BARNEY – NO MATCH FOR FERMOY TOASTMASTERS

In the late afternoon of Tuesday, November 17th, with the regular meeting of the Fermoy Toastmasters Club set to take place that evening, Storm Barney roared across the country. Great clouds of fallen leaves fluttered crazily about everywhere. The conditions were rough and wild and misgivings were expressed as to whether the meeting should go ahead. But as teatime drew near the winds abated and it was decided to proceed. And what a happy and gratifying choice that turned out to be for we came together and enjoyed a memorably pleasant and refreshing meeting. The mighty noise of the storm gave way to the gentle sound of happy voices. As always, the members are very happy with our brightly-lit and comfortably spacious meeting room and most warmly appreciative to all of the staff at the Fermoy Youth Centre for their kindness, help and support.

The Top Table for the November 17th 2015 meeting:- President, John Sherlock (centre); Toastmaster, Eilish Ui Bhriain (left); and Topicsmaster, John Kelly. Three happy and smiling faces so eloquently expressive of the happy and welcoming spirit of Fermoy Toastmasters.
The Top Table for the November 17th 2015 meeting:- President, John Sherlock (centre); Toastmaster, Eilish Ui Bhriain (left); and Topicsmaster, John Kelly. Three happy and smiling faces so eloquently expressive of the happy and welcoming spirit of Fermoy Toastmasters.

Once again our President, John Sherlock, set the tone for the proceedings by thanking everyone for coming and extending a very warm welcome that instantly launched the meeting on a bright and positive course. Our meeting planner and coordinator, Eilish Ui Bhriain, then assumed the role of Toastmaster or chairman of the evening of the chairing with her most adept and sure style, passing seamlessly from one stage of the meeting to the next and introducing the speakers in a way that made all participants feel so appreciated and deeply valued for the variety and uniqueness of their contributions. We had two impromptu topics sessions in the hands of an unrivaled master of the craft, John Kelly, one of our clubs’s most honoured and distinguished members, who brought to this role his charm, grace and genial presence and originality that built up a lively and receptive atmosphere. Because of unforeseen events, John had to take on this challenge at a very late stage in the evening but he faced it with great poise and accomplishment illuminated by all of his great character, cordiality and wisdom.

Padraig Murphy acts as Timekeeper at the meeting of November 17th 2015. It is a task that requires precision and attentiveness, a vital role that often does not receive the recognition it deserves. The sheet on the table to the left of picture contains the duration of every speech made and of the length of every phase of the meeting. This is read out when it comes to the General Evaluation before the conclusion of proceedings. The set of lights in front of Padraig govern the length of speeches. The normal time allowed is seven minutes: the green comes on at five, the amber at six and the red at seven, when the speaker should be wrapping things up at that stage. The Toastmasters' ideal is to impart as much information with an elegant economy of words within that spare timeframe. In competition, speakers who go beyond the thirty second period of grace after the coming on of the seventh minute red light, are disqualified. Of course, for some more advanced presentations the time limits are extended and appropriate adjustments are made beforehand with the Timekeeper. The bell on the table is normally used in the impromptu Topics session; it rings after the speaker has completed the allowed two minutes, and again after one minute add-ons by other contributors.
Padraig Murphy acts as Timekeeper at the meeting of November 17th 2015. It is a task that requires precision and attentiveness, a vital role that often does not receive the recognition it deserves. The sheet on the table to the left of picture contains the duration of every speech made and of the length of every phase of the meeting. This is read out when it comes to the General Evaluation before the conclusion of proceedings. The set of lights in front of Padraig govern the length of speeches. The normal time allowed is seven minutes: the green comes on at five, the amber at six and the red at seven, when the speaker should be wrapping things up at that stage. The Toastmasters’ ideal is to impart as much information with an elegant economy of words within that spare timeframe. In competition, speakers who go beyond the thirty second period of grace after the coming on of the seventh minute red light, are disqualified. Of course, for some more advanced presentations the time limits are extended and appropriate adjustments are made beforehand with the Timekeeper. The bell on the table is normally used in the impromptu Topics session; it rings after the speaker has completed the allowed two minutes, and again after one minute add-ons by other contributors.

The subjects touched on many of the gentler aspects of life from what good thing you did today to what vegetable would you would outlaw;  to ways in which you feel truly appreciated by others to moments when you said No but perhaps should have said Yes.  Seoirse Neilan responded to this by relating his encounter back in the 1990s when he was in America undergoing eye treatment, with a very eminent ophthalmic surgeon of Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, who invited him to an evening at his mansion. Circumstances obliged Seoirse to decline only to find out later that such soirees were often attended by ambassadors and politicians. But the loss was actually theirs for if these representatives of the great and the good of America and the world had met Seoirse they would have found such a richness and depth in this truly remarkable man who make us all feel so much better for knowing him and truly elevated for his being with us together with his lovely wife Patricia and joining in our meetings. Long may they both continue to do so.

