Tara Toastmasters
Club 3141, Area 18, Division C, District 71
Venue: Stillorgan Park Hotel
Stillorgan Road
Dublin 18
Phone: 087 989 6726
Web: taratoastmasters.com
E-mail: info@taratoastmasters.com
Tara 21st Party on 26th
January, 2007
Tara Toastmasters celebrated its 21st anniversary by having a party in the Montrose Hotel on Friday 26th January 2007. The club was chartered in December 1986. In deciding on the format for the party the Committee felt the most important thing was to try and include as many past members of Tara as possible. Thanks to Adrienne Crowe, John Earle and Michael Berkery who had kept records of names and addresses, we were able to contact a lot of past members. We had a list of 57 altogether and we tried to contact them all. Some could not be contacted, some were not free to come but a total of 21 past members did come. We had a total of 41 present altogether.
The evening started off with the usual warnings from the Sergeant at Arms, Cathal Walsh, about exits and turning off our mobiles. The Sergeant at Arms 21 years ago did not have to worry about mobile phones interrupting a meeting! The President, Pat Cowley, then welcomed all and told a little of her experience of being a member of Tara and how the evening would unfold.
This was followed by Ted Corcoran, the ex World President of Toastmasters International. Ted spoke of how some people can be negative, some can be moaners but others are the navigators! We hope that all Tara members are part of the latter group. Bob Gilbert, the Division C Governor, told us of how he had to struggle at the beginning to be a good speaker despite having been in amateur dramatics. In Toastmasters we have to speak from our own hearts and cannot hide behind a part in a play. We were very fortunate in having our founding member Michael Berkery with us. He told us of how he had been a member of Engineers Toastmasters and then founded Tara. The club started off in the Tara Towers Hotel (hence the name) and then moved to the Montrose Hotel. We are now located in Kiely’s pub in Mount Merrion. Michael felt it was important to be near a bar as the social side of the club is very important. He can rest assured that today’s members feel the same way as we usually chat away until quite late downstairs in the bar after our meetings. Michael’s wife, Elizabeth Berkery, was the first President. She spoke of the changes that have taken place in Ireland in the last 21 years and referred to the exhibition in the National Gallery on 200 Years of Irish Social Life. We wound up the more formal part of the evening with a duo from Tara’s longest standing current members, Adrienne Crowe and John Earle. They spoke together in a ‘Noel Coward’ format (yes, I remember it well!)and told us of their 18 years in Tara. They have both contributed hugely to Tara by undertaking many roles on the Committee in the Club as well as at Area and Division level.
We then moved on to a 2 Minute Reminscence session. We had asked three people in advance to contribute to this but also got many more volunteering from the floor. I really enjoyed this as it was good to hear of people’s personal journey. We all have one thing in common and that is an initial fear of speaking in public. Judging by the standard of speaking we heard, all contributors have learned a lot by being members of a Toastmasters club.
This was the end of the structured part of the evening but there were plenty more reminiscences exchanged over finger food, tea and coffee. We ended with the first and current Presidents, Elizabeth Berkery and Pat Cowley, cutting a cake.
I would like to thank all those who helped make the evening a success. This especially includes my Committee, as well as all past and current members who attended.
Pat Cowley
President 2006-2007
Tara Toastmasters
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