Ten junior schools participated in the annual public speaking competition sponsored by the Rotary Club of Douglas on Monday 18th March.
The Rotary Club’s Youth Opportunities Committee worked in partnership with the Department of Education and Children to encourage schools to enter a team in this annual competition which gives children the chance to develop and demonstrate their skills in public speaking. The audience in the packed hall at Arbory School for the island wide event were treated to the best of a large pool of talent after many schools had held their own internal competition first to decide who would represent the school.
The winning school was Cronk y Berry who came last in the running order before the refreshment break and got the audiences stomachs rumbling with a talk on “my favourite food” .They received the Rotary shield and a cheque from the Rotary for ?750 .2nd place went to Marown for a long list of amusing excuses on “Why my homework is never on time “.3rd prize was secured by host school Arbory with a poignant explanation on the pleasures and traumas of being small. Winning team members received book tokens ...and all the competitors gained huge admiration from the judges, their parents, teachers and friends.
Andrew Swithinbank, leading the Rotary group organising the event and Master of Ceremonies for the final, said
“Tonight has shown a great range of ability in individual and team work in preparing a subject and presenting it clearly and confidently We in the Rotary, whose motto is Service above self, are delighted to be able to offer this opportunity to encourage and celebrate the abilities of young people. As presentation and communication are important life skills we are particularly pleased to help children develop them at a young age.We all learnt something and had a wonderful evening “
The judges Rotary president Bob Dowty Jnr, and teachers from winning school in last year’s secondary competition - Castle Rushen High School, had a very hard decision and gave generously helpful feedback appreciating all aspects of each performance. In addition to the entertaining light hearted talks they gave special thanks to those who had bravely chosen more complex subjects such as “Why we shouldn’t take nature for granted“ and those who although, not in the winning teams had made a special contribution to their schools effort.
