For our 13th meeting of the Toastmasters
year, we were welcomed by our President Sarah, who welcomed us all and reminded
us that Toastmasters is a supportive, positive learning environment and one in
which we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously! In the spirit of practicing what she preaches, Sarah then opted to exchange her presidential jewels for a colorful Hawaiian garland! What a great start to the evening!
Our Toastmaster Jamie then introduced the various
roles for the evening and did a great job of welcoming members and guests
alike. Lucia was at the helm for the topics session and
what interesting topics she had! One major theme emerged from her session –
that of stepping outside your comfort zone! From tales of seeking discomfort to
making that nerve-wrecking first telephone call, we were thoroughly
entertained! We heard stories about flight booking mishaps to
misinterpretations involving canines! Some inspirational authors were mentioned
too – from Susan Jeffers to Sarah Knight.
Our first speech for the evening was by Eamonn who
provided a very inspirational speech about criticism, fear, wisdom and
ambition. His speech featured many thought-provoking quotes such as “only in
your separation from others can you have an impact”. It was a stirring and emotive
speech given by a very competent and confident speaker.
Our next speech was given by Eugene who regaled us
with fun facts about our 18 senses no less! Eugene explained many of these in
detail – one being the sense of ‘proprioception’ which is the ability to know
where your limbs are in space! We all learned many facts in this speech and I’m
sure Stephen Fry would have enjoyed it as well!
Our third speech of the evening was given by
Jennifer who transported us back to the glory days of the 1980’s and to magical
Thursday nights watching Top of the Pops! From David Bowie to Culture Club,
from Depeche Mode to Ultravox, we were taken on a glorious journey back in time
to when make-up was outrageous and synthesiser was king!
Our last speech of the evening was given by Margaret
who gave an incredibly moving speech about the journalist Marie Colvin who was
tragically killed in 2012 while reporting from Homs, Syria. Margaret described
Marie as someone with a great sense of adventure and love of writing. It was a
very emotive and heart-felt speech.
Creative Corner was carried out by Cormac, who
informed us about people with ‘aphantasia’ – which means not having an
imagination! You can learn a lot at a Toastmasters evening! What a great night! Well done to all those involved!
Our next meeting is on Wednesday, 6th
March at 8:00pm. Hope to see you there, all are welcome!
Great account of the meeting. I missed that meeting so good to hear what was enjoyed
ReplyDelete