Mullingar Toastmasters, and 'the Tayto Park of the midlands'
Mullingar Toastmasters turned the Harp Suite at the Greville Arms Hotel into the Tayto Park of the midlands, at their last meeting, on Thursday November 10.
It was a rollercoaster of a meeting, opened by club president Lorraine Murphy, back following a two-week absence. Rumour has it she was on a gruelling book tour with her new novel Into the Woods – we can neither confirm or deny that, but it was clear to see she was happy to be back on familiar ground.
Toastmaster of the night, Pat Kenny, proved his professionalism and introduced the role players. There is only one Pat Kenny and he lives west of Kinnegad. Pat steered the meeting with his unmistakable wit, telling stories about all the members before introducing them.
The roles for the evening were then announced. The welcome team, the fáilte officers, were Tom Byrne and Mags Healy Donoghue. Tom welcomed 22 members and four guests to the meeting. On the clock as timekeeper was Philip Howlin and grammarian for the night was Rosemary Elliott.
John Coyne was first to speak and he delivered his Icebreaker. An Icebreaker speech is the first by a Toastmaster to introduce them to the club. John’s highly polished content and delivery meant it was hard to believe it was an Icebreaker, as his delivery, content and humour had the confidence of a veteran’s speech.
This heartfelt piece of work proved popular with all in the room as John described a lifelong journey that brought him to Toastmasters.
Next Derek Walsh, with a speech entitled ‘Life lessons’, shared three, culminating with the message that failure is success inside out.
Tony Viney’s speech was ‘It’s on the list’, and the six minutes were full of laughter as Tony freewheeled with facial expressions, quick one-liners and exaggerated movements to tell a story of how a cute puppy turned into a bear-sized dog.
Mary-Frances Cox finished with a speech entitled ‘A taste of home’. She turned a simple walk though Phibsboro in Dublin into a nostalgic look to a time when there was less choice and things were simpler. Mary-Frances’s delivery through humour, movement and eye contact brought her story to life.
Evaluators on the night were Patrick Cavanagh, Lorraine Murphy, Linda Gavagan and Pauline McCabe.
Tea, coffee and banter marked the halfway point and oiled the crowds for a lively second half. Damien Rooney took to the podium to deliver table topics with a slightly changed format. Damien, in the style of a well-known Radio 1 presenter, asked everyone in the room to complain and had us all in stitches. This resulted in 15 minutes of high jinks. Everyone in the room took part, including the visitors, who felt so at home they sounded like seasoned Toastmasters.
General evaluator, Geraldine Smith, summed up the evening as highly entertaining. She praised all who had roles and remarked that the entertainment was due to the superb team effort.
President Murphy closed the meeting by thanking the committee for taking the reins in her absence and congratulating Tom Byrne on his success in the table topics area competition. Tom will represents Area 9 in the division finals on Saturday, November 19. We wish him every success.
Mullingar Toastmasters meet again on Thursday November 25 in the Greville Arms at 8pm.
For more information, go to Facebook or email, mullingartoastmasters@gmail.com.