Meeting Report – April 28th

A rather small number in attendance this evening, but all the roles were filled (just!). However, that did not detract from the evening’s enjoyment.

The meeting opened with the President’s address, explaining how, in an article Shay recently read about speaking to strangers, how similar the concept was to Toastmasters. By participation, and exchanging information, and in so doing, learning the skills that improves our abilities for public speaking. He also stated how he had, somewhat unwittingly,  volunteered himself to be MC at a forthcoming charity fund raiser at a watering hole in the city. He’ll do a great job!

Jean was Topicsmaster at this meeting, once again demonstrating her mastery at finding a breadth of topics to challenge each of us, and considering the numbers present, we each had a turn.

In attendance were guests Vera and John. Congratulations to Vera for earning the award for Best Topic Reply.

After the refreshments break, where mingling and chatting took place, it was time for the prepared speeches. First to the lectern was Celine McGrath with a speech entitled ‘Art Imitating Life’, which was well constructed and humorous, concentrating on the ever-popular ‘Father Ted’ TV series. Celine’s speech included the use of a flip chart with character photos to reinforce the effect. Next was Liam Cunningham’s Interpretive Poetry Reading. The selected poem was Robert Service’s ‘The Ballad Of Blasphemous Bill’. Before reading this piece, Liam gave a potted history of the poet as well as defining the difference between poetry and prose in a comedic way. A well-received reading.
We have only three meetings (including AGM) before the summer break, so for those members who haven’t been able to make the meetings in a while, now’s your chance to get back into ‘Toastmaster Mode’ before the summer is upon us. The next meeting has one or two posts that need filling, so please contact Phil to help out. Participation is key to the success of the club, so why not give it a go?