McVerry speakathon with Mullingar and Tullamore Toastmasters

A special speakathon held via Zoom on April 8 was a collaboration event between Mullingar Toastmasters and Tullamore Toastmasters.

The special thing was that it raised more than €800 for the voiceless people in the homeless community which is supported by the Father Peter McVerry Trust. The production included 17 speakers, 17 evaluators and two brilliant Toastmaster clubs.

The event would not have been possible without Lorraine Murphy, who developed the idea, nurtured it and brought it to fruition. A massive thanks to Lorraine for her energy, enthusiasm and organisation skills.

It was a speakathon of epic proportions, called ‘Chirpy, Chirpy, Speak, Speak’ in honour of the time of year! Members were grateful to be joined by two special guests, Tomi Reichental, a holocaust survivor living in Ireland, and Fr Peter McVerry, whose trust was the charity partner of the night.

It was hard to believe that the event was the result of a throw-away comment made months earlier by Lorraine and Martin Farrell from Phoenix-Tara Toastmasters.

Lorraine was challenged in finding space for all the members to speak when they wanted due to the growth of the club. Was it serendipity that the conversation happened on the day honouring Brigid, the woman who never turned anyone away from her door?

The date of conception, the decision to say yes to all interested in taking part and to grow the event around our charity partner of choice – all the stars aligned!

For some time, Charles Malone, president of Tullamore Toastmasters, and Maria Costello, president of Mullingar Toastmasters, were eager to run a joint meeting, and the solution became obvious. Charles is a charmer of the highest order, and worked his magic around the clock to get people on board. Maria flung open the doors and trusted the organisers to take this on, offering help, advice and her belief in them as they embarked on the task.

The PR team of Philip Howlin, Ciara Kinnarney and Pat Kenny ensured the word got out and created great support materials for the night. After two months and a lot of work, Chirpy, Chirpy, Speak, Speak was here, and boy, did it deliver.

Required on a night like this is quantity, but what was unexpected was the amazing quality.

Funny, inspiring, philosophical and educational, the standard was such that attendees, only expected to stay for 30 minutes, ended up being there for the full duration of four hours.

There were more than 30 attendees at all times throughout the meeting.

Luckily, it was all recorded for your pleasure, edited and uploaded to the Mullingar Toastmasters YouTube channel by Lorraine. Each clip is 10 minutes long and consists of one speech and one evaluation. Club members urge you to check them out.

The evaluations were insightful, kind, helpful and showed the power of active listening.

With almost 40 participants, time was of the essence, and it was glorious to witness not one speaker or evaluator going over time.

With division director Rob Partridge, area director Timothy Green and both presidents rolling up the sleeves and taking part, it was a fine example of leading by doing.

Huge congratulations to Joan Heduan, Philip Howlin and Brian McLoughlin, who represented Mullingar Toastmasters at the area finals, and best of luck to Brian, who won the evaluation competition and progresses to the division final. We are all behind you Brian!

Who took part

Speakers: Pat Cavanagh, Maria Costello, Mary-Frances Cox, Anne Drury, Siobhan Keenan Fitzgerald, Billy Gough, Timothy Green, Patrick Hynes, Philip Howlin, Agnes Keenan, Mike Keenan, Ciara Kinnarney, Charles Malone, Maureen McCormack, Brian McLoughlin, Catherine Ryan, Derek Walsh.

Evaluators: Pat Cavanagh, Maria Costello, Anne Drury, Eileen Fleming, Gretta Flynn, Joan Heduan, Mary Kilbane, Philip Howlin, Larry Lyons, Rob Partridge, Geraldine Smith, Carmel Turley, Anke Von Bunau, John Waldron, Daniel Wallace.

Timers: Anne-Marie Dolan, Pauline McCabe, Tara Wright.

Zoom masters: Linda Gavagan, Philip Howlin, Ciara Kinnarney.

Toastmasters: Charles Malone and Lorraine Murphy.