TWO of the Monmouth’s three secondary schools recently competed in the local round of the Youth Speaks competition.

This event, organised by Monmouth Rotary Club, is part of a UK wide public speaking competition for young people and is sponsored by Rotary International of Great Britain and Ireland.

The competition is designed to give youngsters the skill, knowledge and confidence to speak publicly.

As Sandra Davey, president of Monmouth Rotary Club told the contestants, “effective speaking is a key life skill”.

Perhaps taking these words to heart and inspired by the awesome location of the old court in the Shire Hall, the youngsters are to be congratulated on their impressive performances.

The spokesperson for the adjudicating panel, Dave Evans, commented on the difficulty of picking winners.

In the intermediate category Monmouth Comprehensive School came out on top with their topic “Are schools killing creativity?”. Monmouth School for Girls was the only team in the senior competition.

In spite of the dramatic failure of the Shire Hall lights, they performed magnificently speaking on the subject of “Climate change and the stigma around it”.

These two teams now go on to the district final at Maisemore on Saturday, 3rd February.

Monmouth Rotary Club thanked the staff and students from Haberdashers Monmouth School for Girls and Monmouth Comprehensive School for their inspiration and effort.