Public speaking champs

Teams from Battle Abbey, St Richard’s Catholic College and Claverham Community College were joined by two teams from De Lage Waard School in the Netherlands, making it an international competition.

The eight teams, four at the intermediate level, aged 11 to 13 years and, four at the senior level, aged 14 to 17 years, each spoke on a topic of their choice. These included In Mortal Danger, Lazy People, Lazy Food, Organ Donors and most appropriately, The Art of Public Speaking.

Declan Mason, Tillita Maher and Grace Baszczak from St Richard’s Catholic College won the intermediate competition speaking persuasively and eloquently on how the sub-conscious mind influences the decisions we think we make consciously – hence their title What is Reality.

The senior competition saw four impressive performances, making selection of the winners a tough task for adjudicators Richard Follett, Peter Matthews and Kenneth Melson.

This was won by the Claverham Community College team of Jamie Tirv, Hannah Meehan and Rachel Harper. As well as being highly informative the team, especially Hannah Meehan, who the adjudicators said reminded them of Joyce Grenfell, gave a performance that was almost theatrical in its presentation on the topic The Art of Public Speaking.

The winning teams now progress to the district round of this national competition at Hadlow College, Tonbridge on March 5.

PICTURED: the successful St Richard’s Catholic College team and the presidents of Battle and Bexhill Rotary Clubs with the three adjudicators