Irish in Europe

🎤 Claddagh Toastmasters Brussels – Improve Your Public Speaking, Leadership & Make New Friends!

Looking to grow your confidence, connect with inspiring people, and strengthen your public speaking or leadership skills?
Claddagh Toastmasters Brussels is the place for you!

✨ Upcoming Meetings:
📅 Thursday, 16 October – Regular meeting
🎃Thursday, 30 October – Special Halloween-themed meeting!

🕕 Welcome tea: 6:45 PM
🕖 Meeting starts: 7:00 PM sharp
📍 Venue: The Mug – Schuman, Rue Charles Martel 8, Brussels 1000
(1 minute from the Meeting Point Pub & near Schuman & Maelbeek metro stops)
🔔 Ring the Claddagh designated bell to enter – ground floor

⸻

🌍 Why join Claddagh Toastmasters?
• Build public speaking and leadership skills in a friendly, supportive environment
• Practice in front of a live audience
• Meet new friends in Brussels, across Europe, and through Toastmasters’ global network of 270,000+ members in 150 countries
• Learn at your own pace through interactive sessions and mentorship
• Gain confidence that extends to your personal and professional life

💬 What happens at a meeting?
• Part 1: Fun Table Topics (impromptu speaking)
• Part 2: Prepared speeches with constructive evaluations
Guests are welcome to participate—but only if they wish!

☕️ A coffee break and post-meeting social drink at a nearby pub make this a great opportunity to network and make genuine friendships.

📚 Choose your learning path:
Claddagh members access the international Toastmasters Pathways program, including:

1. Presentation Mastery
2. Dynamic Leadership
3. Persuasive Influence
4. Motivational Strategies
5. Engaging Humour
6. Visionary Communication
   …and more!

🎟️ Admission: Free for guests
📧 Registration required:
Email claddagh.toastmasters(at)gmail.com to confirm your seat (limited places).

Founded in 1924 by Ralph Smedley, Toastmasters continues to help people worldwide unlock their potential. As Smedley said:

“While most of us have entered Toastmasters to learn to make speeches, that benefit is only the beginning of the good that may come to us — and the good we can do for mankind.”

Come experience it for yourself — speak, grow, and connect at Claddagh Toastmasters Brussels!
🌐 www.toastmasters.org | ☕️ The Mug – Schuman

15th Annual Irish in Europe Remembrance Saturday.

2025 marks the 80th Anniversary of the ending of WW2 in Europe.
Our Remembrance Saturday Commemoration is dedicated to the Irish men and women who worked with the various resistance movements during the period of the fascist dictatorships in Europe during WW2.
''For the most part, they are ordinary people -governesses, teachers, gardeners, housewives, priests and nuns- who found themselves in an extraordinary situation and took incalculable risk to help another human being in difficulty.
Some took up arms, others gathered intelligence, sheltered fugitives, hid Jews, carried messages, committed acts of sabotage or parachuted behind enemy lines. Some of them died for the Resistance''.
Yet ,few are remembered and all their stories have not been told.
They will be remembered by the Irish in Europe on Remembrance Saturday and their stories will be told in the years ahead.
In October/ November, a lecture may be delivered in Brussels telling some of their stories.
The Irish in Europe Association (International) aisbl in compliance with its aims and objectives remembers all Irish and the Irish Diaspora in all armies who died in all wars and conflicts. IEAI in particular remembers the 50,000 Irish who died and estimated 500,000 members of the Irish Diaspora in all Armies who participated during the liberation of Belgium in the first and second world wars.
We also remember the work of the forgotten 6,000 Irish Red Cross Nurses who gave so much to the wounded.
http://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/e/6/f/1/600_443819121.jpeg
Let those who come after us see to it that their names be not forgotten”.
It will have its fifteenth annual Irish in Europe Remembrance Saturday in Brussels on Saturday 8th November at 12 noon.

The Irish in Europe Association will lay a wreath at the Anglo-Belgian War Memorial at Place Poelaert / Poelaertplein in front of Palais de Justice de Bruxelles and across from the Infantry Memorial of Brussels in memory of the Belgian foot soldiers who fought in World War I and II. (Metro or Tram Louise 3 minutes walk). The Anglo-Belgian War Memorial commemorates the heroic Belgian people who helped the Irish and British prisoners of war during World War I. Designed by the British sculptor Charles Sargeant Jagger (1885-1934), the monument was inaugurated in 1923. The composition, in Brainvilliers stone, features figures of Irish, British and Belgian soldiers. The sides are covered with reliefs representing scenes of Belgian common folk tending to wounded British soldiers. There is also a relief of an Irish harp. A plaster cast of the statues of soldiers can be seen at the Military Museum in Brussels. Following the laying of the wreath,Poems and a poem by Irish Poet Francis Ledwidge will be recited. He enlisted in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in 1914 and was killed in the battle of Ypres on the 31st July 1917. In 2022 the Slane Shamrock Peace Bowl was presented to the City of Brussels in memory of Ledwidge.
See http://www.francisledwidge.com .
After the ceremony, guests shall proceed for warm refreshments at La News Cafe,Pub and restaurant,rue Jourdan 22, Brussels 1060, located to the right of avenue Louise about 7 minutes' walk from the Memorial. On the way, the group shall stop at the site of the former residence in exile of William Smith O Brien, one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1848 and direct descendent of King Brian Boru who was killed at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. He also lived in Hungary where he advised the Hungarian Independence Movement. Every one is welcome to come along to the fifteenth annual Irish in Europe Remembrance Saturday ceremony.
“Your Donation to help defray costs would be much appreciated “
Bank: Crelan
Name account: IEAI
Account nr: 860-1159139-68
IBAN: BE 82 8601 1591 3968
SWIFT/BIC-code: BIC SPAABE22
irish.in.europe.brussels(at)gmail.com / info(at)irishineurope.org
Read about the Irish Peace Tower in Flanders
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_Ireland_Peace_Park
Cuimhnímid ar na hÉireannaigh go léir a fuair bás sna hairm go léir sna cogaí agus sna coinbleachtaí go léir. Tugaimid Chun cuimhne go háirithe an 50, 000 Éireannach a fuair bás le linn Shaoradh Na Beilge SA chéad agus SA dara cogadh domhanda. Go bhféacha an ghlúin a thiocfaidh inár ndiaidh chuige nach ndéanfar dearmad ar a n-ainmneacha siúd'
We remember all Irish in all armies who died in all wars and conflicts. We remember the 50,000 Irish who died during the liberation of Belgium in the first and second world wars. “Let those who come after us see to it that their names be not forgotten”
Wij herdenken alle Ieren in alle legers die sneuvelden in alle oorlogen en conflicten. Wij herdenken in het bijzonder de 50.000 Ieren die het leven lieten in de bevrijding van België in de Eerste en Tweede Wereldoorlog. “Laat deze die na ons komen, erover waken dat hun namen nooit vergeten zullen worden ”
” Nous pensons à tous les Irlandais de toutes les armées qui sont morts dans toutes les guerres et conflits. Nous nous souvenons en particulier des 50.000 Irlandais morts pour la libération de la Belgique durant la première et la seconde guerre mondiale. “ ““Leurs noms ne soient jamais oubliés par ceux qui nous suivrons .
“