"Youth Speaks" Competition - Oswestry Library, 5.30pm-8.30pm

The first ever Oswestry round of "Rotary Youth Speaks"

"Rotary Youth Speaks" is a competition which has been run for a number of years but there has never been an Oswestry involvement before.

The competition is in two categories. The younger age group is 11-13 years and the older one is 14-17 years. Teams of three take part each team comprising a Chairperson, a Speaker and a Proposer of the Vote of Thanks.

There are strict time periods for each of the functions and the teams are marked on the content and delivery and timeliness but the teams can chose their own subject matter for the Speaker to talk about and answer a question from the floor to test thinking on the feet.

In this way, these young people are given an opportunity to test their wings as public speakers for maybe the first time; or to hone a skill at which they have already shown flair.

The National Final for the 2010 competition will be held in Stratford upon Avon in May with the Regional Final for this area being held in Liverpool in March and the District Final for this area being held in Mold in February.

Two teams will go forward from the Oswestry round which was held at Oswestry library in the early evening of Tuesday 10^th November thanks to the kind hospitality of Teresa Eccleston, Principal Librarian North Shropshire, and a cast of thousands (not quite!) who pitched in to make it happen.

The principal organisers from the Oswestry Rotary were David Gordon and John Cleaver who expertly ran with a ball punted speculatively into the air by Vocational Action Group Chairperson Steve Thomas about 12 months earlier.

The adjudication panel of 3 had a majority of non-Rotarians and they had enormous difficulty in separating a winning team from the rest in both categories such was the high quality on display. There were 7teams taking part so that 21 young people each had their time when the floor was theirs speaking to an audience of about 50 including some parents, teachers, Rotarians and the other teams.

Participating Teams

Intermediate Section

Winners: Moreton Hall School

Topic: What has come to power

Team: Emma Tilley (Chairperson) Abigail Bunce (Speaker) Sarah Leigh-Ford (Proposer)

The Marches School 1

Topic: Vivisection

Team: Imogen Hawkes (Chairperson) Beth Fleming (Speaker) Charlotte Turner (Proposer)

The Marches School 2

Topic: Teachers having rules made by pupils

Team: Alice Gillham (Chairperson) Maddy McCrann-Smith (Speaker) Charlotte Ozanne (Proposer)

Senior Section

Winners: Moreton Hall School 1

Topic: Altruism fact or fiction

Team: Sarah Bailey (Chairperson) Michelle Novellie (Speaker) Laura Davies (Proposer)

Moreton Hall School 2

Topic: Is conservation still black and white

Team: Polly Booth (Chairperson) Rebecca Lewis (Speaker) Evelyn Snow (Proposer)

Lakelands School

Topic: Teenagers: We're not so bad as you think!

Team: Aliana Chambers (Chairperson) Bethany Jones (Speaker) James Beddoe (Proposer)

Oswestry School

Topic: Remembrance

Team: Alister Talbot (Chairperson) Catherine Bateman (Speaker) Rebecca Long (Proposer)