Toastmasters to reel in the years

SPEAKEASY Toastmasters will hold their 25th anniversary celebration night in The Hibernian Hotel, Mallow on Friday, March 2 commencing at 8pm.

The Toastmasters have decided to mark the occasion in the manner they know best - through speeches.

It will be a night of ‘Reeling in the Years’ as they take a journey through some of the best speeches delivered at their club meetings down through the two and a half decades of their existence.

There will be speeches that won acclaim in contests in both Ireland and the UK, others that won popular acclaim within the Mallow club. Members, both past and present will come together for a night of reflection, inspiration and humour.

The public are invited on the night for what promises to be another Speakeasy Toastmasters special occasion.

In October 1992, a demonstration meeting took place in the Hibernian Hotel, to lay the groundwork to establish a Toastmasters Club in North Cork. By March the following year, Speakeasy Toastmasters was formed while its first president was Joe O’Connor of Boherbue.

Members hailed from all over the North Cork area - from Bweing, Buttevant, Liscarroll, Doneraile and Mallow. Indeed, the large geographical spread of the membership base has been a huge strength down through the decades.

In the ensuing years, Speakeasy has achieved enormous success, both within the Toastmasters organisation and in the greater community. Club members have won The District 71 (Ireland and the UK) speaking contests on five occasions, including Matt Lawlee and Michael Cronin in the Humorous Speech Contest. Several other members have also qualified for District Finals.

But, above all else, club members have learned the art of confident communication and leadership skills.

Members of Speakeasy have also assumed leadership positions within the organisation, including Jeremiah Ronayne, who served as District 71 Governor in 2003-2004.

Speakeasy’s involvement in establishing other Toastmasters Clubs in the Munster area is also significant. In November 2001, the Club hosted the Speakeasy Blackwater Conference in Springfort Hall, Mallow. Several hundred Toastmasters’ members from all over Ireland and Britain came together for a spectacular weekend of speech contests and entertainment.

In Toastmasters circles this conference was hailed as one of the greatest ever.

Speakeasy members have also featured prominently in the Mallow Sports and Leisure Awards with five members have winning top awards, including Matt Lawlee, Jeremiah Ronayne, Michael Cronin and Mary Buckley.

Involvement in the community has always featured prominently in their activities. Jerry Mulcahy introduced a Toastmasters programme to the Cope Foundation in Mallow.

Members provide public speaking classes in various schools in North Cork and each year they host a Schools Public Speaking Competition, which provides a wonderful opportunity to participating students to acquire communication skills.

It has been a richly rewarding 25 years which is hoped to celebrate in style on Friday, March 2. For those readers who have never attended meetings, this is a great night to come along and join the celebrations.

In the meantime, meetings continue as usual with the next meeting taking place in the Hibernian Hotel on Thursday, February 8 at 8pm. You are more than welcome to come along and sample the entertainment and, as always, guests will be able to enjoy the meeting without any obligation to speak, unless you wish to do so.

For more information about S.T., please visit the website, speakeasytoastmasters.com or on Facebook. Alternatively, you can contact President Helsa Giles - 083-8858848.