Last Galway Toastmasters meeting - of this decade!

Our President Declan, welcomed us all to our final Toastmasters meeting of the year and also, of the decade. As the Toastmaster of the evening, Christoffer, put it, “we are leaving our teen years behind us!”. Jenny acted as Topicsmaster and maintained the festive theme. Over the course of our topics session, we learned an interesting tidbit about almost everyone in the room. The child in Frances loves Christmas films, such as The Snowman and The Polar Express, while Christoffer prefer to watch Die Hard. Declan has become very efficient at his Christmas shopping over the years, all gifts can be bought on the road from Mayo to Galway in 20 minutes, albeit the range isn't very extensive. We were introduced to Margaret's mother-in-law and her famous bread stuffing; no comparisons were made between the two!

It seems none of us can stick to our New Year's resolutions, but 2019 was a year for great achievements. Aisling not only conquered her fear of public speaking but excelled, and won a local Tabletopics contest! Well done!

Over the course of the meeting, we heard from lots of guests and new members, and listened to ice-breaker speeches from Ailish and Rachel. Our first speaker Ailish told us about an event that affected her life and advised us to "coinnigh an misneach" or keep the courage. Our second speaker Rachel described her road to wellness, with added humour. As a student, she would buy both a plain and caramel Galaxy bar from the tuck shop because she couldn't decide which one she wanted. But she learned to indulge healthily, and lost five stone over the course of a year in her late teens. She now describes herself as exercise mad and a foodie! Her advice to anyone in a similar situation would be "be ready to change, be patient with yourself".

Our third speaker Aisling pondered her leadership style, and listed the qualities of a good leader. She hopes to use this information to dazzle in a job interview next week. Our final speaker was Margaret, whom also discussed the qualities of a good leader and used Mary Robinson as an example. In her earlier career, she became involved in controversial activities and worked towards the legalisation of contraception in 1980. Ten years later, she became the first female president of Ireland, a president "for all of the people". More recently, she has focused on the climate crisis and has described it as "a man-made problem that needs a feminist approach to fix".

Frances acted as General Evaluator, while Cormac wowed the audience with his Creative Corner. Who knew he was such a talented magician! Declan closed the meeting with a reminder about our Christmas party at the Menlo Park Hotel on Wednesday, 18 December.

Happy Christmas everyone, see you in the New Year!