Come with me into the meeting room of the Fermoy Toastmasters Club in the local Youth Centre on the beautiful bright sunny evening of Tuesday, May 24^th, for our final gathering and AGM of the current season. Yet there was no sense of winding down marked by a very large attendance and an atmosphere humming with enthusiasm and the pure unalloyed joy of friends joining together, relaxed, convivial and happy in each other’s company. A significant and most welcome innovation was the enhancing presence of members from our sister club in Mallow, the incoming Educational Vice-President Helsa Giles and Michael Cronin who came to participate with us in this very special celebration of the arts of communication and personal growth in mutual goodwill and enjoyment.

After proceedings were called to order by our President John Sherlock, Michael Cronin assumed the role of Toastmaster or chairman who steered the evening along with all of his ebullient wit and ready cheer and quick pithy asides that greatly added to our shared enjoyment.  Jerry Hennessy gave us a sparkling topics session in which among so much else Eilish Ui Bhriain was asked as to whether a woman’s mind is always clear because she always keeps changing it, to which she made the brilliant reply that so many women remain steadfast and purposeful in the course of their lives in pursuit of what they want to achieve for which she won the Best Topics Award.  John Kelly further commented on the importance of being happy to be yourself in all aspects of life.   ‘Just as I am now happy to be among dear friends in Toastmasters’, he observed.  How many times John illuminates our meetings with his genial words of wisdom and truth as only the very best and dearest of friends can do.

We were treated to three very diverse and immensely rewarding speeches, beginning with Fanahan Colbert who told of how his years in London fired his interest and imagination with the richness of England’s long, sometimes turbulent, occasionally magnificent and endlessly fascinating royal history.  We were brought very skilfully and gently on a potted tour tracing the royal succession over the past five centuries from  the rise of the Tudor dynasty to the present Elizabethan age of the present Queen who has surpassed even Victoria as Britain’s longest reigning sovereign and whose own regal journey still happily continues. Her remarkable visit to Ireland in 2011 was an immensely significant occasion towards bringing about reconciliation and cordial relations between these islands. Encompassing concisely and very effectively such a vast and rich tapestry within a few brief minutes was indeed a quite extraordinary achievement.

Mairead Barry sat before the meeting and with book in hand read a selection of her favourite poems, beginning with the late Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney’s ‘When All The Others Were Away At Mass’, evoking Sunday mornings of his early childhood when he had watched and helped his Mother prepare dinner, capturing the innocence and love of such happy memories in all their simplicity and delight that warm the heart for a lifetime. Her next choice was ‘Quarantine’ by Eavan Boland, portraying a young man and woman found together in death along a roadside during the terrible years of the Great Famine, bearing on their shoulders all the toxins of a hard and bitter history. Then the mood instantly lightened with verses from the quirky, idiosyncratic and exuberantly funny pen of Paul Durcan with his ‘Making Love Outside Aras An Uachtarain’, setting a moment of youthful passion against the staid complacent blindness of De Valera’s Ireland. By sharing with us her great love of literature and boundless enthusiasm for life, Mairead brought together poems of such power and diversity that allowed us to see the world through the poet’s eye with a new clarity and vividness.

Our final visitor to the lectern by Trish Neilan who spoke on the theme of The Cloud, beginning with the roiling cumulous masses that so often crowd and darken the Irish skies: coming from the usual cloudless conditions of her familiar desert region of Mexico, the variety and majesty of our cloud formations she finds endlessly fascinating.  However she then broadened her talk to embrace the invisible Cloud of cyberspace where almost all human knowledge including our own personal records, files and photographs are kept, pointing to the dangers of so much information held in remote and unaccountable insubstantial global electronic memory networks while also praising its versatility and the sheer vastness of its storing capacity. On balance, Trish held that The Cloud does not cast a shadow over our lives but brings us the light of convenience and choice, optimism and progress.

All of these speeches received fine, helpful and positive evaluations from Kevin O’Neil, Michelle O’Brien and Johanna Hegarty.

Before settling down to the business of the AGM, we enjoyed a most convivial tea break enhanced with delicious apple and rhubarb pastry tarts brought to us by the kindness of our President John Sherlock. Afterwards in an example of one of the purest forms of democracy there is, the officers of the outgoing committee rendered account of their stewardship throughout the past year. General satisfaction and pleasure was expressed by all at the very successful and happy place the club has reached and which holds out such bright vistas of achievement and happiness for the future. Warmest appreciation was expressed to John Sherlock for his relaxed, kindly and pleasant affability throughout his Presidential year which contributed so much to the growth of the club and the immense pleasure of all of our meetings. Meetings so well and skilfully organised with unfailingly stimulating and entertaining programmes put together by Eilish Ui Bhriain whose commitment and dedication to the club and genial friendship is something for which she is universally held dear by us all.  With grace and honour, the chain of office was then placed on the shoulders of Eilish to mark the carrying forward of a great and vibrant local tradition.

The new Committee was then elected:- Eilish Ui Bhriain, President; Educational Vice President and Meeting Organiser, Kevin O’Neil;  Treasurer, Johanna Hegarty;  Membership, Fanahan Colbert; PRO, Kevin Walsh;  Secretary, Jerry Hennessy;   Sgt-At-Arms Padraig Murphy and Tim Fitzgerald, each holding the post for a half-year term; Immediate Past President, John Sherlock. The new line-up represents a good combination of the experience and wisdom of older members with the fresh thinking and creative energy of those who have recently joined us.

With heartfelt gratitude for all who have made our season so wonderful and so special, we now look forward to our summer break and may it be a time of rest and enjoyment, of renewal and fresh inspiration for all as we look forward to our next season in early September.  Wishing all our friends and supporters a wonderful summer.

What makes Fermoy Toastmasters such a very special place to be is that it is such a lovely gathering of friends. It is their warmth and kindness, that easy, genial and relaxed atmosphere that fills our club gatherings and makes all of our meeting so convivial, enjoyable and unforgettably pleasant and entertaining.  And because of that very reason it brings out the very best in us all so that every meeting is an occasion to treasure with gladness and joy.

At our most recent meeting in the Fermoy Youth Centre on May 3rd, following the ever warm and genial welcome from our most affable and cordial President John Sherlock, the proceedings were chaired for the next two hours by one of our new members, Tim Fitzgerald, making a very fine debut in this truly vital and pivotal role in every meeting.  There is no better beginning than with humour and Tim began by telling us a funny story based around the legend of Quasimodo in The Hunchback Of Notre Dame who – catching glimpse of his heart’s desire, the beautiful Esmerelda – abseiled on a bell-rope down the spire to the pavement far below, whereupon a passer-by remarked, ‘His face sure rings a bell’!  Now as soon as you get them laughing, an audience is with you. And so it was that straightaway Tim with a highly convivial lightness of touch bought all of us with him in brightest and happiest spirits through the entire meeting.

