Llanelli Rotary Youth Speaks final a big success

Why we should become vegans, should there be better scrutiny of charities, are we doing enough to help refugees and has the face of global politics changed forever . . . 

These were among the topics debated in the annual Llanelli Rotary Club Youth Speaks competition held at Llanelli Town Hall.
“The quality of the arguments presented was outstanding and the children taking part reflected great credit on their schools and families,” said the chairman of the judging panel Lt Colonel David Mathias.
The competition saw Bryngwyn School win the senior category and St John Lloyd take the junior intermediate section.
The winning teams now go forward to the Rotary Area final being staged at St John Lloyd School this Thursday, February 9.
The competition attracted entries from St John Lloyd, Coedcae and Brynwgyn schools.
Lt Col Mathias said: “The standard in the competition was exceptionally high – as it is every year - and the competitors made the judging task a very difficult one.”
Llanelli Rotary Club president Mark Evans explained that the Youth Speaks event offered an opportunity for Llanelli pupils to gain experience of speaking on a public platform.
He said: “It allows young people to form ideas on significant subjects and learn high standards of expression, presentation and appearance. It also gives pupils the experience of accepting impartial assessments and constructive criticism.”
The competition was run to a national Rotary format which included a question from the floor. The main speaker for each team faced the daunting task of fielding an unrehearsed question from Rotarian Past President JC Williams MBE.
Llanelli Rotary President Mr Evans added: “The youngsters coped admirably with the questions - not an easy task in front of a full house at the Town Hall. It was a very entertaining and thought-provoking evening with some challenging arguments being put forward by pupils who had obviously done their homework and research.”

Results –

Best Intermediate Team (above) – St John Lloyd (who debated ‘Has the face of global politics changed forever?’). Team members – Chair Isabel David, Speaker Catherine Phillips, Vote of Thanks Proposer Rosie Baylis.
Best Chair – Millie Senchal, Coedcae.
Best Speaker – Catherine Phillips, St John Lloyd.
Best Proposer of Vote of Thanks – Rosie Baylis, St John Lloyd.

Best Senior Team (above) – Bryngwyn (who debated ‘Is our success at dominating the planet an excuse for exploiting it?’). Team members – Chair Brooke James, Speaker Lily Jones, Vote of Thanks Proposer Alana Evans.
Best Chair – Brooke James, Bryngwyn.
Best Speaker – Lily Jones, Bryngwyn.
Best Proposer of Vote of Thanks – Wiktoria Rejniak, St John Lloyd.
The judging panel was – Lt Colonel David Mathias, Deputy Lord Lieutenant and distinguished military historian (chair), Rev Howard Jones, former teacher and ordained chaplain and one of the stars of Llanelli’s Phoenix Theatre group, and Susan Roberts, a director of Llanelly House and Trustee of Loud Applause Productions.
The MC for the evening was Rotarian Past President Robert Lloyd and the timekeeper was Rotarian Alan Bodman.
The event was organised by a team led by Rotarian Dr Kevin Jones. Prizes were handed out by Llanelli Rotary Club President Mark Evans.
The other teams taking part were –

Intermediate
Coedcae (debated ‘We can all do more to help refugees) –
Millie Senchal, Aimee Stokes and Thomas Evans.

St John Lloyd (debated ‘Charitable donations: where do they really go?’) –
Alice Edwards, Cerys Sheridan, Wiktoria Rejniak.

Photos:
Bryngwyn and St John Lloyd winners
St John Lloyd and Coedcae teams.