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Floz

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  9. News of the gig

    in Miscellaneous Archives

    Posted

    - He thanked 19 and his family for always believing in him, supporting him all these years. I think I saw him have tears in his eyes when he said all these. He said, he thought he'd never make it, never see us fans again, but this day has finally come, and he could do the music he loves to do. I nearly cried when he said these.

    Now that really has started me off crying. Bless him.

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  16. secret gig

    in Miscellaneous Archives

    Posted

    Argh I really hope I'll get the tickets - never had the chance to see Gareth perform cos I lived in Hong Kong.

    Now, if I could see him perform, for the first time, just two months after coming to London...I'll be in heaven!!

    I applied for tickets kinda late though, so better not to expect anything...

    Edit to add: I've found out that it's just for UK residents. Can shut up now. :(

    Edit again to add: Hmm do you call someone who has a British passport and a 3-year residence permit a UK resident?

    For the sake of something like this, I am sure it will be fine. A british passport will be your ID. Good luck :D

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  17. secret gig

    in Miscellaneous Archives

    Posted

    even though the email that was sent round by 19 was blank (!) where the text should go - SBG managed to work out what was said - and its very exciting indeed.

    Hi Everyone

    I know that you’ve all been waiting patiently for news on my next release and you now know that my music isn’t too far away, which is great news for us all!

    Well, I now have some more exciting news which I want to share with you.

    On Wednesday 29 November I will be performing some tracks from my new album to a small number of friends and family at a secret and intimate venue in London.

    Whilst the venue doesn’t hold many people, I would like to invite 80 of you to come along as my guests.

    So, exclusively to those who have registered on this new holding page, I am giving away 40 pairs of tickets!

    You will be the first people to hear tracks from my new album and the gig will be filmed for the TV documentary so it should be a lot of fun!

    So please email GarethTickets@19.co.uk and send your name, age, address, and daytime contact telephone number and the first 40 people to reply will win the tickets.

    All replies must be done before 5pm on Friday 24 November.

    All winners will be notified by Monday 27 November with details for the night.

    Please note that you will have to make your own way to and from the venue.

    Also anyone who wins the tickets will have to be over 14 and any under 18's need to be accompanied by an adult.

    EVERYONE ATTENDING WILL NEED TO BRING PHOTO ID WITH THEM. (PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU READ THE PRIZE DRAW TERMS AND CONDITIONS BY CLICKING HERE AS THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT ENTERING). I’m really looking forward to seeing you there.

    As ever thanks for your support, I really do appreciate it.

    Love Gareth x

    http://www.garethgates.com/GarethNews.html

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  25. Gareth, his stammer and the McGuire Programme

    in Archives

    Posted

    Gareth led a course in Galway in August 2006. Below are a collection of reports and comments

    From Michael Hay's blog Mucho Habla

    Just got back from the Galway McGuire Programme course late last night. Great craic indeed. I really enjoyed this course for a number of reasons.

    The course was being instructed by Gareth (Gates) and he did a great job. I think everyone was impressed with his instructing style and ability to hold the room. This was his first real test as he was instructing on his own and he passed with flying colours, and then some. The course had a great mix of discipline and fun and that was all down to Gareth. Galway also seemed to enjoy listening to him speak at the public speaking on the Saturday…

    On the plane over we were chatting about what it feels like to instruct a course, being a part in changing other people’s lives. It’s a great feeling to be able to do such a thing and it’s also a great feeling to be able to put back into the programme what you’ve gotten out of it yourself. There’s nothing like watching the goodbye speeches and seeing the new students articulate their thoughts and emotions. We wondered what the new students would be like.

    There was, as always, a mix of real covert and overt stutterers. All of them, however, had great control over their speech after only 3 days and spoke to strangers on the streets of Galway as well as doing public speaking. The goodbye speeches on the Saturday night were quite emotional as the students spoke extremely eloquently from the heart.

    There was a real energy amongst some of the grads too. I’ve not been on an Irish course of 2 years and it seems that there is a new batch of grads who are just really motivated, energetic and strong. A terrific bunch of people and I made some great new friends. This just makes me really pleased for Joe O’Donnell, the Irish Regional Director, as I know a lot of them could do staff training and move forward to do great things in the Irish region.

    Met some old friends and made some great new ones. Thank you Joe and thank you Galway.

    24owqde.jpg

    From a Blog by Hein van der Merwe, a McGuire course participant

    Galway with Gareth Gates

    The Galway course I attended this weekend was the biggest one I ever attended. We had about 70+ recovering stutterers in the room at any time. Gareth Gates was indeed the course instructor and he did a very fine job. He as been on the program for four years now and really is a good example to us all. The preparation and effort he put in and the way he handled the course really impressed me.

    Report from the Ireland MgGuire programme blog

    This August 2006 course was a milestone of the McGuire Programme. It was the 10th anniversary of the McGuire Programme coming to Ireland, our first Irish course being held in Bray, Co. Wicklow in August 1996.

    11 new students joined us to begin their recovery from stammering. Videos showed that we had a split camp: 70% covert and 30% overt. Just remembered, there were 11 new students on the August 1996 course as well….strange!

