A night of humour beckons!

Speakeasy Toastmasters Club is hosting it's annual Humorous Speech Contest on Thursday,17th October at 8.00PM. Since the Club's inception, the Humorous Contest has occupied a special place in the Club's calendar, providing members with the opportunity to regale their audience and make them laugh. The contest is not a stand - up comedy routine with a bunch of one-liners strung together.The aim is to present a speech with a clear theme that is humorous in nature.

Over the years, many Speakeasy members have excelled in Humorous Contest at several levels, winning different stages of the event in Ireland and Britain. Last year, Kieran Butler finished in Third Place in The Division B Final. Other members have reached the pinnacle of success in this competition. Matt Lawlee participated in the District 71 ( British and Irish) Final on two occasions, winning in 1995 with his hilarious speech on the fear of flying entitled "The First and Last". This feat was emulated by four time finalist Michael Cronin with his humorous tale about his laptop - "Feel the fear and blow it up anyway" winning top prize in 2008. Other notable successes include Gerry O'Callaghan who competed in the 2003 District Final in Glasgow with his touching eulogy to his pet rat - "Toby".

In conjunction with the Humorous Contest,the Club will also stage the Table Topics Contest. Here, the contestants are challenged to give an impromptu response to a topic with points awarded for content,logic, relevance to the topic and delivery. Over the years, Speakeasy has been represented on twelve occasions at the District Final, with the ultimate prize coming back to Mallow on three occasions. Both the winners and runners up in each contest will go forward to represent Speakeasy in the North Cork Area Final which takesplace in Fermoy in mid November. 

At last week's reschedueled meeting, members were treated to an entertaining array of speeches and topics, overflowing with humour.Susan Hegarty regaled us with "Old Drama". Using the example of "Tracy" inthe TV drama "Emmerdale Farm" spoke about the appeal of television "Soaps". Beginning as afternoon drama in America, soaps evolved as it's target audience - housewives - joined the workforce. As a teenager, the ultimate sanction was a blanket ban on Home and Away, leading to desperate visitations to neighbouring houses to feed their nightly addiction. Various soaps inspired recitations of the Rosary as a shocked mother tried to cleanse her family who had viewed Miley in Glenroe kissing someone he shouldn't!  

Margaret O'Keeffe showed in "Twix and Caramel" that families can grow and progress in a structured fashion that is far removed from the sagas and tribulations of Soap characters, proving that all drama requires some form of conflict. 

Rachel Liston delivered a speech on her own personal journey in Toastmasters. "Carpet Squares" took it's title from a woman in Limerick who looked out at her large garden that needed to be dug up. Getting a leftover piece of carpet, she proceeded on a daily basis to dig up a square equal to size of the carpet until the entire garden was dug. From a reticent beginning, Rachel took the huge leap of faith to join Thomond Toastmasters in Limerick and, square by square, made little but significant improvements as a communicator. Rachel displayed in a straight forward manner how to become a confident communicator - just take the first step and then keep taking the next step. Toastmasters provides the space for everyone who needs to acquire or develop the confidence to speak up or speak out. 

Michael Cronin, Susan Hegarty, Rachel Liston, Bridie O'Connell & Pat Sexton. 

The impromptu section of the meeting, the Table Topics Session was conducted by Ann Nyhan. Topics ranged from the weather as our main topic of conversation to the obnoxious plague of fly tipping and littering. Addictions featured prominently as habits as diverse as vaping and obsession with social media were discussed. Gerry O'Callaghan painted a wonderful picture of coming out of the Cinemas in Mallow and fully smoked up from passively smoking the fog of cigarette smoke that enveloped the theatre. Speakers spoke of the hell of quitting smoking and how the craving never disappears completely. The subject of Noisy Neighbours led to various confessions of youthful exuberance. To great mirth, Don McSweeney recalled his student days in a house in Shandon Street, Cork and how a housemate wrote a letter to the Rector of Shandon Church requesting him to quell the ringing of the Shandon Bells as it interfered with his morning sleep! So far, his simple request hasn't been granted. 

Ann Nyhan, Theresa O'Reilly & Don McSweeney 

Each speech was comprehensively 

evaluated by Bridie O'Connell, Michael Cronin,and Pat Sexton who provided incisive feedback to the speakers, offering commendation and recommendations where appropriate. The art of evaluation is another skill that members develop in Toastmasters, a skill so valuable in our daily interactions at work and in the community.Better speaking, better listening and better thinking are the three vital skills we learn in Toastmasters.At the meeting's conclusion,awards were presented to Don McSweeney--Best Topic; Rachel Liston - Best Speaker and Michael Cronin - Best Evaluator.

And so ended another highly satisfactory and entertaining Speakeasy meeting.More fun will follow at our Humorous Speech night.If you haven't been to Toastmasters or if you would like a good night's entertainment, why not drop along to The Hibernian Hotel, Mallow on Thursday, October 17th at 8.00PM? Indeed, bring a friend and double the fun. Guests are never obliged to speak, unless they wish to do so.Looking forward to seeing you.

For more information about Toastmasters, please check out our website speakeasytoastmasters.com or on Facebook.l