With her winning charm and grace, Mary Whelan guided us through a very engaging Topics session, presenting strikingly refreshing and mind-stirring invitations to impromptu speaking encompassing the difference between those who are morning and evening persons, the games we played in childhood and reflections on Leicester winning the UK Premiership, among so much else. Topics are all about immediacy and spontaneity; they call forth responses that are given from the first thoughts that come into your mind and area remarkably bracing and invigorating cerebral exercise, firing the imagination and making ideas flow freely and joyfully.

Our very convivial tea break was most richly graced and enhanced by the delightful apple tart and strawberry cheesecake of Eilish Ui Bhriain and Helsa Giles respectively, a veritable fiesta of sweet-toothed pleasure.  Our very warmest thanks and appreciation to two outstanding Toastmasters and very dear friends for their great kindness in doing so much to make our evening so very special.

The first of our three speeches was an offstage talk from David Walsh on the story of the world’s most famous locomotive, The Flying Scotsman.  Evoking this leviathan of the rails thundering through the British countryside with the hiss and roar of venting steam, David traced its story from its beginnings in the early 1920s as normality returned after the traumas of the Great War, bringing with it a new demand for greater speed and comfort as people sought to take longer and faster journeys to places of holiday and relaxation.  In a well-researched speech, David told of the rise of a new generation of faster and better designed engines to meet that demand, the most famous being The Flying Scotsman achieving the first ever non-stop run between London and Edinburgh and the first engine to exceed a hundred miles an hour during its glory days in the era between the wars. Later it shared in the inexorable decline of rail travel in the 1950s and was taken out of service in 1963. But this great locomotive with its majestic design and impressive green livery had such a grip on the public imagination that saw it rescued from the breaker’s yard and wonderfully restored time and again through the intervention of a long line of wealthy rail enthusiasts.  Indeed its entire story is a series of amazing rebirths and new beginnings as now after a decade-long refit it sets outs from the National Rail Museum in York criss-crossing Britain in an extensive programme of excursions throughout the year, on one of which David looks forward to being a passenger and sharing in a very memorable experience.

Our next speaker was one of our club’s best loved personalities, John Kelly who again brought us back to the mid-1920s, to the launching in California of Toastmasters International, led by Dr. Ralph C. Smedley.  In his gentle and ever pleasing style, John told us of how the founder devoted well over a decade to writing the first basic Communication & Leadership manual.  The painstaking effort, thought and refinement of concept and approach that went into its creation gave a fresh insight into the true significance of that essential set of objectives that every Toastmaster in the world is asked to take on, embracing such diverse aims as effective use of body language and gestures, how the variation of tone, volume and pitch of voice underlines the meaning and truth of the message;  the painting of beautiful word pictures; the development of the noble art of clarifying your thoughts and expressing them with brevity and elegance. Told with grace and style, John warmly commended the club on its distinguished and accomplished 45-year history, holding up our admirable and timeless ideals of communication and leadership with personal growth and cordial friendship as illuminating the path to another great 45 years of achievement.  We will certainly all try to go as far as we can on that never ending journey.

Our final speaker was Kevin O’Neil, who also took us on a journey, tracing that of every milk carton from its origins in the cow grazing the rich pasturelands of Ireland all the way to the supermarket shelf.  Behind the bulk milk tankers trundling along our roads every day we glimpsed something of the hidden complex process, the skill and know-how of storing the precious life-giving substance at low temperature, the testing of the product to ensure its purity and freedom from antibiotic residue, the separation of the different constituent elements at the plant and the application of pasteurisation bringing the milk to a very high temperature to remove all bacteria. Kevin steered us through a vast subject with a clear, direct and lucid presentation for which he received the Blue Ribbon for the Best Speech of the evening.

Johanna Hegarty, Michael Sheehan and Padraig Murphy gave constructive evaluation of each of these speeches in turn, followed by a very fine overall assessment of the meeting by General Evaluator Seoirise Neilan who with experience of Toastmasters elsewhere, emphasised the relaxed and friendly atmosphere that ensures in our club everyone is a winner.

Both our great tradition of continuity and spirit of looking forward are affirmed in a very special way at our Annual General Meeting when the outgoing officers’ committee gives account to the members for their stewardship throughout the past year followed by the election of the new President and Committee to direct us for the coming year.  It will be held at the Fermoy Youth Centre on Tuesday evening next, May 23^rd, at 8.15 pm, before the club adjourns for the annual summer recess even as we all look forward to another full and exciting season beginning next September.  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

On the evening of Tuesday, April 19^th, the members of Fermoy Toastmasters gathered for their third meeting before the approaching summer recess. Many times we had come together through the dark and rain of winter, but now we assembled on a bright clear spring evening when gardens were filled with primroses radiant in cheerful sunlight and dappled shade while outside the serene and majestic waters of the great river passed by with unruffled smoothness, always such a beautiful sight. There was no sense of winding down, but instead that air of springtime freshness and new beginnings pervaded our meeting room also at the Fermoy Youth Centre as Club President John Sherlock sounded the gavel and called the meeting to order with warm greetings to all.

Indeed that moment when the gavel touches the sounding block has been heard at thousands of meetings in Fermoy for almost half a century, which marks off that two hour interlude where we are all invited to step back just a little from the everyday things of life and to mingle and share in the celebration of the joys of the arts of speaking, listening, good thinking and ever better expression from which we go forward refreshed and uplifted, bringing an enhanced richness and vigour to our lives whether in the fields of work, family life or community activities that we otherwise would never have enjoyed.   Toastmasters are truly one of the best and most rewarding organisations that anyone could ever join and take part in.

That sense of new beginnings was emphatically proclaimed by two of our recently joined and most welcome members taking their places at the top table beside our Club President John Sherlock with Kevin O’Neil as Toastmaster or chairman of the evening and Denis O’Brien assuming the role of Topicsmaster, both for the first time ever in their respective positions. From the very outset Kevin showed the assurance and natural ease of one readily proficient in the art, running the meeting precisely to time, showing the fruits of preparation and exhibiting a natural skill and poise that made for a rewarding and successful meeting. Denis went to the lectern and  presented us with a very fine, careful and well-chosen and stimulating selection of themes and challenges at the two topics sessions, the first following straight after the initial commencement of proceedings and the next as everyone relaxed having enjoyed light refreshments during the tea break.  Ideas flew rapidly around the room and drew a wide and varied selection of vivid, whimsical and powerful responses which left us all with food for thought and lasting interest long after the meeting was over.

