The children have all the good news

Arriving just before 8.30pm we were welcomed with a smile by our Sergeants-at-Arms Frances and Tara. We all settled in and Pat, our President, opened the meeting handing over to Declan, our Toastmaster. He introduced members who had roles for the evening. Our Grammarian - Tara, introduced the word Chrysalis which we were to use in our Tabletopics and where appropriate during the night.
Pat gave a talk on our new educational programme ‘An introduction to Pathways’. This is an
update from our Competent Communicator. It has many advantages and includes multimedia, new communication styles, advanced learning and leadership roles. Everyone has different individual goals and different reasons for attending Toastmasters. He assured us, that despite our reservations about online surveys, when we take the online multimedia test it will be accurate and direct us to the right ‘pathways’ direction for you. The website for this is https://www.toastmasters.org/pathways-overview.  He assured us that the meetings will remain the same with no changes to the format.

We continued with our Tabletopics where our DTM Frances gave us lots to think about. Travel and taking the new direct flight from London to Australia. Brendan spoke a little on how travel was a real experience back then and how we dressed up to go on a flight. Now it's a very casual affair and taking a long flight can be a bit of a chore. However being older and wiser he now knows that all drinks are free. Sarah made us all a bit jealous of her adventure of going to Europe for lunch one afternoon and flew back the same day. She loves the hustle and bustle of airports. Pat advised us to read the book Sky-faring by Mark Vanhoenacker. Next topic first kiss,Tara got that one, and it hasn't stopped since! Next up greatest achievement and where do you get your news? Martin advised us if we want good news then talk to the children, they have all the good news - they only have good news.
On to our four prepared speeches. First speech up was Brian's which was his Icebreaker. He gave us a lovely talk introducing himself, where he came from, what he studied and where he would like to go from here. Donal gave the second speech ‘An outstanding achievement award’. Always showing passion in his speeches you could tell that this is someone that inspired him and us all by the end of the speech. Third speech was Martin, ‘Time and tide waits for no one’ he gave us three pieces of advice;

• Have hobbies outside of family and work.
• Do what you can for as long as you can, and 
• You're never too old to learn. 

Frank then gave his speech on ‘Clever Cuisine’ and the importance of food for our brains, particularly fish and fish oils. Four great speeches!
Then our tea and coffee break, biscuits and a chat.
The second half of the meeting started and our General Evaluator introduced the Evaluators.
They gave their evaluations on the prepared speeches. All giving great feedback. Our meeting finished with the meeting roles being reported on, Ah counter, Grammarian, and the General Evaluator.
Finishing off with our Creative corner where Sarah read a quote from Elbert Hubbard,
‘Whenever you go out of doors, draw the chin in, carry the crown of your head high.... ‘ Roles were then filled for our next meeting.
Finishing the meeting, where everybody sent their very best wishes and best of luck for the
competition on Saturday. Pat then closed the meeting for the night.
A very enjoyable meeting with something for everyone.

Next meeting is April 25th, and all are welcome.