    Gareth Gates was our course instructor for the weekend and on Wednesday evening he gave a short presentation on the programme and on his own recovery.

    We had a Speech & Language Therapist attend the full course and she was very impressed with our teaching style, enthusiasm, dedication, support network, etc. She even took to the soap box on the Saturday and delivered a very positive speech.

    We decided to run a split session on the Thursday morning to warm up the grads for their three busy days ahead. While this session was taking place, the new students had 11 very strong grads opposite them to get the costal breathing underway.

    Throughout the course Gareth got the grads involved in formulation games as part of the pre-break routine. This worked well over the weekend and lightened the atmosphere.

    All 14 refreshers from the April 2006 course attended this course. This was the first time that this happened, in my memory.

    All new students had little or no difficulty in giving their names, addresses and phone numbers to the group on Thursday night.

    Friday morning began with disciplined phone calls from the new students followed by a session for all on the checklist. At this stage as on most courses, more and more grads were on the floor giving their well prepared presentations.

    All the new students decided to stay with the programme and I wish them success.

    Friday lunchtime, about 100 grads made their way to Galway city centre and nearly all achieved their target of 100 contacts.

    Friday night, Sylvester Carruth ran a very enjoyable ‘fun’ session with the grads while Gareth took the new students.

    As it was our 10th anniversary, we arranged a party to celebrate the momentous occasion. After the final course session on Friday night, we all were treated to supper, champagne and of course a lovely cake. There were also pictures of grads and instructors from each course 1996-2006 on display.

    More disciplined phone calls on Saturday morning. Gareth showed us a video he and Michael Hay done as a preamble to the Harrison workshops. Michael O Shea ran an excellent Harrison Workshop which was followed by street contacts.

    Public speaking was held on Shop Street and a very large crowd gathered to hear the speeches. It had been printed in the local newspapers that Gareth would be in town on Saturday afternoon so there were fans of his on every street corner waiting to catch a glimpse of him. The speeches were fantastic. Each new student did not hold back in getting up on the soap box. Nearly all new students made the 100 contacts.

    Family and friends arrived on Saturday night for the farewell speeches and quite a lot of grads stayed till the very end of the course which is a great indication of the commitment the grads have towards this great programme.

    There was an international flavour to his course as we had grads from UK, Norway and South Africa attend and I have to say, they were all excellent as were the army of Irish grads.

    A big thank you to Gareth who inspired us all throughout the course. He’s a man of great qualities. He’s charismatic, mannerly, confident, knowledgeable, caring, supportive to name but a few. Oh! He’s a great singer too.

    His use of technique was outstanding throughout the course and the new students and grads were privileged to have Gareth as their course instructor. I know Gareth will instruct again in Ireland in the not too distant future.

    I also wish to thank Pauline and her staff at the Salthill hotel. We’ve been holding courses in the Salthill hotel for over 3 years. Just before we all began to arrive to the hotel on the Wednesday of the course, Pauline briefed all her staff (receptionists, waiters, cleaners, bar staff) on dealing with our members. She explained about not finishing off our sentences, maintaining eye contact, giving us time to speak, etc. Thanks Pauline.

    Finally to Dave, a big thank you from all the ‘McGuires’.

    Gareth's own report from here

    McGuire Programme

    Course Report - Galway, August 2006

    Gareth Gates

    06:00 hours. BEEP BEEP! The Alarm sirened persistently like a ‘Guards’ car! A couple of snoozes later, I was up and in the shower! And so began the journey from Hell! But to be concise; Delayed Flight + Delayed Train + Broken Down Train + STRESS = a 13 hour journey from London - Galway! Urgh!

    I arrived at the hotel completely differently to how i’d envisaged. I wanted a couple of hours to get familiar with the place, have a warm up, have a shower… It was completely the opposite. I walked in at about 7:55pm and we began the first day videos at 8pm! The course had begun…

    It became very apparent, from the first day videos, that we were dealing with a whole mix of different stammers; A nice mix of overt and covert. Michael Hay did a fine job of getting the new students leg slapping, coin jingling, b-b-b blocking on their feared words… mission completed! The students did well and I admired their courage. Shortly after, I gave my introduction speech; highlighting the key elements of the course such as; Course approach and Goals, Physical locations of a block, Approach Avoidance, and generally giving the new students an insight into what a stammer is. We broke to have an early night.

    I didn’t sleep easy on wednesday night. A mixture of excitement and nerves kept me from falling asleep. I certainly could have done with a few pints of Guinness to help assist, but I refrained! …and felt better for it in the morning!

    All 11 new students turned up to the first session on the Thursday morning. All eager to beat the habit that had tormented their lives for too long now. You could really see this in the eyes of the new students. With this attitude, it wasn’t long before we started to see results. From then on in, the course went swimmingly and by the time thursday evening came all new students were able to stand up and recite their names and addresses. A very emotional evening… and again an early night for me!

