Hi Everyone,
The summer hibernation has come to an end and we are back to our fortnightly gatherings and our much anticipated meeting on 13th September did not disappoint. Mark was Toastmaster for the evening and he started the new season off with the very apt theme of ‘Motivation’, asking everyone on the agenda what motivates them and he even offered to buy a free drink for the best contribution of the evening. Sinead was our Grammarian and the word of the day was ‘Impulse’. Our Poetmaster was Tim who read a Philip Larkin Poem entitled ‘Cut Grass’ and our Timer for the evening was Sarah Keegan.
Ailbhe Moran was the first speaker of the evening and she was evaluated by Sarah Courtney. Ailbhe’s speech was titled ‘New Year’s Resolution’, CC Manual #2, and she informed us as to how 10 minutes of mindfulness meditation every morning can greatly improve our mental and physical health and challenged us to try this technique each morning.
Our second speaker of the evening was Sheila Moran with her speech CC #4 titled ‘Not much to ask for’ and she was evaluated by myself, Felicity. Eloquently, Sheila gave a wonderful description of the solitude, wilderness and silence of the Luggala, Co. Wicklow, famously known as the Guinness family residence by Lough Dan.
Yuri Dubin gave speech CC #7, ‘Every Story is the Same’, explaining how storytelling allows for greater problem skills and is a great teaching tool. Traveling in time from hunter gatherers to modern day digital media he explained how storytelling has always underpinned how humans learn and develop. Yuri was evaluation by Alan Murphy.
Our fourth speaker of the evening was Jill McGrath, this was Jill’s first speech in The Pathways Program. ‘Put it to Good Use’ was a motivating speech in which she explained how her communication and leadership skills, developed through Toastmasters, have been of enormous benefit to her and how we too can use our own skills. Not just for personal satisfaction and gain but to do good for others within the charity sector, where articulate people with critical thinking skills are needed on the Boards of Trustees of a variety of charities. Jill was evaluated by Tony Bond.
Topicsmaster for the evening, Vincent, had a great variety of questions and he gave every person who wasn’t on the agenda a chance to speak. Well done to Yuri who voluntarily came up to speak and was awarded best Table Topics answer of the evening.
Grammarian report: 30 ums, ahhs and filler words. 10 uses of the word of the day.
The General Evaluator, Colin Byford, made a few recommendations to keep our meeting standards high and he then awarded ‘The Contribution of the Evening’ to Jill McGrath. Well done Jill.
VPE Sarah Courtney made her announcements; Our next meeting on September 27th is the Humorous Speech and Table Topics contest. First and second place winners will go forward to area finals (date to be confirmed, hosted by Dun Laoghaire club)
Club dues are now due at €175 by end of the month please. Adrian sent out an email with account details but please ask again if you need them resent.
Bray are looking for judges for their club contest on Oct 1st and they will running a judging workshop in the forthcoming weeks.
Looking forward to seeing everyone again on the 27th
Best Wishes
Felicity Lynch Byrne.