Soroptimist International of King’s Lynn recently held their fourteenth annual public speaking competition for Year 6 pupils. The event was held at The College of West Anglia, with nine teams from local primary schools competing for the Benita Haynes Trophy, named to remember a past member.
Topics discussed ranged from the importance of preventing food waste, through to whether children need to learn handwriting in this digital age. Grimston’s Holly Meadows School took the honours, winning with their talk on whether younger people would be better suited to lead, or whether the experience that older people bring is more valuable
The Mayor of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, Councillor Andy Bullen and his consort, Jane Jestice attended, with Cllr Andy Bullen presenting the prizes. The judging panel was made up of Cathy Cottridge from Soroptimist International. Cathy is Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland’s Immediate Past President and is also a Director of Soroptimist International and Chair of the Global Communications Committee. The other judges were Mandy Lakey, representing The College of West Anglia, and popular local regional crime author, Jason Dalgleish, who writes as JM Dalgleish.
Kim Bramham, chair of the event, said: “As always, we were so impressed by the quality of the speakers, and were delighted that so many pupils took part in this wonderful evening. The amount of research put in by each team was astounding, and the confidence each and every school pupil showed to get up on stage and talk to us about these incredibly important topics is truly awesome. Well done to everyone involved – we know it is the hard work that goes on beforehand that makes it all look so easy on the night! Our judging panel excelled in working their way through a high quality field and coming up with an eventual winner, but we know that each and every one of the pupils triumphed on the night.”