Contest night; always a delight!

The meeting was opened by our Club President, Sarah, who handed over to the Contest Chair – Jenny. Jenny explained the night was contest night; the format of the meeting was slightly different and more formal than usual!  There would be three contestants and two places up for grabs at the Area Contest on Saturday the 10^th of November in Oranmore.

Before the contest, Jenny handed over to our Topics master – Eamonn whom “dished out” the Topics to members and guests. The topics ranged from most influential person in your line of work, to whether it is best to be a feared or a loved leader.  He handed back to Jenny who commenced the formalities of the contest.

The three contestants for the contest were Jamie, Shane and Brian. The topic for the contest was- “What book or film from your childhood has had the most impact on you?

Jamie was called upon first and he described the movie “Lost Boys” to have had the most impact.

Shane was up next and it was the movie Rocky 4 and the fact he could keep taking beatings & get up again.

Brian was up next and it was a book he borrowed from his next door neighbor which had the most impact for him. This book was The Lord of the Rings, the imagery, Elves singing and the creation of a whole new language which attributed to this book having the most impact from childhood.

Third place went to Brian, second to Jamie and in first place was Shane; well done to all!

Our Topics master, Eamonn was back for round two. Topics ranged from the need of having a college degree or not to why do death give so much meaning to life. The evening’s proceedings moved on to the prepared speeches.

Up first was Jennifer and the speech titled “The Incident” portrayed a humorous account of arriving at a very posh hotel in a “clamped out, environmentally hazardous, one wiper” van and the unfortunate yet comical incident which ensued.

Up next was Pat with his speech called “Close Call”. Pat delivered a highly entertaining and gripping tale of John Scott Ellis, the 9^th Baron Howard de Walden – don’t ya know! The tale brought us through the life of John, a letter from his father, an unfortunate accident with his car where he hit a pedestrian in Germany, only to find out years later that the pedestrian he collided with in that accident was the one and only Adolf Hitler!

After the break, we had speech evaluations and each officer gave their reports.

Last but not least was Creative corner from Sarah, with Anne Joyce’s  book “A Reason to Love More” Sarah delivered a powerful insight into the art of listening, how this is a huge skill and the relief for people to just have someone listen. 

It was a very entertaining night with a magnificent mix of speakers from our members and guests, some speaking at Toastmasters for the very first time - well done all!

Galway Toastmasters next meeting is Wednesday 7th November at 08:30pm at Menlo Park Hotel. All are welcome and we hope to see you there!