Toastmasters in transition!

Nenagh club helps school students with public speaking

Nenagh Toastmasters met on Tuesday, January 31, at the Abbey Court Hotel at 8.15pm.

We meet every second Tuesday, so our next meeting will be on February 14.

In our last meeting we had three speakers who had prepared short speeches. John Leinster gave a very informative and interesting speech about walking the Camino with his two brothers. It was very useful to anyone who is thinking of doing the Camino, or indeed to reminisce about a similar experience.

The second speaker was Eileen Dight, who gave us some insights into her adventures in Spain and the amazing people she met there in the late 1950s before tourism began to develop.

These speeches were evaluated by Tony Spain and Helen Spillane, who gave positive feedback to the speakers.

The third speaker was a treat for us all. It was given by Fergal Giblin, who is a Transition Year student in CBS Nenagh. He spoke with great skill and confidence about playing the saxophone.

Nenagh Toastmasters is holding weekly Toastmaster meetings in the Transition Year class of the CBS school. This gives the students a great opportunity to get accustomed to speaking in front of a group at a young age. This will undoubtedly be of benefit when it comes to doing interviews or presentations.

The class is divided into four groups and two experienced members of our club facilitate the process. Our members who are involved this year include Willie Grace, Helen Spillane, John Leinster, Danny Doyle and Brendan O'Brien. Each of our members acknowledge that they are gaining great enjoyment and confidence from the experience also.

Nenagh Toastmasters has been involved with Transition Year students in the various secondary schools in Nenagh for many years. The late Nick Theato was very active for many years in this regard.

Our next regular meeting is in the Abbey Court Hotel on February 14 at 8.15pm. Call in and see what happens.