating in Kinsale, and on to Mallow via Rockchapel and Tralee. She described her attendance at Toastmasters meeting as either total commitment or total madness, and whichever it is, we hope that it keeps driving her to the meetings. Denise’s speech was evaluated by Mary Stack. ‘Birthday wishes’ was the title of the second ‘Icebreaker’ of the night, and was delivered by Paula Lane, and evaluated by Tony O’ Regan. This was another very entertaining speech and described Paula’s first encounter with Speakeasy when she sorted out the heating problems. We look forward to hearing much more about Paula’s many travels in future speeches. Gerry Kelleher delivered the next speech, ‘Never too late’, in which he described how those who are responsible for children might abuse their position of authority and offer humiliation and discouragement, instead of praise and encouragement. As Gerry demonstrated though, it’s never too late to do something about it. Gerry’s speech was evaluated by Joan Linehan.
Division A International Speech and Evaluation contests; April 24th.

The club will host a Tall Tales contest at our next meeting which is on Thursday, 1st April which will start at 8:00 pm. This promises to be a very entertaining night and as usual guests are very welcome to attend. We ask everyone to be at The Hibernian Hotel (Chapel Lane) at 7:50 pm.

Thursday, March 11, 2004

11 March

Speakeasy Toastmasters Mallow

Club International Speech Contest

The club’s speech contest was held last Thursday night, 4th March, with a large gathering of members and guests in attendance. The contest commenced with a speech delivered by Elizabeth O’ Brien entitled ‘Some mother’s son’ – the story of how a mother chose to carry out the final, desperate request of her young son who wanted to die rather than face a hopeless, helpless life. The second speech of the night came from Gerry Kelleher and described the wonderful ‘Kate Lynch’, a born storyteller, who was an inspiration to all who really knew her. In a speech called ‘The little engine that could’, Dierdre Linehan inspired us all with a very thought-provoking speech about the importance of encouragement and praise to the self esteem of children. On a somewhat similar theme, the next speech, ‘A sporting chance’, by Angela Sheehan, described the importance of physical activity and sports participation in preventing overweight and obesity in children while nurturing positive self-esteem and healthy social, moral and physical development. Brian McLoughlin surprised all present with a speech entitled ‘Just shopping’ which was not quite what was expected from the title. If you can imagine a tale about the mystique and mystery surrounding the ordinary act of shopping (by women), which transcends the ordinary and brings about a self-awareness and empowerment which might ordinarily be brought about only by meditation – or something like that! The audience was taken back to ‘The war years’ by Vivien Buckley who described life for a young woman in the preparation and training for active duty, and her time entertaining the troops. While it was a terrible time there were moments of humour, excitement and fun in amongst the terror and fear for self and family. The final speech of the contest came from Ray Ryan entitled ‘My best friend’, which was about a man describing another man whom he met in 1905, and with whom he shared a love of music. They moved to Vienna to study music and fine arts and shared some interesting times and many a discussion about music, architecture and politics. Finally, at the end of the speech Ray identified ‘his’ best friend - as Adolf Hitler!
First place in the speech contest went to Dierdre Linehan with Ray Ryan in second place. Congratulations to both and the very best of luck in the Area Final to be held in Charleville on 20th March.

As usual, guests are very welcome to attend our next meeting on 18th March, which will start at 8:00 pm. We ask everyone to be at The Hibernian Hotel (Chapel Lane) at 7:50 pm.

Thursday, March 04, 2004

4 March

Speakeasy Toastmasters Mallow

Evaluation contest winners

The club Evaluation contest was held at the last meeting on 19th February and there was a fine turnout of 7 contestants. In this contest a single speech is delivered and each contestant comes forward in turn to give an evaluation of that speech. On this occasion the speech was delivered by Paddy Lynch, a member of the new Muskerry club in Macroom, and was entitled ‘Can I play too?’ Similarly to an evaluation given during a regular meeting, a speech is evaluated in an Evaluation contest in terms of its content and delivery. Each contestant strives to give a comprehensive analysis of all aspects of the speech and typically will provide some constructive criticism and advise also. Following 7 excellent evaluations, the judging panel awarded first place to Michael Cronin and second place to Pat Sexton. Well done lads!
The Topics session on the night of the 19th February was conducted by Tony O’ Regan and as usual was a great success, getting many members and guests on their feet, talking, and entertaining all present. Members and guests discussed electronic voting, the celebrity’s right to privacy and whether or not nice guys always come last. Tony introduced a little bit of role playing and asked two members to act as the defiant smoker (Jerry Mulcahy) in the bar (after the ban) and the inspector (Mary Stack) who must get him to stop breaking the law.

The club is hosting the Club International Speech contest at the next meeting on Thursday, 4th March. As usual, guests are very welcome to attend the meeting which will start at 8:00 pm. We ask everyone to be at The Hibernian Hotel (Chapel Lane) at 7:50 pm.