Whitby youngsters entertain audience in annual Speak Out competition

Six team entries came from Whitby area schools, with each team being made up of three pupils from years five and six

The winners were a team from Fyling Hall, comprising Florence Ruff, Belle Lunn and Georgie-Mae Beeforth-Miller, who spoke on the subject, Better to be young and poor rather than rich and old.

They spoke with great confidence and had clearly done some research into facts and figures on their chosen subject in addition to voicing interesting opinions.

There was also an award for the best individual speaker in the whole competition - the Perry Cup – donated by the Perry family of Ruswarp.

This year’s winner was Alex Welford of Hawsker School who spoke passionately on the topic, Twitter and Facebook should only be used with great care.

His speech impressed the judges in addition to generating warm applause from an appreciative audience.

The competition was hosted by Caedmon College and organised by The Rotary Club of Whitby & District.

Organiser Mike Stones said: “It is always one of the highlights of the year to see these young people step up to the challenge of making a speech in front of an audience.

"They invariably do themselves, their families and their schools great credit and benefit hugely from the experience.

"It is a real pleasure for the Rotary Club to continue its involvement with this competition.”

Rotary Club President, Bob Cameron, presented the trophies and everyone was left with a good feeling about the experience.