The pages of time turn swiftly and the approach of autumn heralds the very welcome return of the Fermoy Toastmasters Club for another bright and promising and happy season ahead. Our first club meeting will take place on Tuesday next, September 8th, at 8.15 pm in the Fermoy Youth Centre. We hope and look forward to so many memorably pleasant and entertaining meetings here. Our club is one of the longest established in Ireland, but it is ever young in the pleasure and fulfilment, the inspiration and opportunity it brings to all its many members, participants and supporters. Honouring the past and our proud traditions, we go forward to write a new and exciting chapter of enjoyment and recreation. Our meeting room will be readily accessible with no stairs to climb which will further enhance that relaxed and easy atmosphere that so defines our group and which helps to bring out the best in us all.
All around us the signs of autumn are becoming daily more evident and apparent as the shadows of evening draw in ever earlier, increasing flecks of brown and gold and red adorn the trees in splendid finery, the throb and roar of heavy machinery gathering in the harvest is giving way to a restful quietness, before sunset a hazy golden glow bathes the fields and the apples blush with ripeness. The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is spreading across the land but for us this is a moment of springtime when the club begins its new programme of meetings, promoting the warmth of human interaction and the genial delight of being among very dear friends old and new sharing in activities that bring a fresh creative stimulus and exuberance to our lives.
As we advance into the final months of the year, many people cast about for new and innovative and stimulating ways of spending their leisure time in the long evenings ahead. I can tell you now that in Toastmasters there is a place for everyone and our welcoming door stands open ever wide to come and hear and see us and to share in our celebration of the joy and richness of life.
For even if the summer skies of this year were more often grey than blue, we all have within ourselves in all seasons the capacity to generate our own sunshine. And this is what we do when come to Toastmasters. Every meeting is a whole new and exciting journey of discovery. As the focus of recreation now moves indoors, each and every one of us can make a unique and special contribution to the shared achievements of the club. Its essence is the joy of participation where every individual excels in a spirit of cordial good fellowship, good humour and good cheer. We are a happy and cordial group of people dedicated to building each other up and to advancing in happiness and personal growth in mutual encouragement and above all with an exuberant and irrepressible sense of fun in the arts of communication and leadership.
Soon the gavel will sound again and our new President for the coming season, John Sherlock, will call the meeting to order and once more we embark on our journey. Meetings run for just two hours inclusive of a relaxed and affable tea break, where we can all enjoy the pleasures of conversation and social interaction. The fact that proceedings always start and finish on time makes for a relaxed atmosphere. No matter what our individual needs may be, whether you may be called to make presentations at work, perhaps to deliver a wedding speech in the coming months, to nurture enhanced expression and confidence in job interviews, or above all to share in the laughter and the warmth of friends by joining together in activities that are so hugely rewarding, inspirational and uplifting, there is something for everyone in Toastmasters.
For in Toastmasters everyone has a voice. And just like the outdoor garden, in the garden of Toastmasters you get back what you put into it. Everyone has their time and their opportunity in varied and diverse meeting programmes with some three or four or seven minute speeches with each speaker afterwards receiving positive and constructive feedback from a designated evaluator. Discover the stimulus and vigour of impromptu speaking in the two topics sessions, the shared feeling of being together with truly lovely people from whom we all have so much to learn as we each have to give and to share. Guests are never asked to speak, although they may do so at the appropriate time in the meeting if they wish.
On social media, people like to talk about themselves. In Toastmasters, we are all together with something to say and to give, with stories uniquely our own to share and special insights to offer. All get their chance to speak so that all may enjoy the pleasure of listening. That is why you always come away form every meeting with your horizons expanded, feeling uplifted and refreshed, with some facet of life having received a brilliant and compelling new outlook. An the joy and the wonder of it is that the more time you spend and the further you go in the journey, the more exciting and enriching and stimulating and pleasing it becomes. We do it all of this because we love it and when you love doing something you will do it well. It is all based on goodness of heart and generosity of spirit, on a willingness to give of ourselves which reaps a great received harvest of enjoyment and happiness.
We will hope and look forward to seeing you all at our first meeting of the new season in the Fermoy Youth Centre at 8.15 pm on Tuesdaynext, September 8th. 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