We had three beautiful speeches to entertain and engage us. Frank O’Driscoll in his gentle lightness of style explored the wonders of memory, calling to mind that lovely song of Barbara Streisand of 1973 evoking ‘scattered pictures of the times we’ve left behind’ but which in our hearts are with us still, and telling of the complex interaction of those incredibly deep and mysterious regions of the brain, the hippocampus and the amygdala, which together sift and weave and interplay the complex tapestry of our recollection. Frank’s talk was marked by very strong and effective turn of phrase, as when he referred to the searing of certain memories into our consciousness, which was mentioned later by his evaluator Michelle O’Brien. The life of memory is not entirely its own or independent of our everyday activities, for as the song says ‘memories too painful too remember we just forget’. But forgetfulness does not stop there: for I write these lines having mislaid my notes and have therefore to reconstruct what I can of our lovely and delightful meeting out of the sweet and swirling mists of unwritten happy remembrance.

Another of our newer members, Padraig Murphy, took on a challenge from the manual involving the effective use of visual aid. Sitting before the meeting, he peeled a banana skin and then flicked it towards the wall, evoking what happened one evening as he drove home when a casual hand movement caused his wedding ring to go flying out the open window of his car to vanish into the daunting immensity of the roadside verge and ditch. A five week long and ever more exasperating search followed.  This was one of those life experiences which now can be seen through the prism of humour but which at the time cannot have seemed so funny at all, as Padraig determinedly set about to recover his lost ring cutting and slashing away at an ever lengthening stretch of undergrowth, looking for a needle in a haystack as Michael Sheehan said later in his well-judged appraisal.  Padraig repeatedly hired a metal detector which yielded no result until eventually the shop concerned handsomely stopped charging him. Then, after five weeks, just when he was about to give up, he found the ring gleaming pristinely in a puddle of water, once again emphatically asserting that perseverance so often finally pays off!

Searching for something small brings home to you the vastness of even the smallest corners of the world.  Tim Fitzgerald – who has also joined our club quite recently – addressed the immense role that numbers play in our lives, beginning with the PPS designation that that everyone receives at birth and which follows all of us for life. Thereafter our journey through time takes us along pathways through veritable forests of numbers, mobile phone digits, combinations that guard access to bank and credit card accounts and which people struggle to remember at supermarket check-outs. We can so easily forget numbers but not our names that makes such a powerful statement about our individual identity.  Even in death numbers still follow us across cemetery plots each carrying their unique numerical label as Tim has often pursued in the course of work bringing floral tributes to the last resting places of those who in life and in treasured memory were and are so much more than mere numbers but ever deeply and unforgettably loved.  This very original and highly interesting presentation was carried through with grace and conviction, as was well observed by evaluator Mary Whelan.

Fanahan Colbert brought all of his experience and wisdom to the role of General Evaluator and rounded off our evening with an illuminating contribution expressing appreciation and praise to everyone, and especially to the new members who had performed so well in their roles for the very first time. That is how we advance, learn, progress and achieve – on the warm road of positive feedback and beneficial encouragement. This meeting so richly exemplified all that is brightest and best about Toastmasters.  Come and see the pleasure and enjoyment of it all for yourselves at our next meeting on this coming Tuesday, May 3^rd, at the Fermoy Youth Centre at 8.15 pm.   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

The members and friends of Fermoy Toastmasters shared a memorably pleasant and rewarding meeting at the Youth Centre on the evening of Tuesday,   April 5th.    Club President, John Sherlock, began by congratulating Padraig Murphy and Fanahan Colbert for how well they had represented the club at the Area Evaluation Contest in Contest in Charleville the night before, while Kevin Walsh by coming in second place in the Speech Competition goes forward to the Divisional Final in Limerick later this month. It is particularly gratifying to watch a new member take on a fresh challenge as Denis O’Brien did by making such a very fine and impressive debut as Toastmaster of the evening or chairman, a role he performed with consummate skill, adroitly introducing each speaker and seamlessly guiding the meeting through its every phase.

Denis outlined the programme and then called Frank O’Driscoll to the lectern in the first of two topics sessions celebrating the art of impromptu speaking. With his relaxed and readily affable style, Frank presented a selection of themes local, national and universal, among so much else the future of Castlehyde House; the Panama Tax Haven Papers; the rituals of tea drinking; is it time to bring back Bertie Ahern to lead the country once again and a retrospective on the recent 1916 Centenary Commemoration events, drawing responses that were thoughtful,   funny, illuminating and light-hearted that swiftly got everyone involved and actively engaged with thoughts and observations brief and free flowing which is the essence of every successful meeting.

We hugely enjoyed three delightful and brilliant offerings from Michael Sheehan, Johanna Hegarty and Trish Neilan.   The first two were Advanced Manual presentations that were somewhat longer than the normal five to seven minutes deadline.  Each speaker had selected their own objectives to attain further progress in the art of clarity of thought and directness and elegance of expression.

Michael Sheehan gave a speech that was a truly monumental work of research and preparation as he took us on a breath-taking tour of the Celtic Nations of Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Isle of Man, Cornwall and Brittany, displaying the flags of each individual country and region which he had fashioned himself to the accompaniment of its individual national anthem relayed on his CD player, as well as telling us something of the history of how it came to be written. We may have been familiar with Peader Kearney’s role in writing The Soldier’s Song, but less so with Flower Of Scotland, the most recently composed from the pen of Roy Williams in 1965. The Manx Anthem is marked by a highly dramatic trumpet preamble that would not be out of place in the score for a great Hollywood biblical epic. With masterful assurance Michael followed the thread of shared heritage and identity that bind together the Celtic nations in their songs, history and folklore so powerfully symbolised in these cherished anthems and flags, each so very different yet all affirming a shared sense of belonging and closeness of tradition.

Johanna Hegarty chose to take on the challenge of a brief one woman Three Act Play.  Setting aside the ideas of established dramatists, she refreshingly opted to tell her own life story in her own words.  We began by meeting Johanna as a child coping with Turner’s Syndrome where the absence of one chromosome tends to produce small stature matched by very high intelligence levels. Meeting all challenges with dauntless courage and spirit, she sailed with ease through her school and college exams and then went on to make a distinguished career in the pathology laboratory of Cork University Hospital. This led to a very bright and optimistic phase of her life with marriage and the adoption of two beautiful children which took her to post-Ceausescu Romania at the very time when Ireland defeated that country’s national team in the Italia 90 World Cup.

