Carlow Toastmasters

Last night was another fantastic meeting at Cralow Toastmasters.

The Liam Butler Award, presented each week in memory of past distinguished Toastmaster member Liam Butler, continues to honour his many years of dedication and support to Cralow club. The beautiful Dolmen Stone was carved from granite as a lasting tribute to Liam’s contribution.

A huge congratulations to Margaret , who was awared the Liam Butler Award last night after doing an excellent job as Toastmaster, as it was her first time taking on the role.

Well done also to John, who completed Word of the Day for the very first time.

It was great to welcome back Len and Lisa as guests, and fantastic to see new guests Mikey and Maria attending and enthusiastically taking part in Table Topics.

Another enjoyable and supportive evening at Carlow Toastmasters.

Another fantastic evening at Carlow Toastmasters!
We enjoyed three engaging speeches that inspired, challenged, and entertained us throughout the night.

A special shout-out to our guest Sarah, who showed real courage by taking on a Table Topic on her very first visit 👏. It’s always inspiring to see new faces step up and get involved right away.

Evenings like this remind us why Carlow Toastmasters is such a supportive and encouraging envoirment to grow confidence, communication, and leadership skills. Looking forward to the next meeting already!

What a night at Carlow Toastmasters! 🌟

A huge thank you to our Chair for the evening, Mario, for keeping everything running so smoothly, his second time in the chair and he made it look effortless! 👏

Congratulations to Edida on winning the Liam Butler Award for First Evaluation, well deserved! 🏆

We were absolutely delighted to welcome four guests ,John, Patrick, Lisa, and Len. All four got up and spoke on the night, including 2 first-timers!

There's something special about watching someone step up, find their voice, overcome their fears, and realise they can do it. 💪🏻😀

With only 3 meetings left in the season, the energy in the room is electric let's finish strong! 💪🏻

Carlow Toastmasters has been supporting and empowering this community for over 25 years and nights like this remind us exactly why.

💬 Thinking about joining us? Come along to one of our meetings this season and see what it's all about. Everyone is welcome no experience needed, just the courage to show up.

We had a fantastic meeting chaired by Brian, thank you for keeping everything running so smoothly. A big congratulations to Terry on winning the Liam Butler Award 👏

We were also absolutely delighted to welcome our four guests John, Patrick, Dermot and Len. We hope you enjoyed the evening and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

Photos from the Division D Toastmasters Contest held in Portlaoise last Sunday. Huge congratulations to the winners and competitors:

🏆 International Speech Contest: Mario Carrara (Tinahely)
🏆 Evaluation Contest: Ita Finnerty (Gorey)
🥈 Table Topics Contest: Kae Slattery (Carlow) – 2nd place

Best of luck to Mario, who will compete at the District Conference in May in Co. Kerry, we’ll all be cheering you on!

Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm and support. Let’s finish the season strong!

What another fantastic evening! A brilliant Topics session the energy in the room was top class.
And a huge shout-out to Mario, who'll be representing Carlow Club at the International Speech Contest on March 29th. We're all behind you, Mario, go out there and smash it!
🙂Wishing you the very best of luck from all of us. You've got this!

What a fantastic day at the Area 50 Contest held in Teach Dolmain, Carlow. It was an inspiring morning full of laughter, support, community and personal growth.

A huge thank you to all the clubs who participated and helped make the event such a success, Gorey Easyspeakers, Enniscorthy Toastmasters, Carlow Toastmasters and Tinahely Toastmasters. It was wonderful to see such enthusiasm, support and talent from across the clubs.

A special word of thanks to our Test Speaker David from Kildare Toastmasters for delivering a beautiful speech for the Evaluation Contest. Thank you also to everyone who attended, participated, judged and supported the contestants throughout the day.

We are very grateful to our Chief Mark Bastow and our Contest Chair Tommy Dolan for their leadership and dedication in ensuring the contest ran so smoothly.

Congratulations to all our contestants — each of you brought something unique, inspiring and memorable to the stage today. You should all be incredibly proud of your performances. 🌟

🏆 International Speech Contest
🥇 1st Place – Mario Carrera
🥈 2nd Place – Ita Finnerty
🥉 3rd Place – Brian Daly

🏆 Speech Evaluation Contest
🥇 1st Place – Ita Finnerty
🥈 2nd Place – Brian Daly
🥉 3rd Place – Eilish Roche

🏆 Table Topics Contest
🥇 1st Place – Kae Slattery
🥈 2nd Place – Eilish Roche
🥉 3rd Place – Waldron McGuinness

A fantastic contest today and a wonderful showcase of the talent across Area 50.

We now look forward to the Divisional Contest on Sunday, 29 March 2026 at the Killeshin Hotel, Portlaoise. Best of luck to Mario, Ita and Kae as they go forward to represent Area 50! 🍀

Well done to all who took part in our Club Table Topics contest. We had 7 members participating, and everyone did a great job even though the topic was, in the words of our worthy winner Kae, "absolutely rubbish" 😅

We also had 3 amazing speeches (don't we always 😊) and 2 very welcome guests who came along. All in all, another great meeting. See you in March!

February is off to a flying start at Carlow Toastmasters, great fun, great people, great speeches! 🚀😄

Well done to Mario on completing his Level 2 pathway with a cracking speech on mentorship, and to Edida for her first time taking on Table Topics!

Another great evening at Carlow Toastmasters. It’s always inspiring to see members step outside their comfort zones, support one another, and grow in confidence with every speech. 🙂

Committee meeting in full swing! Big plans for 2026!