LOCAL heats of the annual Rotary Youth Speaks competition, organised by Tavistock Rotary Club, saw 15 teams talk confidently about different issues in a packed Tavistock Primary School hall recently.

Every year schools are invited to enter teams of three — a chairperson, a speaker and a vote of thanks. The teams choose and research their own topics to talk about and the presentations are judged on content, time keeping and teamwork.

Fifteen teams from eight local schools took part and a packed hall was treated to 15 very lively debates.

The two teams chosen to go through to the area heats were Tavistock Community Primary School’s B team with ‘Do parents need our help more than we need theirs?’ and Horrabridge Primary School’s C team with ‘Team points for teachers?’

Certificates were presented to all participants by president of Tavistock Rotary Club Norrie Philip.

A spokesperson for the Rotary club said: ‘Tavistock Rotary would like to thank all those who contributed to a successful evening, pupils and teachers, question master, judges and timekeepers who all put in a lot of time and effort.

‘We hope that they enjoy it as much as we enjoy listening to them each year.

‘Good luck to the teams representing Tavistock in the next rounds.’