But within a few years there came a much more perplexing time with marriage break-up and the discovery that her little boy had Special Needs.  Her brother Tom Lynch (whom I knew personally, and was such a very kind and generous man) proved ever so helpful in her building a new home and making a fresh start in life. However this too was shadowed by Tom’s very untimely death soon afterwards. But inside every ending there lies a new beginning and Johanna has entered a new and happier phase of her life with winning enthusiasm and strength of character, all the stronger for having overcome such adversity.  Retirement from work has left her free to pursue other interests and to successfully complete a qualification in pastoral education for the laity. Moreover her children are grown up and happily doing well, while her role as Area Governor and active member of Fermoy Toastmasters allows her to grace and enhance all our lives.

Our third and final speak of the evening, Trish Neilan, is also a person of high achievement and vivacity. Her stage in the manual emphasised the importance of a clear outline for her message. And indeed her message was delivered with a bracing freshness and exuberance, telling of how we all grow in wisdom and understanding from experience, going on to achieve greater things through what we learn from error as well as success, the importance of being comfortable with yourself and happy in your own individual uniqueness.  While the spoken word shimmers off into the ether, but Trish gave to us a numbered list of the Rules Of How To Get Wiser, including reference to not dwelling on the past, gaining from the insights of others, appreciating all that you have in life, avoiding needless frustration by realising that no one can win all of the time and always the importance of thinking before speaking. These truths gleams with simplicity and directness, yet it take a whole lifetime’s experience to truly learn and assimilate them on the road to a good and fulfilling life. It is always a journey, not a destination, on which Trish gave us some invaluable signposts.

Our three speakers then enjoyed constructive and helpful evaluations from Seoirise Neilan, John Kelly and Fanahan Colbert.  In the contribution of Seoirise (husband of Trish), reference was made to the very relaxed and pleasant atmosphere he finds in Fermoy Toastmasters that adds so much to everyone’s enjoyment, comparing it favourably to his experience of other clubs elsewhere, which was very gratifying to hear.  In his General Evaluation, Jerry Hennessy paid tribute to the immense effort and dedication of our Meeting Planner, Eilish Ui Bhriain, who arranges such varied, engaging and enjoyable programmes all through the season. To give to all the praise and encouragement that is their due is key to our way of building each other up and making us ever stronger, better and happier.

Why not begin that journey for yourself by coming to our next meeting at the Fermoy Youth Centre, on Tuesday evening next, April 19^th, at8.15 pm, to which you are all so very welcome.     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.

It is that springtime of the year when Toastmasters Clubs right around the world hold their annual International Speech and Evaluation Contests. The members and friends of the Fermoy Club together with delegates from our sister clubs in Mallow and Charleville gathered for this most special occasion on the evening of Tuesday, March 22^nd, in the local Youth Centre, to showcase the arts of clear thinking and powerful expression in an atmosphere of great mutual enjoyment and pleasure. Our President, John Sherlock, called the proceedings to order with a few well-chosen words of welcome before handing over the chairmanship of the meeting to the toastmaster, David Walsh, who guided the proceedings along with confidence and style, ensuring a memorably successful and entertaining contest night.

As always there is nothing like a good topics session to get everyone actively involved and thinking and speaking on their feet with naturalness and spontaneity. The hugely talented Michelle O’Brien gave a star performance in her role as topicsmaster with a well-chosen and engaging set of impromptu themes that swiftly built up an electrifying atmosphere. The range of views and ideas produced were bracing and invigorating. For example on the issue of whether Europe had outsourced the refugee crisis to Turkey was to draw a timely and enlightened contribution from Tony O’Regan from Mallow Club reminding us that it is not all that long ago when a very small but all too real number of Irish people in Britain actively supported and took part in the IRA bombing campaign there during The Troubles which aroused a lot of resentment and ill-feeling against the Irish community, something that we as a society ought to keep in mind and to encourage a more understanding and humane attitude to those fleeing war and oppression in the Middle East today.

The way was now well paved for four excellent contest speeches each strictly within the seven minute time limit beginning with Jerry Hennessy who painted a delightful word picture of the scenic attraction that is The Towers near Ballyduff, Co. Waterford. Jerry captured the strange paradox of how something first conceived as a spectacular act of folly by a brutal rack-renting landlord of the mid 19^th century, Arthur Kylie Ussher, is today the centrepiece of a very popular woodland walk. The tyrannical land baron is long gone but today so many people find here a place to walk their dogs and to savour the pleasures of fresh air and brisk exercise in natural surroundings that bring refreshment and peace to the soul. Jerry’s own love of this place shone through with uplifting and winning enthusiasm.

Then Mary Whelan touched on the unimaginably opulent lifestyle of the world’s Super-Rich spending millions on yachts, cars and rare wines, and contrasting that with the truly valuable things in life as gleaned from surveys that have been carried out on people approaching the end of their time in this world. The respondents all said very much the same things: they wished they had led a life more true to themselves; regretted they had worked too hard; wished they had had the courage to express their true feelings and had kept in closer touch with friends. As Mary went on to point out with warmth and sincere feeling, in Toastmasters so many of those dreams can and do become reality as we all come together in a generous spirit of friendship, fun and shared achievement.

Eilish Ui Bhriain took us on a Sunday afternoon stroll along fondly recalled pathways in her native West Cork. It all came so vividly to life in charming imagery of primroses radiant in the brightness of springtime, melodious birdsong issuing from the hedgerows and venerable ivy-clad walls, the latch of a long derelict house where a kindly and gentle lady lived many years ago with its black paint still gleaming in the late afternoon sun. Such a delightful evocation of place and atmosphere accompanied by quotes from some of her best loved poems fostered a calm and relaxed state of mind in this eloquent telling not so much of a story as a beautiful portrayal of a sweet and serene moment in time.

Finally, Kevin Walsh delivered a powerful speech inspired by harsh cutbacks taken by the British Conservative Government against disabled people in the UK and expressed strong feelings against such wealthy and powerful people acting with crass meanness and insensitivity against the most vulnerable.  He spoke of the contribution that disabled people make to society and then went on to broaden the scope of his presentation by looking at the blatant lack of compassion that pervades other areas of life, especially in the business sector that brings hurt and distress to so many people who are struggling to do their very best. He concluded with a strong call for a new rediscovery of respect, dignity, compassion and heart.

