TAVISTOCK Rotary Club’s 2018 Youth Speaks competition has been deemed an ‘outstanding success’.

The intermediate and senior age groups were hosted by Tavistock Community College on Tuesday, January 23, which was won by the intermediate team from Mount Kelly for their thoughtful presentation of ‘Repercussions of gender stereotyping’. The Mount Kelly seniors impressed with their talk on ‘The future of farming’. Both teams will now progress to the area heats to be held in Callington this month.

Mayor of West Devon, Councillor Jeff Moody, presented certificates to all of the speakers. Cllr Moody told the Times: ’This is my first time at Youth Speaks but it won’t be my last. I’m amazed at how brilliantly these students spoke on some very difficult subjects.’

On January 30, Tavistock Community Primary School hosted the junior event. Taking part were 13 teams from eight schools from Tavistock, Gulworthy, Lifton, Lamerton and Mary Tavy.

A packed hall was treated to a fantastic evening of very lively debates and after two hours of competition, two teams were chosen to go forward to the area heats in St Austell — these are Mount Kelly Prep and Tavistock Community Primary School. Mount Kelly Prep asked ‘Is the manbag the new handbag?’ and Tavistock primary debated ‘Should we always listen to our parent’s advice?’

Graham Parker, president of Tavistock Rotary presented certificates to all participants. Closing the evening, Graham thanked all those who took part, along with their parents and teachers. He said: ‘We hope that everyone has enjoyed the evening as much as we enjoy listening to these young people each year. The standard of debate has been superb and we wish the 4 teams representing Tavistock good luck in the next rounds of the competition.’

• Youth Speaks is an annual competition organised nationally by the Rotary. Schools throughout the country are invited to enter teams of three, a chairperson, speaker and a vote of thanks. The teams choose and research their own topics and their presentations are judged on content, time keeping and teamwork.