2009/2010 season ends on a high.

28 05 2010

What a great night we had last night, May 27th at our final meeting of the season. Topicsmaster for the evening, Trevor Mulcahy, introduced an innovative session which included going on holidays with various celebrities using diverse transportation means such as camels and children’s tricycles.

We had three prepared speeches for the evening. Kris Meulemans presented a masterful stage 2 speech entitled “When life hands you lemons…, which was a huge endorsement for a positive approach to life and making margaritas. Fiona Cotter completed her sixth competent communicator level with a thought provoking speech regarding the state of the nation. She intelligently echoed Kris’s idea’s in advocating a more positive approach to life in these recessionary times with a speech entitled “Taking Action”. Our third speech for the evening was given by Peter Neville, which was the anniversary of his last presentation. His speech Planes, trains and automobiles was an excellent travel diary of his recent trip to Austria. We hope we won’t have to wait such a long time for his next presentation.

The evaluation of the meeting was admirably accomplished by Michael Murphy who has taken to the roles at Toastmasters like a duck to water.

At the conclusion of a very successful season we wish to thank all our patrons, members and guests for their contributions and help throughout the season.

We would especially like to thank John Skeates who is stepping down after three years of doing Trojan work as treasurer.

Our next meeting will be on September 23rd. New members and guests are most welcome to come along and remember you need not speak unless you wish to.





Three speeches at this week’s Toastmasters, Thursday Night.

26 05 2010

We are lucky enough to be ending the year on a high with three speeches due to be given at our next Toastmasters’s meeting, Thursday, 27th May at 8PM. Peter Neville, Kris Meulemans and Fiona Cotter will be speaking. All of these speakers are working on the projects from the introductory Toastmaster’s manual – The Competent Communicator. Fiona will be giving her sixth speech, Peter, his fifth and Kris will be following up his ice breaker with his second speech.

Its the perfect night to get an idea of whether or not Toastmasters is for you.





“A great night was had by all…”

14 05 2010

Yes, Last night we had a very good meeting. For once our timekeeping went out the window as we had to put up with an over-enthusiastic attendance, but we still managed to get finished by about 9:45. Having started at 8 and managed to get through three speeches – 9:45 wasn’t too bad.

Our first speech was from John Skeates, one of our most experienced members. In a 14 minute advanced speech, “That’ll do ferry nicely”, John took us on several trips: Cork – Fishguard in the 50′s, Portsmouth – Bilbao, and even as far as Bergen, Norway and Hong Kong.

Our second speech was from Kieran Coffey who is in training for a best-man’s speech. I don’t want to give away the game here, but it’ll be gas!

Finally, Kris Meulemans, our newest member, gave his Ice Breaker speech. This is where a new Toastmaster gets to speak for about 5 minutes on themselves. No easy task – But Kris did an excellent job. We are looking forward to his coming speeches.

The night finished on a high with the inaugural presentation of the perpetual Cremin-Connolly trophy to Michael Murphy, Macroom’s representative in the recent International Speech contest. Pictures will follow soon.

The only thing the night was missing were guests, so please do come along on the 27th if you think Toastmasters is for you.

Bridge Macroom
Photo owned by mozzercork (cc)





Summer time…. and only a few meetings left.

20 04 2010

If you have ever considered coming along to Macroom Toastmasters – Now is the ideal time to act. There are just a handful of meetings left before we break for the summer. Each meeting promises several interesting speeches as well as the usual banter and craic. Every visitor is warmly welcomed and entitled to a cup of tea and biscuit! At least one Biscuit*.

Congratulations to Michael Murphy and Trevor Mulcahy on their excellent performances in the Area 11 speech and evaluation contests which took place in Innishannon last Friday week. While competition is part of the Toastmaster’s experience, it is completely optional. Congratulations to the eventual Area 11 winners: Joe McSweeney from Clonakilty in the International Speech contest and Lena Ni Murchu, Bandon in the Evaluation contest.

Our next meeting takes place this Thursday, April 22nd, 7:50PM, at the Macroom-E centre.

*Terms and conditions apply.





Toastmasters tackles Head Shops.

12 03 2010

Last night’s meeting was very lively with two excellent speeches from Michael Murphy and Cel O’Leary. Cel took us back to Victorian England with a speech entiteld “1859″ which dealt with Dickens, Darwin and John Stuart Mill who all published definitive works in that year. “A tale of two cities”, “The origin of the species” and “On Liberty”.

Michael Murphy spoke on the human heart and its operation, for his fifth speech, in which the speaker works on their use of Body Language. Both were excellent, entertaining and educational speeches.

During the Topics session when the meeting is open to the floor for contributions, we covered several issues all suggested by Trevor Mulcahy, our Topicsmaster for the night. However the topic with the most contributions and on which the most divergent views were presented, was “Head Shops”…

Rose petal heart
Photo owned by Smath. (cc)

Happy Mother’s Day and Happy Saint Patrick’s Day – We’ll have our next meeting on Thursday 25th March at 7:50 in Macroom-E centre, all are welcome. If you are curious, come along – You will be warmly welcomed.








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