After a very convivial tea break, our guest speaker from Mallow, Helsa Giles, set before us the challenge of baking a cake, something that she believes we all have within our capacity to do. Outlining her recipe for coffee cake, she described the prerequisites of a clean kitchen and an insistence on the very best of ingredients and then led us through the whole process of blending, making and preparing with skill and fine judgement delivered in an assured, humorous and light-hearted style. I still think I prefer to enjoy a sweet tooth rather than making an unholy sweet mess in the mixing bowl. But the challenge was not just to try our baking skills but for the participants in the Evaluation Contest to retire from the room and wait outside, then to be called back in one by one to each give their three minute assessment as to how the Guest Speaker had performed. John Kelly, Michael Sheehan, Padraig Murphy and Fanahan Colbert were our contestants and gave an excellent display of the skills of encouragement and positive feedback that sets speakers on the road to every greater personal growth and achievement.

Then the moment of truth had arrived: the votes of the judges had been counted and our Chief Judge, Johanna Hegarty, had the result in hand. In the Evaluation Contest, our joint standard bearers were Fanahan Colbert and Padraig Murphy with Kevin Walsh and Mary Whelan emerging respectively in the Speech Contest. All four will go on to represent our club in the Area Final in Charleville on Monday next, April 4^th, with our very best wishes. The following evening, Tuesday, April 5^th, all are most cordially welcome to our next regular meeting in the Fermoy Youth Centre at 815 pm and we look forward to another hugely pleasurable and entertaining meeting. 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.

At the meeting of the Fermoy Toastmasters Club on Tuesday, March 8^th, at the local Youth Centre, there was a time for evoking the good old days and a time for music, a time for buying and selling and a time for war and remembrance, a time for speaking and listening, a time for chairing the meeting and for speaking impromptu in response to the topics session while all the time was a truly happy and enjoyable time.  I have been to many Toastmasters’ meetings over the years, but this was one of the best and most successful ever.

Our President, John Sherlock, bid everyone a hearty welcome sounding the gavel at precisely 8.15 pm., with a sincere and winning kindness.  Getting meetings started and finished on time is at the heart of everything we do ensuring that proceedings are focussed and concentrated and yet never rushed or hurried. That way there is scope for everyone to have their say whether in set speeches, evaluations or in the topics, within a carefully designed time frame that does not restrict but rather insists upon clarity of thought and brevity of presentation within a two hours timeframe that puts a premium on relaxed enjoyment.

What makes our meetings so special and so beautiful is that every contributor puts their heart and soul into it combining to fashion a strikingly lovely work of living art. Helsa Giles of Mallow Club was toastmaster or chairperson of the evening who steered the proceedings with lightness and style, making apt and illuminating comments that contributed so much to the smooth and ready pace of the meeting. Our topicsmaster Johanna Hegarty with enthusiasm and flair set a series of thoughtful and engaging challenges to members getting everyone thinking on their feet and actively involved. It can never be over-emphasised how bracing and stimulating a good topics session is in releasing creative energies and building up a sparkling eager atmosphere that brings out the best in everyone.

Our programme told us of three speeches on the night. But instead we were treated to the delight of four presentations for one of our new members Tim Fitzgerald had prepared a speech and was eager to share his ideas and concepts with us. We were enthralled by his vivid word portraits of life in rural Ireland in another and very different time of quietness, shadowed evenings in gentle light and carefree childhood innocence. However Tim’s speech was not a mere harking back to a lost idyll, but rather his message was so immediately relevant to our own bustling and dynamic era by reminding us that every day we have the opportunity to create beautiful memories that can warm and cheer the heart and bring a smile to someone lips many years from now. By living our lives with that thought before our minds, what a very much better and kinder world it would be.

Then we had Seoirse Neilan and his wife Patricia acting out an unrehearsed role-play illustrating the arts of selling and pleasing the customer. In essence this presentation involves the staging of a short one-act play where the script is written by the actors themselves as they go along making for instant spontaneity and ready immediacy. A health food shop served as the setting for this vignette where a few packages bearing the kind of products one finds in such establishments made for effective props that powerfully helped us to imagine the scene in all its fullness. It was well-paced, engaging and delightful, enabling the audience to leave the reality of the moment and enter into an experience of imagination that highlights everything about us that is most human and good.

Mary Whelan always brings a unique charm and grace to all of her presentations and on this occasion we were given such a delightful treat as she called to mind the wonderful life’s work as teacher and mentor of Veronica Dunne who has guided and inspired so many classic music performers both here in Ireland and abroad. Mary then reminisced on the piano lessons of her schooldays that now brought her back to the ivories of the upright piano that stands in our meeting room. A piano is surely the most beautiful of all instruments with the full range of scale and variety of an entire orchestra. Now the melodies of the spoken word were so superbly interwoven with charming musical interludes as Mary took her place at the keys and played for us so sweetly and so nicely with excerpts from such great classics of the musical stage as Love Me That’s All I Ask Of You, reminding her listeners that the joys and challenges of playing are not closed to us now as we can all acquire proficiency on the keyboard.  Including a moment from Silent Night in her selection drew from Helsa Giles the apt comment that the star act of our next Christmas party is already booked!  Indeed Mary gave us such a memorable experience of interwoven music and speech.

Finally, Frank O’Driscoll brought us on a journey through war and remembrance which owed its origins to his visit some years ago to Belfast where he gained a revealing insight into the huge sacrifice of thousands of young Ulster soldiers who fell at the Battle of the Somme which gave to that terrible campaign and indeed the entirety of the Great War a great and lasting significance in the culture and folk memory of Northern Ireland. He was deeply struck by the fact that his own late father was born on the very day – July 1^st 1916 – when the British Army suffered its worst ever casualties at the outset of that bloodiest offensive.

With the adroit use of the flipchart, Frank in his gentle and quiet style illustrated the county by county losses that Ireland sustained throughout the 1914-18 War. In this centenary year of both the Somme campaign and of the Easter Rising, Frank well captured the historical resonances of this time and emphasised how honouring and commemorating one aspect and tradition does not in any way detract from the other but instead makes for a more balanced and integrated understanding of the past and hence the way to a better and more peaceful future.

Positive feedback and helpful evaluation and assessment was then provided by Kevin Walsh, Padraig Murphy, Denis O’Brien and Michael Sheehan, with a very fine overall assessment of the meeting by general evaluator Eilish Ui Bhriain. Two hours of pure joy had passed and we were all uplifted, entertained and impressed by all we had seen and heard, not alone from the set proceedings but the spirit that pervaded the evening, one of cordial feeling, good fellowship and amicable togetherness.

Why not join us in the pleasures of Toastmasters in friendship and fun at our annual Speech and Evaluations Contest that will be held at the Fermoy Youth Centre on Tuesday next, March 22^nd, at 8.15 pm. 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.