    The majority of Friday was filled with the older Grads taking sessions to which they’d prepared prior to the course. I felt it was important to give as much responsibility to the grads as possible. It not only stretches and challenges them, but it’s healthy for the new students to hear other peoples view and perspective on things.

    When assigning responsibility, I’d asked all grads to deliver their presentation in a new / fresh manner. A way that the older grads may have not seen or heard before… but still highlighting the key facts. This way it keeps the older grads on their toes as I’m sure they get a little bored with hearing the same old lists, said in the same old way, presented in the same old way. Most grads stepped up to the challenge. Some grads really excelled… Ger McGrath was one to name but a few. His session on the Rules and directions with his pre-prepared sign post was fantastic …and Diarmuid Dorney with his full judge attire will most probably stick in peoples minds for a long time to come. Well done guys and thank you.

    Friday night: A select few decided we’d push out our comfort zones in the bar. I introduced a little game titled ‘Ibble Dibble’ ! And in case anyone was wondering what the hell the black cork marks were on people’s heads… they’re called ‘Dobbles’. ‘Ibble Dibble’ is a speaking game that challenges the formulation of both fluent and ‘non-fluent’ speakers alike. I must say, us recovering stammerers certainly did better than you fluent speakers… didn’t we monica?! …well apart from Mark Spiers (aka bob aka britney!) who really let the side down and ended looking like he’d spent a whole afternoon down’t pit! I pity the fool!

    It was this night that a few of the McGuire girlies took the liberty to teach ME a song! Or at least a phrase from a song… it went something like ‘Hey baby let the free birds fly’ ! I can’t get it out of my head… I just hope I don’t sing it in the wrong company! Thanks Girls. After a few glasses of champagne (to celebrate the Irish McGuire praogramme’s 10th year

    anniversary) I retired, looking forward to the day that lay ahead.

    Saturday came and it was time to put everything that we’d learnt to the test. The new students were physiqued about doing contacts. Most of them really couldn’t wait to get out there. So after a very well led Harrison Workshop by Michael O’Shea, we did it. People went at their own pace, but most secured 100 + contacts. Well done guys. This was followed by public speaking. Which again, went amazingly. The people of Galway really accepted us well and the new students excelled. Again, a very emotional afternoon.

    A little more work led up to the goodbye speeches. Thank you for everyone’s kind words and well done to everyone who got up.

    Saturday night was certainly a night to remember. I’m not going to list all the drunken antics! …but lets just say we achieved the goal we set out to get… a lock-in at a club or pub! And we managed to get back in-time for breakfast …before bed! Well done to those that held out the whole night, and pity on those that didn’t! Glad we all met a new friend, SCOTT! Arrrrgh!

    Thank you’s

    I’d now like to take this opportunity to thank everyone. Without the older Grads the course just wouldn’t be possible. They do the coaching, not me. So thank you to all that turned up.

    Thanks to everyone who took a session: Elizabeth Drummond, Sandra Kelly, Brendan O Carroll, Barry McGee, Ger McGrath, Aoife Corbett, Michael Donovan, Darren Benham, Brian Cornelia, Michael O’Shea, Gareth Meaney, Diarmuid Dorney, Sylvester Carruth, Sadia Bytyqi, Victoria Bell, Clairemarie McGrath, Mark Spiers, Oonagh Sheridan, Philip Reiley, Brendan Hyland, Colin Reddington, Michael Hay. And the Refreshers that read the pairings: Finbarr Farmer, Niamh O’Kane, Kevin Honer, Maggie Bloomer and Laura McKernan.

    Thank you to all the staff at the Salthill hotel for their hospitality and doing things at the drop of a hat. It’s certainly one of the best hotels i’ve attended a McGuire course in. I’ll be back!

    Thank you to my UK McGuire possee! Michael Hay, Jayne McElhone & Mark Spiers, for all your love and support. We’ve always been there for each other, and always will be. Thanks guys, you inspire me.

    Joe - Instructing a course on my own was my next milestone in life. Thank you so much for giving me that opportunity. I didn’t realize how hard an RD works, but working closely with you over the past few months has really opened my eyes. I have allot of respect for you mate, thanks.

    Dave McGuire- As i’ve said, It’s because of one man’s dream and desire to help people that we can now enjoy our freedom to speak. Thank you Dave, you inspire me and always will.

    The list is endless…

    Although, one person in particular really inspired me on this course. Sadia Bytyqi. Her charisma and eagerness to get more and more involved never ceased to amaze me. I think she should be an example to all of us in that it doesn’t matter what age you are, or how much you think you ‘know’, hard work and dedication is all thats required. Her discipline never fluctuated once. Well done Sadia, and thank you.

    Final thought;

    Stood there on Saturday afternoon, listening to the new students speak so eloquently was indescribable. A phrase that someone once said came flooding back to me; The new students didn’t get down off the soap box, they got up from it. And that summed it up for me. We don’t have to accept everything we’re given in life. Apathy stops us from moving forward. We do, however, have a choice. You make that choice. And you take ownership and responsibility of whatever decision you make. Because remember, only you can make a difference.

    Gareth Gates

    Recovering Stammerer

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