Strong Support for Regional
Youth Speaks and wide range of topics
After the disruption of the March snow, we finally saw the Regional Final of Youth Speaks at Lydiard Millicent Village Hall.
By Ceri Pridding
There was a tremendous turn out of supporters from all Districts and the competing teams once again did not disappoint with their broad range of chosen topics. These included “Could there be a solution to the housing crisis”, “The true meaning of happiness”and tough subjests such as gender and pay inequality, fact v fiction and freedom of choice . The skills on display were truly inspiring particularly when considering the age range is 11-17 year olds.
Congratulations to all who reached this stage and gave such excellent presentations. The judges included Carl Rosier-Jones, current president of the Swindon Speaker’s club who’s a serving Detective alongside Mary Champion, twice Mayor of nearby town Royal Wootton Bassett who has a history of supporting youth programmes and projects. Both agreed that the standard and abilities was extremely high. There could only be two winning teams, the Intermediate category was won by King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls District 1060 with
“The True Meaning of Happiness” and the Senior Category was won by Redmaids High School from Bristol with “True love is not the stuff of Pop Songs”. Both teams were awarded individual trophies and certificates and also a further version of both as a memento for their schools. The judges, in recognition of the skills on display, also awarded a certificate and book to the Best Speaker, Chairperson and Vote of Thanks in each age category. Intermediate Category: Best Chairperson: Rachel Williams (D1210 Shrewsbury High School) Best Speaker Yameena Rushdy (D1210 Shrewsbury High School Best Vote of Thanks: Nicole Rowlands (D1150 Bryntirion Comprehensive School)
Seniors: Best Chairperson: Hannah Murphy (D1150 Cwmtawe Community School)
Best Speaker: Niki Mehta (D1100 Redmaids High School) Best Vote of Thanks: Kay Boucher (D1060 Kineton High School)
Bryntirion School was allowed to field a team in the Regional Final because the team missed the re-arranged District Final.
District Final plagued by Mothers Day....... and the rugby!
Senior winner of the District Youth Speaks was Cwmtawe Community School, sponsored by Swansea Valley Club. The Intermediate competition was won by King Henry VIII School, Abergavenny. Both teams went on to the Regional Finals in Wootton Bassett, but neither team was successful.
The District Final had been postponed from the previous Sunday because of snow but the only date left before the Regional Final meant competing with Mothers Day and Wales versus Italy rugby, but youngsters still travelled from all over South Wales to compete in close competitions. David Davies MP led the judging teams and commented afterwards how difficult their job was because of the exceptionally high standard of debating. Pictured, David Davies MP, (at the back with right, Rtn Paul Jordan) with the District Final senior teams, and the three girl team from King Henry who won Intermediate, chair, Alice Neville, Speaker Bethan Parry-Jones and Vote of Thanks Lucy Jones. Their subject was ‘The Gender Pay Gap’.
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