There is no better place for meeting with very nice people than the Fermoy Toastmasters Club. As on our most recent gathering on Tuesday, February 23^rd, our members and friends enter the room at the local Youth Centre, immediately there is a relaxed and genial atmosphere as people exchange cordial greetings and warm handshakes and the sound of amicable conversation flecked by bursts of happy laughter fill the air. Everyone is glad to be here and eagerly looking forward to the evening ahead.

Then a gentle tapping of the gavel by our President John Sherlock and with an elegant economy of kind words proceedings are brought to order.  Under the excellent and always successful chairmanship of Michael Sheehan, the meeting swiftly moved forward to the impromptu topics section where David Walsh presented a very wide-ranging and stimulating selection of ideas and challenges that evoked a very ample and full-hearted response from the audience. You always know when a topics session is really taking off when after the initial respondent has sat down and other people are quickly raising their hands and enthusiastic about getting involved with add-ons. With everything from the endless crises of the HSE to the universal language of kindness that is a broad winning smile, from the rise of online shopping to the spill-proof teapot and so much more, this was a truly sparkling and lively topics session that celebrated the joy of Toastmasters sharing their creative energies and talents. This sets the tone for the evening and raises everyone’s game.

It is always a very special pleasure to welcome an Icebreaker or introductory speech from a new member as we did from Denis O’Brien, who having assured us that he was not a mobile phone billionaire went on to tell us something of a very varied and interesting life, his multi-faceted personal journey taking him from the quiet rural world of West Cork to the frenetic intensity of life in Manhattan and then back across the Atlantic to marriage and a family and a rewarding career in the admissions office of the Bons Secours Hospital, Cork. Given in a relaxed and easy style, Denis will make a huge contribution to this club and we look forward to his participation and friendship.

Our President, John Sherlock, came to the lectern to deliver a very engaging talk urging the importance of not letting our individual life experiences to be lost in the mists of time, but that everyone should create a lasting monument in the written word to who and what they were, documenting the changes in their lives and their knowledge of family history and ancestry for transmission to future generations. How many times have we wished to ask our elders and forebears all sorts of questions about the past but they are no longer around to answer them. John gave to each of us a checklist of things about which some essential records can be kept so that the stories can be preserved and the memories kept alive merging into a precious archive of human life and interest. In John’s own words, if you are remembered you will never die.

One of our most accomplished new members, Michelle O’Brien, gave us a fascinating speech about coffee and its place in our modern culture.  Charting the phenomenal growth of coffee sales and the profusion of coffee-drinking outlets today, the many varieties of coffee in all their complexity and richness whether it is Americano, cappuccino, mocha and espresso, combined with the trendy and cool setting of innumerable cafes where people go to chat, interact and hang-out with friends and colleagues, a whole new world away from the traditional Irish pub. It is all so much about a more Continental lifestyle, about image and ambience as it is about hot beverages in steaming mugs. Tea is seen as somehow a little old-fashioned, coffee is glamorous and hip. Michelle’s speeches are marked by such meticulous research, clarity of style with her grace and assured style that makes all of her presentations truly unmissible.

Our final speaker of the evening was Jerry Hennessy who took us on a flashback to the night of the AGM at the conclusion of his year as Club President when he had accepted a special Achievement Award from Toastmasters International celebrating our club as one of the longest-established in the country.  Preoccupied with other matters then he felt that he would like an opportunity to give the occasion a fuller and more deserving treatment. This he did with great conviction and eloquence, celebrating the club’s many achievements over the years and calling to mind many of the outstanding luminaries both past and present who made our club the great forum of personal growth, proficiency in communications skills and of immense pleasure and enjoyment that it is today. Jerry’s speech was truly lovely and delightful and for which we were all most grateful and appreciative.

Every speaker receives a helpful and positive evaluation, a task carried out so superbly well that night by John Quirke, Seoirse Neilan, Johanna Hegarty and Frank O’Driscoll, giving of the benefit of their knowledge, wisdom and insight, with a very fine overall assessment of the meeting by John Kelly who particularly drew attention to the quiet but vital work of the timekeeper, Mary Whelan.

Kevin Walsh then spoke in memory of the late Michael Caplice, prominent local businessman and former club member, who first introduced both his brother David and himself to Fermoy Toastmasters, a suave, witty, high intelligent man of great warmth and kindness who was held in universal honour, respect and affection and whose every action was for betterment and good.  His memory will ever be cherished. We extend our deepest sympathies to his wife Marie and family and may he forever rest in peace.

In furthering that fine and noble tradition, we all look forward to our next club meeting on Tuesday next, March 8^th, at the Fermoy Youth Centre to which all are most warmly and cordially welcome. 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.

All were delighted and ever so pleased by the sparkling success that was the second meeting of the Fermoy Toastmasters Club of the New Year on the evening of Tuesday, January 26^th, in the local Youth Centre. We have all settled into our new venue and are ever so pleased by its comfort and ready accessibility and by the very warm welcome and kind attention of the staff there. Fermoy Toastmasters has found a new home and is very happy there. Indeed the joy of this wonderful club is the genial and ever convivial welcome that is so freely and gladly extended to all. As a gathering of friends our greatest pleasure is to share our happiness and fulfilment with all. We are a happy club and this has been the secret of our having lasted through the greater part of half a century.

Let us come through the meeting room door that evening where we find the theme of warmth and welcome amply exemplified by Frank O’Driscoll who – in the unavoidable absence of Kevin Walsh – assumed the role of club greeter, extending the hand of friendship and a genial smile to all, exchanging a few words of pleasant chat with members and guests alike, getting everyone in a relaxed and cheerful mood for the next two hours of eloquence, thoughtful contributions, brilliant atmosphere and wonderful listening. Frank is a most dear and cherished friend who holds such an honoured and affectionate place in the hearts of all of us, offering that unstinting generosity of spirit that is what makes the Toastmasters ideal become a delightful and happy reality.

The sounding of the gavel by our President John Sherlock brings the meeting to order. This is an important ritual moment for it essentially marks out the next two hours as one which takes us away just a little from the everyday things of life into a place of discovery and enjoyment, recreation and entertainment, of the exchange of ideas and the sharing of creative energies that blend and mingle together to create a bracing, most uplifting and rewarding experience that sends you home on a very high note on the never-ending journey of achievement and personal growth.

