The penultimate meeting of Fermoy Toastmasters for this year began with an air of festive anticipation when our President, Eilish Ui Bhriain, welcomed the large attendance with all of her ever winning cordiality and charm, before going on to read a beautiful Christmas poem emphasising the importance in this season of catching up with people whom you may not have seen for a while and getting back in touch and looking forward with a spirit of optimism, hope and generosity of spirit.
Johanna Hegarty then assumed the brisk and well-judged chairmanship of the meeting, handing over control to Topicsmaster David Walsh but not before leading us all in the singing of Happy Birthday To You and For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow while Eilish made a special delicious cake all to mark David’s special day for which he was most delighted and grateful. Then it was time for everyone to start thinking smartly and quickly on their feet with a selection of engaging and varied topics with everything from how we might wangle an invitation to the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump, to now that winter has come can spring be far behind and then the quest for the favourite Christmas carol which evoked so many lovely and heart-warming responses, especially from Mary Whelan who spoke of the pleasure and joy she receives from so many of the traditional carols as well as the modern festive songs, not least the ever catchy and light-hearted Frosty The Snowman for which she was awarded the Ribbon for the Best Topic of the night.
It is always a particular pleasure when Toastmasters from other clubs come to visit us and take part in our meetings. We were delighted to welcome Rona Coughlan to the lectern with a lovely presentation on storytelling derived from personal experience in which she celebrated the joy of life on the family farm, told with that grace and eloquence by which the spoken word attains something of the musical. Indeed Rona brought the audience directly into her presentation by asking us to join with excerpts of hit songs from Abba among others to illustrate her sister’s epic attempts to stanch an oil leak in a venerable tractor which was successfully accomplished though not entirely without mishap but nothing too serious. We were brought into the richness and depth of the long-held human attachment to the land and its values with a refreshing originality and directness. Rona’s speech received a highly constructive evaluation from Michael Cronin of Mallow Club who also made such a very welcome and valuable contribution to our meeting.
Our EVP or Meeting Planner – who is doing such an outstanding job with most admirable dedication and commitment – Kevin O’Neil took us then into the very different world of the snooker hall. With excellent research, Kevin traced the origins of the sport in the heyday of the British Raj in India, when it was invented as an entertainment for his fellow officers by a Major Francis Chamberlain. The word ‘snooker’ incidentally was used if someone had played a poor shot and was derived from army slang for a young cadet. The game reached into civilian life and attained championship status with Joe Davis becoming the first holder of the World Title in 1927, receiving just six pounds and ten shillings for his efforts. However 1969 with the advent of BBC colour television, that this beautiful game in all its complexity and coloured balls was beamed into the homes of millions of new fans and millions in prize money to great champions like the flamboyant late Alex Higgins, Steven Hendry and Denis Taylor whose victory over Steve Davis in 1985 with its heart-stopping suspense was truly unforgettable.
Kevin spoke of how it used to be said that proficiency in snooker was sign of a misspent youth: but how he asked could the enjoyment of something you love ever be wasted? This was taken up later by his evaluator Tim Fitzgerald evoking the great Jimmy White who floundered at school and was told by teachers he would never amount to anything much, but who went on to pursue a brilliant career: indeed the greatest player never to make World Champion, but did become a multi-millionaire. By following what he loved most, Jimmy White the certain loser became a great winner.
John Sherlock brought to us a very humorous and highly entertaining poem depicting the great harvest thrashings of many years ago in the story of the Irish emigrant John Dowling who after a long working life in New York returns to his rural Irish roots and tells of other times when great numbers of country folk assembled around cavernous barns and hissing steam engines to toil hugely and heroically to extract the bounty of the harvest sustained with the consumption of lashings of food and drink. Those great rural gatherings were filled with lively colour and hilarious incident, underlined later by Evaluator Eddie O’Sullivan drawing on his own personal memories of that era that for all difficulties was yet illuminated by a certain pungent comedy.
Mairead Barry also embarked on a poetical theme telling of the life of Patrick Kavanagh, a man of a rough-hewn nature perhaps but who had such a depth of spirituality. With the kind help of Jerry Hennessy and his CD player we listened to a reading by Professor Emeritus Brendan Kennelly of Kavanagh’s beautiful poem about his childhood Christmas filled with imagery that combined the everyday and the ordinary with the mysterious and the awe-inspiring: his father’s melodeon playing wafting on the winter air; his mother milking the cows by lamplight that shone like the Star of Bethlehem in a boy’s imagination; a row of tall bushes on the ditch loomed like Three Kings from the East. Mairead loves this club so much and the enjoyment she derives from her membership she so generously shares with us all making a very special and distinctive contribution to our meetings. She was highly praised by her evaluator Michael Sheehan who invited her to venture beyond the literary sphere and bring us speeches distilled even more directly from her great wisdom and knowledge of life. And that is the essence of Toastmasters: venturing beyond the familiar to make new discoveries and to share in the mutual attainment of personal growth in pleasure and friendship.
Frank O’Driscoll gave a very fine Evaluation, thanking all for their participation and especially Clare Guy who as Timekeeper did so much to ensure good and effective time management. Now we turn our thoughts to our final meeting of the year which will be held on Tuesday next, December 20th at 8.15 pm in the Fermoy Youth Centre with our annual Tall Tales Contest followed by buffet at the Grand Hotel. It is a great and wonderful 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.