Mullingar Toastmasters stars at District Level Contest

There was huge excitement in Mullingar Toastmasters club last week as the District Contest loomed.

To add the excitement was the fact it was now taking place online instead of in Killarney as planned before Covid-19 darkened our doors.

This whole new scenario threw up many, many more challenges. The District Contest is a huge event in the lives of Toastmasters and usually signals the drawing to a close of the Toastmaster year.

For a Toastmaster to achieve the opportunity to take in the District Contest is awesome, to do it online is even more awesome!

The path to getting to District Contest level is not easy, you must first win at Club Level, then Area Level and then Divisional Level so for Lorraine Murphy (below) getting to District Level was an amazing achievement and to boot Lorraine has only been in Toastmasters for just over a year.

For seasoned Toastmaster, Brian McLoughlin (below), getting to District Contest is always an honour and huge achievement.

Mullingar Toastmasters acknowledge the huge effort Lorraine and Brian made to prepare for the contest as they made every possible effort to do their best to honour the club in their performances.

And, to Brian and Lorraine the club are extremely thankful. As well as practising for the performance there was another important matter such as online performance. Cameras had to be checked, proper stance (sit or stand), best outfit to excel in ,props to use and all of these were considered in great detail.

Of course, fingers were crossed that broadband/wifi would oblige on the day and thankfully it did!

Brian was in the Humorous Speech Contest with a speech titled “It’s a dog’s life unless you’re a cat.”, and entertained all with a highly enjoyable and philosophical speech as is Brian’s wont. Brian’s online performance was superb and prospects of a media career is very possible!

Lorraine was in the Table Topics Contest which entails being given an impromptu topic to speak on for two minutes. The rationale of Topics is to help with thinking on your feet and to compose thoughts quickly in an organised structure, not an easy feat.

The topic was 'What One Thing should always be Free'. This topic suited Lorraine and she spoke about the opportunity for all to be able to hear, a subject very close to Lorraine’s heart.

Lorraine’s response was excellent and her online performance excelled, there could be another Anne Doyle in the making!

Mullingar Toastmasters club wish to thank Lorraine and Brian and congratulate them both on reaching this level.

At District Level there are contestants from Ireland (North and South), Wales, Scotland and Northern England. The standard was exceptionally high and while Lady Luck did not feature on this occasion, we know the opportunity will arise again and the winning is in the competing.

The club acknowledges and congratulates club member Pauline McCabe who was invited to be Chief Judge at this prestigious Contest and indeed to all club members who officiated in various roles in all past contest such as Chief Judge, Judges, Test Speeches, Topic Masters, Timers/Reporter Timers, Ballot Counters, Sergeant at Arms and the latest role “Zoom Master”.

Indeed, it is also time to congratulate all members who take part in contest at all levels. It has been an amazing year!

Mullingar Toastmasters would like to congratulate Athlone Toastmasters Club member, Siobhán Keenan Fitzgerald, who took part in the International Speech Contest and Evaluation Contest and excelled in both contest, it is a major achievement to get to District Level in one contest but in two is outstanding!

It is timely at his stage to thank Acting Area Director and Division Director Rob Partridge, member of Loughrea Toastmasters, for all his support throughout the year and in the organisation of all contests.

Rob had a huge input to ensure all went smoothly. Best wishes to Timothy Green, Tullamore Toastmasters Club, who takes over the reins from Rob as Area Director for the forthcoming year.

Lorraine and Brian would like to sincerely thank all who supported them on this long journey that started in October 2019 and held fast to the end.

Next Meeting: May 28, online. Please see Mullingar Toastmasters Facebook page and/or visit our website at mullingartoastmasters.org