Every meeting has at its essential core a programme of set speeches. That night we were served a bracing selection of the very best in listening pleasure. It is always so delightful to welcome a new member and friend speaker to the club as we did with Tim Fitzgerald who evoked his parents’ journey to a new life in New Zealand with a planned temporary interlude in London which – as so often happens with temporary arrangements – became permanent as they stayed in the British capital to raise their family. Tim’s speech was lively, vivid and powerful, full of his eager spirit to learn and reach out to ever new adventures and experiences, mastering a great range of vital skills along the way, knowing the sadness of the untimely loss of loved ones and yet having the strength and insight to see beyond to ever new beginnings, affirming the truth and the value of life and people. Marriage and fatherhood were in time to bring him to his ancestral homeland and to the building of a rewarding and engaging life form which we have no doubt he will draw inspiration for so many more outstanding and excellent speeches in the future as we all enjoy and share in the enthusiasm and commitment of his membership and participation.

Some of the attendance in relaxed and jovial mood after the November 17th meeting. As can be seen, our room in the Fermoy Youth Centre is brightly-lit, spacious and very comfortable, as well as being accessible without the climbing of stairs. Moreover the Fermoy Youth Centre staff are most helpful to us and place a lovely spread of light refresments and heartwarming teas and coffees before us every evening. A congenial venue makes for enhanced and very pleasant gatherings.
Some of the attendance in relaxed and jovial mood after the
November 17th meeting. As can be seen, our room in the Fermoy Youth
Centre is brightly-lit, spacious and very comfortable, as well as being accessible without the climbing of stairs. Moreover the Fermoy Youth Centre staff are most helpful to us and place a lovely spread of light refresments and heartwarming teas and coffees before us every evening. A congenial venue makes for enhanced and very pleasant gatherings.

Michael Cronin of Mallow took us on a biographical journey through the life of Bram Stoker, the creator of Dracula: always such an apt subject at this time of the year when the bareness of the earth and long winter nights readily brings to mind evokes the supernatural. Told with the authority of great research, we received a vivid word portrait of the young Stoker, a sickly and frail lad who grew in imaginative power and stature and – under the inspiration of his mother’s lurid tales of suffering and pain from the cholera epidemics and the ravages of the Famine that she had seen in the west of Ireland – he created one of the most powerful and disturbing characters in world literature, the brooding vampire that in a sense embodies the darker side of our own history. On a not entirely unrelated theme Johanna Hegarty then donned a woolen hat and polka dot shawl to personify Mother Earth – as drawn from the writings of E. M. Larson – with a zestful and memorable performance lamenting how the ravages of human selfishness and greed have despoiled the beauty and grandeur of the natural world and poisoned the air and water, given with great dramatic effect and displaying all of her great love for thespian pursuits.

Finally, Jerry Hennessy took on The Roast: no, not a cookery demonstration, but rather a congratulatory speech marking the retirement of an imaginary person from company management, regaling the audience with many jokes and anecdotes that represented a degree of mild mockery and jovial leg-pulling, revealing the foibles of the person to be sure, but in a good-natured way without any trace of offence. A challenge that requires great skill and maturity, for the true objective is in fact to show the person in the very best light of all, with warmth and kindness and having the good sense to know how to laugh at themselves – and Jerry conveyed this so well with his quintessentially relaxed and smiling mastery of the comic arts.

Spot the difference between this and the preceding picture? Standing at the rear of the meeting is David Walsh, who is normally unseen as he is behind the lens trying to capture the golden moment. He has stepped into the frame and is joined by Toastmaster for that evening, John Kelly. On the right of picture and just sitting behind Padraig Murphy is Tim Fitzgerald who made a very emorable Icebreaker or maiden speech that evening, which is always such a very special and cherished moment for every new member and indeed for the entire club. As this scene makes clear, we are all here together in a spirit of mutual support and the very warmest riendship.
Spot the difference between this and the preceding picture? Standing at the rear of the meeting is David Walsh, who is normally unseen as he is behind the lens trying to capture the golden moment. He has stepped into the frame and is joined by Toastmaster for that evening, John Kelly. On the right of picture and just sitting behind Padraig Murphy is Tim Fitzgerald who made a very memorable Icebreaker or maiden speech that evening, which is always such a very special and cherished moment for every new member and indeed for the entire club. As this scene makes clear, we are all here together in a spirit of mutual support and the very warmest riendship.

To every speaker there is an evaluator, giving the benefit of their interpretation of what they have just heard, assessing the speaker’s performance, praising their achievements; never ever finding fault but thoughtfully pointing the way to ever greater improvement. An overall impression of the evening was provided in the lovely and gentle style of Mary Whelan. We emerged into a night that had fallen calm and the stars of Orion the Hunter shone brilliantly over our journey home. Storm Barney had proven no match for Fermoy Toastmasters.

Our next meeting is the penultimate meeting of the year on Tuesday next, December 1st, at 8.15 pm in the Fermoy Youth Centre, as with a rising festive atmosphere we look forward to Christmas. For further information, please contact Eilish Ui Bhriain at 087 1235203 or Kevin Walsh at 058 60100 or log on to our mobile-friendly website toastmastersfermoy.com or find us on Twitter @ FermoyT.