Top speakers come from Oswestry School

They were the victors in the senior section of Rotary Youth Speaks Great Britain and Ireland with one member of their team, Matthew Cooper, 17, also voted by the judges as the best chairperson in the senior competition.

Another member of the Oswestry School team was Adelina Creciun, 17, vote of thanks, who only came to this country last September from Moldova.

Sebastian Banks, 17, speaker, completed the winning Oswestry School team whose topic was Downs Syndrome: to be or not to be?

Adelina, who is still learning English said: “I am really proud of the whole team. We put a lot of effort into the presentation.”

Ruth Huish who is head of English at Oswestry School: “I am extremely proud of the whole team and in particular Adelina who is still learning English. I am incredibly proud that she was able to tackle the topic with such spontaneity.

“Each member of the team is a very different personality. Matthew is a comedian and very natural and raises his performance on the day.

“Sebastian is a very warm speaker and very passionate about the topic. All of them are a reflection of the school in terms of their variety of personality and the fact that we are an international boarding school.”

The judges praised the performances of all seven of the national finalists in the senior competition. Chairperson Mark Wingfield said: “It’s huge congratulations to the senior teams. There were no weak performers. Every single presentation was very good.”

Prizes were presented by Eve Conway, president of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland, who described the standard of public speaking as ‘outstanding.’

She told an audience of about 300 in the Thomas Telford School theatre: “Rotary does so much in our communities including helping young people to develop their skills because we believe that they are the future. Youth Speaks is one of our jewels in the crown in the youth area.”