The Rotary Club of Biddulph has organised the second ‘heat’ of the ‘Youth Speaks’ Competition for teams of young speakers from local schools. The event was held at the Victoria Community Centre on Monday 20th january with 6 teams at ‘intermediate’ level and 2 teams at senior level. Each of the teams consists of a chairman who introduces the main speaker and a spokesman to summarise the presentation and give a vote of thanks.

The 7 intermediate teams were from Congleton High School, James Bateman’s,Eaton Bank Academy and Woodhouse Academy. The 2 Senior teams were from Eaton Bank Academy and Congleton High School.

The subjects chosen by the teams were diverse and challenging, varying from ‘The Danger of Alcohol, The perception of ‘Disabilities’ to Climate Change.

The panel of judges consisted of His Honour Judge David Fletcher CDE,, Mrs Hilda Sheldon MBE, and Ms. Sarah Haydon, Chief Officer of Biddulph Council. In announcing the prize-winners David Fletcher commented on the extremely high standard achieved by all the teams in both the presentation of their topics and the underlying research that had been done, and mentioned that the levels achieved did credit to the teachers and parents who had helped and encouraged the participants

The winners of the intermediate entries was the team from the Woodhouse Academy, consisting of Jack Edwards, Olly Payne and Cameron Harvey, whose topic was ‘Are Knives needed’. And the runners up were from Congleton Hich School, consisting of Ruby Moore, Jay Johnson and Olivia who spoke about the dangers of alcohol.

The senior winning team was from Eaton Bank Academy, consisting of Josh Everett, Helen Banks and Conor Harbridge, who spoke about ‘the Impact of Youth Groups on Young People. The runners up was the team from Congleton High Scool, cosisting of Tom Darlington, Lucy Kennedy and Imogen Miller, who discussed whether ‘Wealth should determine educational success’.

Rob Lomas, Biddulph Rotary Club President, thanked the young people who had taken part and their teachers, and the panel of judges. He went on to say that it was very encouraging to see young people achieving such a high standard in an event like this, which showed that there are plenty of young people spending their time in useful and rewarding activities.

The wining teams will go on to compete in the ‘District’ competition to be held in February. In addition to the winning teams, one of the ‘runners up teams (to be chosen by lot) will also compete.