Variety - the spice of Life!

If variety is the spice of life, then last week's Speakeasy Toastmasters Meeting was a flavoursome dish. We were treated to a menu of Autumnal Odes, flying cats,  triumph over adversity and Shakespearean drama. And that was only the speech programme. 

Don McSweeney began proceedings on a seasonal note with his recitation of John Clare's poem Autumn. John Clare was a "working class" poet who wrote about the changes in English rural life in the 1800s. His language was simple yet highly descriptive as his poem Autumn suggests. 

Juan Miguel Camarasa speech "Flying with the Cat" was a hilarious tale of transporting his mother's cat from Spain to Ireland.  Everything is going according to plan until he arrives at Airport Security and all hell and a cat breaks loose! And things escalated from there!

Michael Cronin presented "A Journey". This was the extraordinary story of Arthur MacMurrough Kavanagh, Member of Parliament for Counties Carlow and Wexford in the 1860s. Born with  serious birth defects, he had no arms and feet. However,  his mother insisted that he enjoy the same opportunities as her other children. By the age of three he could master riding a pony and learned how to hunt, fish and paint! As a young man, he had several notorious affairs with servant girls in his house. As a result, his mother sent him off to travel Scandinavia and Russia down into India, encountering desert storms, forest fires, snow blizzards. But, he survived all this still found time to spend a month in a harem! Arthur's life was an extraordinary tale of triumph over adversity. 

Bobby Buckley's lengthy presentation "Silence"  was an entertaining look at his life as a teacher and the perennial nightmare of losing control of a class. Imagine then the chaos of bringing a bunch of pupils "the good,  the bad and the morons" to Shakespeare plays at The Abbey Theatre! It all culminated in a production of Hamlet when the students, having learned Hamlet's famous soliloquy, decided to recite it aloud at the appropriate time and applaud themselves for efforts for hijacking the lead performer! All in all it was a very satisfying conclusion to a hugely entertaining evening of speeches. 

Speakeasy will host it's next Meeting on Thursday, 29th October in The Hibernian Hotel, Mallow at 7.45pm.   If you require assistance with that"Special Occasion" speech  or need to deliver reports at work, Speakeasy can assist you.  We ca help you overcome your anxieties. Halloween is in the air but no one will be frightened at our Meetings. Guests are always welcome to attend  and are never obliged to speak unless they wish to do so.For more information, please check out our website speakeasytoastmasters.com or Facebook.

Officers at last week's Speakeasy Meeting  - James McConville, Topicsmaster; Rachel Liston, President and Steven Day, Toastmaster. 

Juan Miguel Camarasa regales his audience at last week's Speakeasy Meeting 

Don  McSweeney delivers at last week's Speakeasy Meeting 

Topics of mystery and imagination!

Impromptu speaking - we all do it and quite often,  we dread it. All interpersonal communications require the ability to think quickly and with flexibility, to be able to read the situation and respond accordingly. It can be complicated!

Toastmasters can help. Our Table Topics Session puts Members on the spot in a non threatening way. And! It can be hugely entertaining. At the last Speakeasy Meeting,  the Topicsmaster, Claire O'Connell treated her audience to a highly imaginative and quirky selection of challenges that brought out  the best in every response.

We cringed when we recalled "chat-up lines" we may have used. Yes, there is a plethora of corny conversations from meet up situations.  But nothing beats the story of the member (who will remain nameless) who complimented a woman for "looking radiant in white" and then, completely by accident,  tumbled a full pint of Murphy's stout over her!

We learned of members' pet peeves regarding Hotels,  especially Gyms that contravene such descriptions - gyms that are installed for Star Rating purposes that lack the basic essentials of a gym.

Imagine that you could be a household appliance? Which one? The response was a C⁰lothes Iron, steaming clothes and pressing them to perfection while blowing hot air, just like the speaker.

We had an ode to the importance of trees to our existence and a guide to matching and mismatching various colours while dressing for that night out but, most interesting of all, would you marry your arch enemy for a Billion? There was a time when we spoke about Millions but inflation has changed all that. One member spoke about a certain marriage arrangement in rural Ireland  - "40 acres and Madge thrown in". But, one response summed it up in practical terms, when marrying for a Billion,  make sure to have a good pre-nuptial. It was a modern day take on the infamous Zsa Zsa Gabor line - "I'm a great housekeeper,  when I divorce, I keep the house".

The next Speakeasy Meeting takes place on this Thursday night, 15th October in The Hibernian Hotel, Mallow at 7.45pm.  As always,  guests are welcome to attend our Meetings and are never obliged to speak unless they wish to do so. For more information about this Club,  please check out our website speakeasytoastmasters.com or on Facebook.