Festive fun at last Toastmasters meeting of 2023

Mullingar Toastmasters kicked off their last meeting of 2023 with a festive theme, and Christmas jumpers, hats and socks were in abundance as club president, Geraldine Smith, opened the meeting and swiftly handed over to Toastmaster of the night, Deirdre Bigley.

Deirdre entertained all with a string of merry poems and introduced seasoned timekeeper, Hijesh Lohidhakshan, and able fáilte officer, Derek Walsh.

First up to speak, Anasiria Giarza, with a piece entitled ‘It was meant to be’. She took the audience on a wonderful tour of Mexico and Ireland, with fond memories of her wise grandmother and a growing respect for Irish weather. Next, Patsy Fagan, with ‘To tell a joke or not to tell a joke… that is the question’.

Patsy had the listeners in stitches with a variety of jokes about priests, donkeys and midwives. All in aid of lightening us up in our PC world! Last speaker, Tom Byrne, with ‘The 2023 Duck Health and Safety Conference’, offered a clarion call to cut down on the bread and meat while avoiding Mullingar’s ‘no fly zone’. Quite Quakers!

Between speeches, attendees willing to take a chance with their egos and dignity were rewarded with a choice of gifts from the well-stocked raffle table. Many opted for the booze…

Speech evaluators, Pat Kenny, Brian McLoughlin and Linda Gavagan, gave high praise to all the speakers while emphasising the need for engagement with such a large audience.

As table topics master, Pauline McCabe, adopted a novel approach by inserting topic questions inside Christmas crackers. Responders rose to the challenge with off-the-cuff chat on the theme of family, re-gifting, Christmas movies and, of course, Santa. The audience even joined in with an impromptu rendition of Silent Night.

The ‘official’ part of the meeting was rounded off by Geraldine thanking all and presenting a certificate to Anasiria for her icebreaker speech.

A delicious finger buffet followed… another opportunity for chat and craic.

If three words could sum up the night, they would surely be: Ho Ho Ho !

The next meeting of Mullingar Toastmasters is in the Greville Arms Hotel on Thursday January 11 at 8pm. All are welcome.

– Anthony Viney, public relations officer