A good meeting is a well-run meeting and no better or finer exemplar of that noble art than John Quirke who as toastmaster of the evening or chairman, guided proceedings forward with a light but steady assuredness, illuminating the evening with many moments and asides of humour and charm.  Another vital ingredient in the recipe for any successful and memorably good meeting is a well-judged and refreshing topics session that builds up a buoyant and receptive atmosphere, encouraging everyone to get fully and actively involved, utilising all of their talents and powers of thought and expression spontaneously and eagerly on a wide and engaging variety of themes and subjects that makes the gathering come truly alive and effervescent.  No more adept master of this finest art either than Michael Sheehan who with all of his originality of mind and wry sense of humour, so that at such moments even as our excellent timekeeper Jerry Hennessy carefully watched the clock and operated the system of lights and bells ensuring everyone gets their time to speak and to be heard, not limiting time so much as setting it free so that the meeting glides by with a winning lightness and inspiration, cheerfulness and grace.

The centrepiece as always came from three outstanding speeches, beginning with Mairead Barry’s highly absorbing and well-crafted summary of the life and career so far of Sister Stanislaus Kennedy, a remarkable woman who found the outlet for her deep humanitarian impulses in religious life. Mairead reminded us of how Sister Stan – as she is fondly known to all – has reached out to so many people on the margins of society, carried through an immense amount of caring and benevolent work, while also charting her role as a very distinguished philosopher so vividly expressed in her profound and beautiful writings. A really lovely and very thoughtful speech from Mairead given in her own very special style that gave a fresh insight into how those who take up spiritual life can offer to the rest of society an enduring source of uplifting richness, for which she won the very well-deserved Best Speaker ribbon.

Our club meeting organiser, Eilish Ui Bhrian, in a very accomplished speech traced the lines etched in the mirror of life and seeing their true meaning as lines of wisdom and laughter, telling of the life of her sister in Dublin, of her humour and celebration of life, her exuberant spirit and talent for mimicry of accents and aptitude of ever finding the comic side of everyday reality, the key to a lifetime of doing good and making every heart and situation better for the touch of the human and the compassionate. This was a really outstanding speech from Eilish which left everyone with a great desire to hear more, the true hallmark of success in speaking.

Finally, our esteemed President, John Sherlock, came to the lectern to offer his thoughts on a not unrelated theme, that of never taking yourself too seriously, of never allowing yourself to become a dreary sober-sides bereft of the vital inner spark, but instead to embrace every moment of the passing day with zest and exuberance, of offering a warm smile to the world most importantly when you may least feel like it for it is such a smile makes the most vivid and colourful rainbow. From sharing the play of his grandchild, John has gained a new and greater depth of understanding of the importance of just having fun and the celebration of kindness. This holds the secret to a happy and rewarding life where the heart is kept forever young.

All three speakers received thoughtful, positive and encouraging evaluations from Mary Whelan, Padraig Murphy and Helsa Giles with a thoughtful overall summing up and general impression of the meeting by Fanahan Colbert as general evaluator. As one club gathering ends a hearty and warm invitation is extended to the next which will be held on this coming Tuesday evening, February 9^th, at 8.15 pm in the Fermoy Youth Centre. We look forward to seeing you there. 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

Fermoy Toastmasters enjoyed a wonderful curtain-raiser to the New Year at our first meeting in the Fermoy Youth Centre on the evening of Tuesday, January 12^th.  As the scheduled start time of 8.15 drew near the meeting room filled with the buzz of conversation and laughter from the assembled members and guests, everyone feeling relaxed and happy to be here, enjoying each other’s company and sharing good cheer. Indeed there is no more beautiful music in all the world than that of people gathering in friendship, humour and goodwill to celebrate the joy of living.

We set out on our journey once more with the striking of the gavel by our President John Sherlock who extended genial New Year’s greetings to all with a view brief words of welcome full of cordial sentiment and grace. This theme was carried forward by Mary Whelan in her role as Toastmaster or chairman of the meeting with all of her great kindness and warmth, emphasising that this is a time of new beginnings and for looking forward to brighter and better days not just in the sense of nature’s great annual springtime miracle of rebirth but in all aspects of our lives.

And there can be no more bracing and invigorating setting out on the journey than with an excellent Topics session and this we most warmly enjoyed under the skilful and original direction of Fanahan Colbert, taking a light-hearted and yet thought-provoking look at so many of the events that shape the contemporary scene with among so much else everything from the recent media concerns about excess sugar consumption, the apparent development by North Korea of a hydrogen bomb, how would the music of Elvis Presley be regarded today if he were still alive at the age of eighty-one, to what sort of 161 car you would buy which drew a notably effervescent response from Helsa Giles of Mallow of the delight she would have in acquiring a bright yellow number with matching accessories, for which she later received the Best Topic ribbon.

This is what makes Toastmasters so very wonderful: the way it propels our thoughts into new and exciting directions, allows us to rise above the mundane and to enter brilliant vistas of originality and fresh thinking. Each individual may excel without limit but only because we can share this time together, setting aside this very special, joyful and rewarding space from everyday concerns, tuning out all distractions to let the inner light shine. Nowadays keeping physically fit and going to the gym are rightly popular pastimes. But of even greater importance is fitness of the mind that comes with tapping into our personal resources and utilise our talents and energies to the very fullest in a setting of mutual support and friendship that brings out the very best in everyone and by making for an active and engaged and happy mind ensures far better and lasting general health also.

We enjoyed three very varied and excellent speeches. Padraig Murphy delivered a powerful address on the theme of Our Climate Change, displaying very informative charts with steeply ascending graphs illustrating the rise in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere since 1960 with the proliferation of motor cars, jet aircraft and industrialisation which have led to the huge problems of global warming and extreme weather which pose such a huge challenge to all of us now and in the years to come. However at the core of his presentation was the very positive message that as we have all contributed to the creation of this problem, so too there is a real hope that we can all play our part in putting things to rights and that we can all look to the future with confidence and hope.

There is nothing that gives greater encouragement than a few well-chosen words of praise. The assignment taken on by Jerry Hennessy was that of presenting an award and where better to confer honours than to the dedicated club committee members who plan and prepare all activities, get the room ready for meetings, take care of publicity and promote the club and foster membership growth as well as representing the club on all appropriate occasions, the people who do all the nitty-gritty organising work that most people never see and without which nothing could be achieved.  Jerry presented this award to our President John Sherlock who accepted it on behalf of all. Just to hear from one of your most esteemed friends and colleagues like Jerry that your efforts are so warmly appreciated offers a special boost and is most heartening, for which he most worthily received the Best Speaker ribbon.

