A CHEER erupted at Wexford Arts Centre about 10pm on Friday night last.

A packed house had just been enraptured by a stellar selection of ten speakers from Wexford, Ireland and beyond.

The first ever TEDx Wexford, organised by social media extraordinaire Denise Whitmore and her team, was an overwhelming success.

TEDx events are independently-organised TED events and feature inspiring and empowering speakers addressing an audience for a short period of time on a particular topic.

Supported by Wexford County Council, TEDx Wexford’s first outing centred on the theme of ‘Tomorrow Imagined’.

Proceedings opened with a wine reception, at which curious attendees gathered and excitement mounted for what the evening’s highly-anticipated event might have to offer.

Everest climber and adventurer Pat Falvey was the first to take the stage.

Mr. Falvey has climbed the world’s seven highest peaks twice, since overcoming personal difficulties which brought him to the point of feeling his life was over.

“We all have the power to move from fear to faith in ourselves and in our community,” he said.

Next up was northside Dubliner Frankie Gaffney, whose first novel ‘Dublin Seven’ was published to critical acclaim last year.

Mr. Gaffney is currently undertaking research at Trinity College, analysing literature using linguistics.

A passionate logophile (lover of words), his presentation on language was quirky, thought-provoking and well-received by audience members.

Moving past a homogenous view of ‘the look of the Irish’ was the subject tackled by next speaker, Saffa Musley.

A daughter of Palestinians who moved to Ireland from Dubai, she is without freckles or red hair but instantly knew she felt at home as soon as she arrived in Ireland several years ago.

“Where are you really from?” is a question, she told audience members, she receives on an almost daily basis.

Ms. Musley stressed that a national conversation ought to be had around redefining the ‘look of the Irish’ before first-generation Irish children, adults and others begin to feel denied their sense of being from Ireland.

Former Wexford hurler Diarmuid ‘Gizzy’ Lyng continued the diverse nature of the night’s offering, with an address highlighting all that his hurl symbolises for him.

Mr. Lyng has brought the piece of sports equipment to locations as far-flung as Tibet and Everest Base Camp, but told those gathered he also used his hurl “as a crutch in the absence of my own self-development.”

Fear and self-conciousness as barriers to fulfilling futures was a common thread running throughout many of the TEDx talks.

Chelsea prize-winning gardener and Wexford native Mary Reynolds was next to take the stage.

She told the audience how land has been used and abuse.

If humans worked in harmony instead of in conflict with the land, she said, climate change could be reversed in a short space of time.

Following a brief interval, London-based photographer Grace Gelder bounded onto stage to enlighten audience members about the advantages and perils associated with self-marriage.

Ms. Gelder, aged 30, hit the headlines in 2014 when she decided to hold a ceremony in which she made that solid commitment to herself.

She may be interested in challenging customs, but, she said, she has nonetheless been met with a barrage of marriage proposals over the past two years.

Ulick Stafford had a very different, but nonetheless thought-provoking, concept on his mind when he presented an insight into what people in today’s society can learn from those who survived concentration camps in the twentieth century.

Finding meaning in life, holding firm to loving relationships and having the best possible attitude in the face of unavoidable suffering, he said, were the most important tools to utilise in order to ‘survive your camp’.

Read more in the Wexford Echo.