THREE schools from West Devon participated in Tavistock Rotary Club's Youth Speaks competition last month.
The competition at Tavistock College saw categories for junior, intermediate and senior for public speaking contests, with entries from Tavistock Primary School, Tavistock College and Kelly College.
The juniors were represented by two teams from Tavistock Primary whose performance was described as being good and well presented considering their age and facing an audience of around a hundred.
The winning team's subject matter was 'Global Warming — Are We Doing Enough?', spoken by Marianne Quinn, supported by Hardy Hopkinson, and Amy Langsford. A close second was 'Should Intensive Chicken Farming be Banned?' The speaker was Thomas Hebbes supported by Phoebe Gilmore and Hannah Kingham.
The intermediate category was won by Tavistock College whose subject was 'Is There Light at the End of the Tunnel?', the speaker being Florence Rodgers supported by Joe Way and Jed Coiley. Second was Tavistock College with 'The Truth of Lies', speaker Lucy Abbott supported by Ellie Oaten and Georgia Cousins.
The senior section was well supported by three teams each from Tavistock and Kelly Colleges with entertaining subject matters: 'First Impressions', 'Civil Rights', 'The Human Impact on the Environment' and 'Actions Speak Louder Than Words'.
The two winning teams were both from Tavistock College. 'Martians and Me', presented by Tom Rodgers supported by Jack Shepherd and Adam Browner, and 'The Reality of the Virtual World', presented by Josh Stephens supported by George Rodgers and Charlie Hubbard.
The winning teams will go ahead to the area competition at Callington on Tuesday February 10.
The Rotary Club expressed thanks to Tavistock College for the venue and to the participants and their coaches for all their efforts.