Mullingar Toastmasters at 25: standing on shoulders of giants
Little did members think on February 24, 1997, when Carol Whyte, Brid Hynes and Eamonn Rhattigan met to have their first Toastmasters meeting in Mullingar, that they would have the opportunity to celebrate on the same date 25 years later.
Everyone associated with the club is looking forward to marking the milestone this Thursday, February 24, 2022.
The current club members are standing on the shoulders of giants and trailblazers who forged the path to allow them enjoy what is one of the best Toastmasters clubs in the country.
The club has been lucky to have so many great members over the years and continues to attract more great members as it looks to the future.
There were 32 people in attendance for the first meeting, which was backed by the Athlone and Tullamore clubs.
Pat Cavanagh, still a member, was there on the first night of the club. Joining in the first year was club president John Waldron and also the talented Joan Heduan, two stalwarts of the club down the years.
Initially, the club held meetings on Monday nights, which changed to Thursday night after two years as that was more suitable for the majority of members.
Membership by May of 1998 was 27 and a year later it had blossomed to 42. It continues to hover around the 30 mark despite members now only being only able to meet online for the majority of the last two years, which is a great testament to their enthusiasm.
The club has had and continues to have some of the most gifted speakers in the country and beyond. Members have had a lot of success at a local and national level, and competition is a part of improving speaking and it has allowed members to achieve heights that they may have thought unattainable, and to travel to many places that they may not otherwise have visited.
The club’s greatest collective achievement was hosting the UK and Ireland annual conference in spring 2006. The organisation skills, stamina and determination of the organising committee were put to the test to host such a large event, and it was a massive success, and one that is still talked about to this day.
All are welcome to the 25th anniversary celebration, which is on Zoom. It will be a great chance to meet old friends and make new ones.
For meeting details contact the club on Facebook: Mullingar Toastmasters, or www.toastmasters.org and Email: mullingartoastmasters@gmail.com.
Toastmasters meetings continue on Zoom the second and fourth Thursdays of each month 8-10pm. Members hope to be getting back to the Greville Arms soon and have passed on their thanks to John Corcoran and everyone at the hotel for their outstanding service over the 25 years.
A February Fix
The Mullingar Toastmasters meeting on February 10 had a Valentine’s theme running through it and it made for an enjoyable night.
Billy Gough gave members great detail on the historic background on St Valentine and led the meeting brilliantly. Tom Byrne introduced the word of the night ‘jovial’, which is to be cheerful or happy, and it was used countless times in the meeting and was a perfect fit for the night.
Pat Kavanagh, as the timer, reminded everyone that time is money as he hit his manual bell if anyone went over. Mag Healy Donohue was the ‘Big Brother’ of the meeting as she kept an eye on the meeting as general evaluator for all positive moments and any areas of improvement.
Mary Frances Cox gave an interesting speech about the courage of ‘whistle blowers’ and speaking up. She mixed it with a melody of songs from the most recently departed Meat Loaf. She started like a ‘Bat Out of Hell’ and finished with ‘I Won’t do That’. She left the gathering with a clear message of the importance of having confidence and love for oneself, and also that if we don’t speak up for someone else, who will be left to speak up for us?
Pat Kenny took members once again into his great imagination as he talked about ‘Seanchai Shakespeare’. He started by saying Shakespeare was no Kenny, tongue in cheek style. He said he had two lives, one of a playwright and the other of a playboy. He wrote 184 sonnets to woo rich women. He brought 3,000 new words to the English language. Pat reminded everyone that he brought great stories of love into the world and lots of new ‘focals’.
The final speaker was the always entertaining Lorraine Murphy, who introduced her club-mates to Lazy Suzanne. She took them on a journey of sleeping it out in the corporate world, a sleepaholic and a Rip Van Winkle. She told us a great story of sleeping it out and not hearing her daughter crying when in the maternity ward, only to be accosted by the other women in the ward.
She said there is a positive to sleeping in that it is good for your health. She also mentioned that it helps to have a sense of humour to go with it!
The evaluators on the night were Maria Costello, Ian Cahill and Anke Von Bunau. All brought great energy and fun to their feedback for the speakers.
There was a ‘scent of love’ in the table topics session, run by the magnificent Geraldine Smith, who put her heart and soul into the session. She identified the simple things in life with a loved one. Simple examples came up of dinner, dance, a car defrosted and a cup of tea in the morning.
The best was the present that one of our members got mockingly from her husband – a beautiful trailer full of turf!
The final conclusion we all got from the entertaining topics was that Valentine’s day reminds us of the importance of love and sometimes we just need a prompt!