Fermoy Toastmasters returned to their traditional Grand Hotel venue for their annual Speech and Evaluations contest held on the evening of Tuesday, March 10th. The aptly-named River Room with its pair of fine wide bay windows looking out over a serene and beautiful riverside view with the tall spire of Christ Church glimpsed through the branches of the still bare trees has been greatly enjoyed over the years by so many club members both past and present.
This room has been the scene of so many wonderful occasions in the club’s history and has so often rang with dazzling word-play, presentations of vivid power and remarkable illumination and moments of memorable mirth and entertainment that ever glow warmly in treasured memory. But we are not a group who merely value a proud heritage and glory in past achievements, but instead eagerly looking forward with enthusiasm and commitment towards an ever brighter and better future and to ever greater accomplishment, a future that is built and advanced in every successful and rewarding meeting.
This gathering was not just a Fermoy-based event but a celebration of the links of friendship and mutual support that bind us to our sister clubs in Mitchelstown and Mallow and beyond whose representatives were lending their support as participants and judges in our shared dedication to the Toastmaster ideals of communication and leadership, of personal growth and good fellowship as members of a great worldwide family joined together in the pursuit of what we love and hold dear.
Our esteemed President, Mary Whelan, bid all welcome to the event and expressed the joy of everyone to be here once more marking yet another link in the chain of continuity and tradition that has secured for Fermoy Toastmasters such a very honoured and well loved place in the social, cultural and recreational life of this community for the greater part of half a century. We were all ever so delighted by the presence of Maire Corbett of Mitchelstown, our Contest Chairperson of the evening, who brought to this vital role her ample qualities of warmth, charm and grace that ensured the proceedings went forward with pleasure, assurance and ease. Our Chief Judge on the night coordinating the gathering of the judges’ votes and overseeing the making of the results was Liam Flynn of Mallow, who fulfilled his task in such a happily genial and cordial way
The topics session sets the keynote at every meeting and is especially crucial at a contest event in the building up of a warm and pleasant atmosphere with the audience in a most relaxed and receptive mood to ensure the success of the evening. The task was accomplished on the night with consummate skill and aplomb in the hands of Fanahan Colbert with a range of thoughtful and musing themes and subjects that drew a keen and convivial response from the meeting with so many eager to rise to their feet and get involved and make their contributions, releasing that creative energy that makes everyone feel uplifted and refreshed. Indeed Maire expressed her regret at more then one point in the course of the evening that she had to curtail the discussion to facilitate the contest programme such was the volume and intensity of the interest and enthusiasm of that spirit of participation which is what Toastmasters is really all about.
We had three really beautiful and very engaging speeches. Eilish Ni Bhriain gave us a charming evocation of times past and life in West Cork based around home, family and fireside. She told of that while embracing the blessings of modernity with her use of Kindle and Skype, nevertheless in her beautiful word- pictures of simpler, calmer, gentler times there is a source of lasting enrichment and pleasure. Then we had Kevin Walsh with a story of murder and betrayal set in a 1940s Irish village but not without a glimpse of redemption and hope shining through. Finally and on a much lighter note, Jerry Hennessy told of his great love of the waltz, speaking of its remarkable elegance and style, of the enjoyment that it has brought to his life and of how a shared love of the dance brought him to matrimonial happiness and looking forward to many more years of happy waltzing together on the dance floor of life. All speeches were limited to seven minutes marked by a system of lights with the green light coming at five minutes, the amber at six and the red at seven after which the speaker has seven minutes’ grace to finish with incurring a silent disqualification. After all speakers have concluded, the judges finish marking their score sheets and then the gathered ballots are taken to another room and counted.
But the result is not given until the Evaluation Contest is completed. A guest speaker – on this occasion Rona Coughlan of Mallow – delivered a powerful and impressive talk on the second and little noted referendum of next May, namely that the age of Irish Presidential election candidates should be lowered from thirty-five to twenty-one years. She spoke with great passion and conviction on the imagination and the generosity of spirit of so many young people all of whom would make an outstanding future Head of State. Having listened to Rona all one could say was that as a brilliant young person herself, a political career could well be hers and indeed she would make a most illustrious occupant of Aras an Uachtarain.
Our three contestants, Johanna Hegarty, Michael Sheehan and John Kelly were then ushered from the room by Sgt-at-arms, Kieran Connolly and following a brief further interlude of topics, were called back in one at a time to give their assessment on what they had just heard. For the audience, it is fascinating to hear the diversity of views and the marked differences in emphasis and interpretation that makes this contest always so engaging and rewarding. Once again the gathering and counting of votes and then the results: – in the Evaluations, John Kelly and Johanna Hegarty were the first and second placed contestants, with Kevin Walsh and Eilish Ui Bhriain respectively in the International Speech Contest who now go forward to represent Fermoy at the Area Contest in Mallow on Wednesday, April 1st with the heartfelt support and good wishes of us all.
Our next regular club meeting will be held in the Grand Hotel on Tuesday next, March 24th, at 8 15 pm. We look forward to seeing you all then. For further information, please contact Fanahan Colbert at 086 8239007 or Kevin Walsh at 058 60100 or log on totoastmastersfermoy.com.
