St Richard's clinch victory in Rotary Youth Speaks

Youth Speaks is an inter schools public speaking competition organised annually by the Rotary Clubs of Battle and Bexhill and taking part were teams from St Richard's Catholic College in Bexhill, Battle Abbey School and this year's hosts, Claverham Community College.

Unfortunately De Lage Waard School from the Netherlands, who were due to take part and had come to Battle for the original date, were unable to return but provided a video of their excellent presentation.

The competition was divided into two age groups: 11-13 years of which there were four teams and 14-17 years, with five teams competing.

Each team, comprising a chairperson, a speaker and a proposer of vote of thanks, chose their own subject and the range was fascinating and diverse, including such topics as The History of Coca Cola, Mayan Predictions, Childhood Health and Safety and We Can Text But Can We Talk?.

There were three adjudicators: President Elect of Battle Rotary Club Michael Hodge MBE (chairman), Caroline Sherrard and Toby Hufford and the timekeeper was Paula Batt who judged each team on such criteria as their ability to present and develop their argument, the management of their presentation, the quality and courtesy of the vote of thanks, the way a question from the floor was answered and their timekeeping. The Master of Ceremonies was Past President of Bexhill Rotary Club Richard Caie.

Before he announced the results, Michael Hodge said: "In the opinion of the judges, each performance was of an outstanding quality with none being remarkably better than the others."

He added: "A lot of credit must go to the students and their teachers for the many hours of hard work and research that has obviously gone into their preparation, the quality of their argument and their precise timekeeping."

The other two judges then paid tribute to the teams' wide range of oratory skills, their eye contact with the audience, their team work and generally the high quality of their presentations.

Mr Hodge then announced the winner of the Intermediate Section was the St Richard's Catholic College team, comprising Lucy Tomasetti, Francesca Surman and Roisin McCormack whose subject was Ear Lobes for which they were each given a 15 book token.

15 book tokens were also given to Anna Hellett, Max Maher and Sam Amis representing St Richard's Catholic College, Senior Section for their subject Time Travel, in which Max discussed black holes and wormholes in space and his perception of advantages and disadvantages in travelling forward and backwards in time.

Runners-up were each also presented with book tokens.

The audience praised the event as extremely well organised and very well attended with high quality participation by all the students and their teachers, parents and supporters.

The two winning teams are going forward to the District Final, to be held tomorrow (Saturday) at 1.30pm for 2pm at Hadlow College, Tonbridge, Kent.