Sunday, March 28, 2010

The Toastmasters Community is.........

The Speakeasy Club is part of a wider Toastmasters Community. Our club is a constituent of Area 17, which includes other clubs such as the Galtees Club in Mitchelstown, Fáilte Toastmasters in Charleville and Fermoy Toastmasters.


In turn Area 17 is part of Division A, which comprises of all the Toastmaster Clubs in Cork. Kerry and Limerick County. DivisionA forms part of Toastmaster District 71, which includes Ireland and Great Britain.

The other Toastmaster Divisions in Ireland are Division C, which comprises the Greater Dublin area, Division D which covers the South-East of the country, and Division F which consists of the West , North-West and the Midlands.

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday April 15th at the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, commencing at 8:00pm. Non-members are more than welcome and will not be asked to speak. Details of our previous meeting, which was held on April 31st, will appear in next week’s issue of the Mallow Star.

Further details about the club are available from our website, www.speakeasytoastmasters.com , which features a blog containing meeting reports and a photo gallery, or from Ray at 086-3675706

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Contests Coming

One of the highlights of the toastmaster year is the international speech and evaluation competition night. To compete in the international speech competition, one deliverers a five to seven minute speech.

The winner at club level then progresses onto the area stage, which locally is area 17, including the clubs in Fermoy, Mitchelstown and Charleville. The Area winner then competes at the Division Final. We are part of Division A, which includes all clubs in Cork, Kerry and Limerick County.

The Division Winner then progresses onto the District Final, competing against speakers from other divisions, across the UK and Ireland. The district winner then competes at the Toastmasters world convention.

In the evaluation competition, a guest speaker from another club delivers a speech. The competitors in the evaluation competition are led away to another room to prepare their evaluations. The competitors are then brought back one by one to deliver their evaluations.

The evaluation competition progresses to district level.
You can see this in action when Speakeasy Toastmasters will hold our club evaluation and international speech competition, on March 18th at the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, commencing at 8:00pm.

Further details about the club are available from our website www.speakeasytoastmasters.com which features a blog containing all our past press reports, or from Ray at 086-3675706. Non-members are welcome to attend our meetings and will not be asked to speak.

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Tinsmiths, Radio Eireann and Hairstyles

Speakeasy Toastmasters held yet another successful meeting on March 4th. The Toastmaster for the evening was Liam Flynn, who chaired the proceedings with his characteristic good humour. Our most recent new member, Bridget Breen, delivered her first speech. The first speech delivered by all new members is one where the member introduces themselves to the other club members. Bridget delivered an accomplished and entertaining “icebreaker”, describing her childhood in North Kerry and her interest in traditional music. Bridget’s speech was evaluated by Jean Sayers.

Following Bridget was one of our former Presidents, Anne Buckley, who gave a witty account of the importance of the hair styling industry. Loretto Barry was Anne’s evaluator. The third speaker was Jerry O’ Callaghan who spoke about the famous Radio Eireann personalities of past years, such as Joe Lynch, Bridie Gallagher, Frankie Byrne and Din Joe. Joe Hassett evaluated Jerry’s speech.

Following Jerry was Angela Sheehan who read an extract from Alan Bennett’s novel “The uncommon reader”, which is a fictional depiction of the current monarch of the UK. Noel O’ Connor evaluated Angela’s speech. The final speaker was Jerry Mulcahy, who described the art of the tinsmith. Declan Curtis evaluated Jerry’s speech.
After the tea break Ray Ryan jnr conducted the topics session, while Sean Corcoran conducted the General Evaluation Session. The other officers for the night included Mary Buckley, who was Timekeeper and Pat Duggan who was the Grammarian. Finally the room was set up by Mary Moynihan and Declan Curtis, the Sergeants at Arms.

Our next meeting, which will be held on March 18th at the Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, commencing at 8:00pm, will feature the club evaluation and international speech competitions. Further details about the club are available from our website www.speakeasytoastmasters.com which features a blog containing all our past press reports, or from Ray at 086-3675706. Non-members are welcome to attend our meetings and will not be asked to speak.