Nenagh Toastmasters celebrate
On Saturday, January 25, Nenagh Toastmasters met at the Thatched Cottage Restaurant in Ballycommon for their belated Christmas dinner.
December was a busy month - it made sense to cele-brate when most were available to gather. 27 diners sat at three tables for a three-course meal and lots of conversation.
After the meal several members volunteered spon-taneously (encouraged by the rest) to sing or recite a poem for our entertainment. Tom Jones’ ‘Delilah’ – ‘My Grandfather’s Clock’ and other songs – tall sto-ries - ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ recitation and so on, all met with fulsome applause: a merry scene.
On Tuesday, January 28, we held our regular meeting at the Abbey Court Hotel, beautifully decorated with Christmas lights. Even the carpark looks festive.
President Eileen Kennedy opened the meeting. The Toastmaster was Willie Grace.
To start with the roles of Grammarian, Evaluator and Timer were outlined.
Three speeches were scheduled. Joe Ryan outlined the objectives of Toastmasters’ Pathways which he’s following.
Joe spoke of the purpose of Motivational Strategy being to Inspire the Audience. Joe listed experiences in his life which illustrated this theme: Being responsible for one’s own health, sports, cold showers, the value of walking in nature, finding Awe in this wonderful world, every day a learning day, establishing meaningful friendships and so on. His outline listed on the board was a useful guide for the audience.
Margaret Cullinan delivered a thoughtful speech enti-tled ‘We are here for a reason’. She spoke about love as energy, daily contributions to the world, zest and perspective, collective interests that bind us: working together, making plans for the next two or ten years, focusing on positive outcomes.
Danny Doyle spoke about presenting a proposal on mentoring. Using a pie chart to facilitate understanding, Danny informed us that Toastmasters (an international organization with US headquarters), estimates each club typically loses 40% of its members each year (although these are frequently replaced by newcomers), and proposed how to improve growth to increase membership.
Through Icebreaker speeches (by newcomers, when they are ready, to describe themselves and their in-terests) we soon connect.
Nenagh Toastmasters, going strong for over 37 years, is one of the most successful clubs in retaining mem-bership, many current members being among the first to join.
It’s a friendly, inclusive group. Covid hadn’t dimin-ished membership despite meetings being continued by Zoom for the duration, and we welcome newcomers. The Nenagh Guardian publishes our news while Danny posts information on our Facebook page.
After the break for coffee, cake and conversation, Topicsmaster Joanne Cullinan called upon individuals to speak for two minutes upon a variety of subjects which elicited many additional comments:
- What school projects had inspired us?
- Where’s the most interesting place you’ve visited? - - Should greyhound racing be banned?
- Do you see yourself as a mentor?
Joanne made a memorable comment at the end: ‘Bloom where you’re planted.’
Evaluators Willie Grace, Rowena Bisschoff, Aksana Siderchuk, Brendan O’Brien and Eibhlin Maher re-ported.
We sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to two members celebrat-ing on the day, which rounded off a very sociable evening. The next meeting is in the Abbey Court Ho-tel on Tuesday, February 4, at 8pm. All welcome!