Finally, we had a beautiful speech from Michelle O’Brien on the timely subject of unconsidered prejudice and bias. Speaking with assurance and poise she told the meeting how the failure by society and individuals to embrace difference narrows the beam of life’s experience and means losing out on so much of the richness and diversity of what the world has to offer. Everyone has some bias but the challenge is always to constantly reach out beyond these invisible barriers. Michelle illustrated her argument with some well-chosen examples, such as that of the entertainer

Susan Boyle who did not conform to the standard concept of glamour and success, but she was to sweep all such doubts in the talent contest aside the moment she began to sing ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ and with the power and colour of her voice soared to instant stardom. At the outset, Michelle said she expected to rely on notes for her presentation but instead had no need of them but stood aside from the lectern and spoke the ease of one who understood her subject perfectly. As was said afterwards, we all took notes from her!

Evaluation is vital in Toastmasters and all of our speakers received from Frank O’Driscoll, John Kelly and David Walsh positive assessment and encouraging feedback pointing the way to ever greater achievement. The General Evaluation from Johanna Hegarty complimented all for launching the club so effectively and well into a New Year and New Season. President John Sherlock in his concluding remarks informed us that the Presidential chain of office is to be lengthened allowing space for the names of all his predecessors can be added together with his own and that this precious symbol of the club should remain in use until our projected Golden Jubilee in 2020 when a new chain can be obtained.

But our continuity is the invisible chain of time that leads from one meeting to the next that will take place on this coming Tuesday, January 26^th, at 8.15 pm in the Fermoy Youth Centre. We look forward to the pleasure of friends familiar and new for a lovely and most enjoyable evening. 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.

All of the members of the Fermoy Toastmasters Club extend warmest greetings and good wishes to everyone in our community that this New Year may bring you peace and happiness and to all those who for whatever reason are obliged to walk paths of sadness and pain as we enter into 2016 we ask that they will receive every comfort and strength on their hard journey.

Life is such a strange, mysterious and fascinating tapestry woven of sadness and joy. And there are very few other gatherings than Toastmasters meetings where this diversity and richness can be expressed and reflected, shared and celebrated. For our meetings do not take place in a vacuum, but rather all of the experiences and wisdom and insight that every member and participant brings combined to fashion something so unique and outstanding.

We held our final meeting of the Old Year on Tuesday, December 15^th, which was our annual Tall Tales competition and Christmas party. An effervescent evening of humour and entertainment where contestants came together utilising all of their powers of imagination to tell an improbable story with an irrepressible sense of fun, with one of our most highly regarded members, Michael Sheehan, emerging as a well-deserved winner. This was followed by a reception afterwards at the Grand Hotel where the festive spirit brought gladness and good cheer to the hearts of all.

But now as the glow of Christmas lights fade once again, we turn to a new beginning, setting out once more on our voyage of personal discovery and renewal with shared pleasure and enjoyment, at 8.15 pm on this coming Tuesday, January 12^th, in the Fermoy Youth Centre. Our club is one of the longest established in the country but in everything it does and represents it is ever young and truly timeless. It is a remarkable achievement that it has been sustained and flourishes as a centre of self-learning and recreation for almost half a century. We are heirs to a great and proud tradition that is a wonderful story of vision and imagination and generosity of spirit, of people working together to build each other up in pursuit of the common goal of making better and more rewarding lives.

We do not sit on the laurels of past accomplishment, but rather seek in all that has been achieved the inspiration and encouragement to reach out to as many as possible and to expand our horizons of possibility ever further, embracing the future in all its promise with energy, hope and optimism. Since last September, our regular fortnightly meetings are held in the Youth Centre, a place where young people gather in all of their zest and exuberance, and it is with that same enthusiasm and spirit that we pursue our shared goals and celebrate the true joy of life.

We each have so much to learn from each other and we all have so much to give. For so many in today’s world there is this cold feeling of being just an impersonal faceless number. In Toastmasters by contrast there is a warm sense of belonging and of camaraderie with a wide and genial circle of very dear friends in mutual support and good fellowship.

The beautiful concept of Toastmasters assures everyone a voice. In our two hour meetings – inclusive of a quarter hour tea and coffee midway break – a programme of usually three or four seven minute speeches provides the essential centrepiece. Within the limits of good taste and discretion, you may talk about any subject you wish, be it some issue close to your heart, experiences drawn from your own life or a reflection on the times and events which shape our world today. You may bring memories of times past vividly back to life or articulate your hopes and dreams of the future with vigour and clarity.  No one ever stands alone or speaks alone in Toastmasters: constructive feedback, powerful encouragement and pointers to ever greater future improvement is given by an experienced evaluator.

You learn the skills of speaking with only minimal notes and eventually without notes at all; of using effective gestures and good eye contact to amplify and augment the impact of your message to the audience; because you have only seven minutes for your presentation you gain proficiency in the art of cutting away all that is superfluous and unnecessary and clarifying your thoughts to focus on the vital essentials. This does not make your speech in any way clipped or truncated, but rather it receives such power and immediacy through brevity and precision. It is a wonderful and life-enhancing discipline and stimulus that refreshes the mind and brings fulfilment to the spirit.

Then too the topics session opens out the challenge of speaking for not more than two minutes on a subject of which you have received no prior notification: you do not select this theme, it is chosen for you by the topicsmaster. Sometimes the initial response can sometimes be a little slow and hesitant; but time and again it is astonishing and uplifting to see an individual warming to their subject and giving a response that is free-flowing and illuminating. Once more it is this wonderful miracle that happens at every meeting by which we all discover greater depths of insight and wisdom in each other and in ourselves. It is always such a brilliant and exciting discovery to each and every one of us.

And with this greater awareness of the powers of creativity, thought and inspiration that lies within us all, everyone goes away from the two hour meeting feeling stimulated and uplifted, with this amazing high feeling that enriches and illuminated the other spheres of your life in terms of family and work, as citizen and member of the community.  Add to this the leadership roles of President and the other committee positions such as coordinator, treasurer and PRO, which give even further scope for personal development and the harnessing of new skills and capabilities.  Furthermore at every meeting there is a different toastmaster or chairperson, so there are wide opportunities in the developing the art of running meetings smoothly and effectively. The more you give, the greater the harvest you receive.

So we hope you will come to see us to our first meeting of the New Year and it will be our pleasure to make everyone whether member, participant and guest, to all feel most cordially welcome to our very happy gathering. Guests are never asked to speak but if they wish to do so at the appropriate moment we are always delighted. With renewed New Year good wishes we look forward to seeing you at our meeting on Tuesday evening next, January 12^th 2016, at 8.15 in the Fermoy Youth Centre.  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.