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Youth Speaks

Published: 16/12/2014

Students from high schools across Flintshire recently took part in the county finals of the annual Youth Speaks competition - a public speaking contest to find the UK school with students who have the best persuasive skills and who are able to articulate a proposition clearly and positively. The competition is managed by the Rotary Club of Mold in association with Flintshire County Council’s Department of Lifelong Learning. The venue for the finals was the Beaufort Park Hotel in New Brighton, Mold, where pupils from Flint, Holywell, Argoed and Castell Alun High Schools, and Alun School in Mold, waxed lyrical on a wide range of subjects. Holywell High School took the plaudits in the intermediate category (for pupils 11 to 13 years old), while the senior category (14 to 17 year olds) was won by Argoed High School. The winners will represent Flintshire at the Rotary district level competition - covering an area from mid Wales to north of the Mersey - which will be held in Glyndwr University on 6 March 2015. Awards for the winning schools were presented by the Rotary President, Mr Leslie Butt. Councillor Chris Bithell, Cabinet Member for Education, presented tokens to all the students competing. He said: My congratulations to all the pupils who took part, and to the winners in particular. The standard of public speaking was excellent and the judges also recognised the high standard of the runners up this year. This is the sixteenth year that the Rotary Club has run the Youth Speaks competition and, if our local schools are successful in the next round, they will compete against other schools from all over the North West of Britain, before challenging teams from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales in the grand final. We wish them every success at the district level competition in March. Rotarian President, Mr Leslie Butt said, We were impressed by the breadth of subjects chosen by the students, including the winning topics ‘Do Wild Animals Benefit From Being Kept in Captivity?’ and ‘Misguided Youth.’ They were thoroughly researched and presented with flair and conviction. All the students, and their teachers and parents, are to be congratulated on achieving such high standards. Notes to editors Image 0633: Holywell High School being presented with the Intermediate Trophy by Councillor Chris Bithell. Left to right: Emma Lindsay, Lowri Kadelka-Williams and George Evans. 0635: Argoed High School being presented with the Senior Trophy. From left to right: Councillor Chris Bithell, John Lamont, Aled Burt and Emma Pryce. The Rotary Club of Mold was formed in 1936 and is part of the community of thousands of other Rotary Clubs in the 100 year old worldwide Rotary Organisation providing help and the opportunity of service to local and international communities. Rotary’s motto is “Service above Self”, and Rotary is deeply involved in many humanitarian projects at both local and international levels. Internationally, Rotary are committed to the worldwide eradication of Polio in the next few years and to provide help and support of communities in the third world – including disaster relief. At a local level, Rotary provides support to local charities and disadvantaged groups. Rotary also promotes local youth competitions including “Young Chef”, “Rotary Youth Leadership Award” and the “Youth Speaks” public speaking competition. In recent years the Rotary Club of Mold had national finalists in both the “Young Chef” and the “Youth Speaks” competitions.