First meeting of new season

The first meeting of the year 2017/18 was held in the Maldron Hotel, Galway on the August 30th last.

On arrival members and guests were greeted warmly by the Seargents-at-Arm, Frances and Tara, to whom we paid our fee.  The room was nicely set up for the meeting, which was well attended by members and guests.

The meeting was opened by our President, Pat, who welcomed everybody and gave an overview of the aims of the organization. He then introduced our Toastmaster, Mike. 

Mike introduced the role-holders for the evening: the Ah counter - Tara, the grammarian - Margaret, the timekeeper - Liam, the scribe - Della and the General Evaluator - Frances.  Each of these members explained what their role entailed.

Frank was the Topicsmaster.  He chose a variety of subjects, from the upcoming GAA matches, to places to dine out in Galway, to the worst food one had ever tasted, to mention but a few.  It was a light, humourous session and everybody enjoyed it.

Then came the prepared speeches of which there were three.

Mike introduced the speakers. Martin was first up with a lively entertaining speech on twenty-five years of Toastmasters in Galway.   He rounded it off by proposing a toast to Toastmasters and its members in Galway City branch.

The second speech of the night was presented by our President, Pat.
As was his last speech this one was also very funny.  He described his singularly sharp hearing as a child which he put to use in all sorts of ways.  He contrasted his experience of climbing Diamond Hill recently and enjoying the sound of silence there to his everyday city experience of constant noise.  Are we losing our ability to enjoy silence in the same way as we seem to spend much of our time staring at a screen nowadays?

The third and last speech of this first meeting was given by a different Pat, our President the last year.  Pat’s speech focused on the life and times of his grandfather, who was also called Pat and of whom his grandson was very fond.  He took us through the course of his life which included being a member of the old IRA and marrying  an English woman and being a formative influence on Pat’s life.  One of the important lessons he learned from his grandfather was to be just and fair and to treat people well.

At 9:45 there was a teabreak.  This enables member and guests to chat to other people that perhaps they wouldn’t get to do if they sat in the same place for the whole night.

After the break Frances took over as general evaluator.  She introduced the speech evaluators, Jenny Margaret and Majella.

Martin’s speech was evaluated by Jenny.  She referred to his use of relevant quotes, his good eye contact and timing and complimented him on an excellent speech.

Margaret gave a good humoured evaluation of Pat’s speech on the merits of silence.  She spoke of the pace, the humour and the fun in his delivery.

Majella did an excellent job in reviewing Pat’s speech about his grandfather.

The creative corner slot was taken by Dara.  He read a light hearted poem on the subject of that rarely lauded phenomenon, the referee of GAA matches.

To round up, Pat, our president commented positively on the meeting and filled roles for the next meeting.  He made his closing remarks to a very enjoyable evening.