A Christmas Cracker!

The Christmas Meeting of Speakeasy Toastmasters was a celebratory and festive one. It's highlight was a presentation to Club member Bobby Buckley to mark his achievement of receiving the Distinguished Toastmaster Award, the highest achievement in the Toastmasters programme.

In his presentation speech - "Staying Power", Michael Cronin spoke of the dedication and enthusiasm that Bobby brought to his participation in Toastmasters. As a joint member of both the Rathfarnham Club in Dublin and Speakeasy, Bobby has presented over forty speeches and a number of educational talks as well as playing a part in Leadership roles. Michael paid tribute to Bobby for the many wonderful and poetic speeches that he has delivered in Speakeasy since he joined the Club in 2015 and expressed a wish to hear many more in the years ahead!

In his acceptance speech - "From Zero to Hero", Bobby spoke about his relationship with his native town of Mallow and his eventful career as a cross country runner. He spoke fondly of the "wonderful reception and welcome" he received when he presented his first speech in Speakeasy in 2015.The speech was called "The Man on the Bike" and recalled his father's encouragement of his athletic career. Bobby spoke that coming to Speakeasy was like returning to his spiritual home, where "he was received like a prodigal son".

Noel O'Connor's speech - "India" offered a fascinating travelogue on his recent visit to that country. It was festooned with striking visual images - the spiders' webs of power lines above the narrow streets, the ubiquitous floral decorations of French Marigolds, entire families on motorbikes, overcrowded vans and land rovers. And then there was the traffic - noisy chaos would be far too sedate a description for it. As one observer remarked - "Perhaps, we could send them Shane Ross and improve life in two countries!" The description of farming life in India seemed to be centuries removed from Irish agriculture with an average herd size of 3 cows and milkmen on motorbikes.

Claire O'Connell presented an engaging rumination on" The Deception of Success". Using stereotypes as examples, she posed a series of important questions. What is success anyway? What depicts failure? Is it the career, the trophy wife? Claire challenged us to look at other meaningful measures of success - what is your special gift? What makes you a good friend? Are you a kind soul?

Kindness was the theme of a rather novel Topics Session from Topicsmaster Helsa Giles. Encouraging members to speak impromptu speak on an object or "present" picked out of a lucky bag, the responses covered everything from Harley Davidsons to recycling to baubles, stolen Christmas trees and Bob Dylan's Christmas Album! And, of course, no discussion of the festive season would be complete without mention of dreaded words like moderation and Brussel Sprouts.

At the meeting's conclusion, the General Evaluator, Anne O'Donovan oversaw a strong Evaluation Session and presented awards to outstanding contributions. The Best Evaluation Award went to Marie Fitzpatrick. The Best Topic Award was picked up by Liam Flynn for his reminiscing on riding a Harley Davidson. The Best Speaker was awarded to Bobby Buckley, a fitting recognition of his special night.

And that brought our final Meeting of 2019 to a close. Following a short break for Christmas, Speakeasy Toastmasters will return on Thursday, 9th January 2020 in The Hibernian Hotel Mallow at 8.00PM. 

The New Year is an ideal time to take up a new hobby or pursuit. Why not pay Speakeasy Toastmasters a visit? Guests are always welcome to attend our meetings and are never obliged to speak unless they wish to do so. 

For more information on this club, please check out our website speakeasytoastmasters.com

or on Facebook. 

Finally, we wish all our readers a joyous and peaceful Christmas and every success in 2020. 

Speak Easy Toastmasters Club meets on alternate Thursday Nights of each month, September to May at 8.00 PM Sharp in The Hibernian Hotel, Mallow: Speak Easy Toastmasters was founded in April 1993 speakeasytoastmasters.com