On Wednesday 4th of February, a group of eloquent and persuasive year 6’s arrived at the Saxonville Hotel in Whitby to compete at the annual Speak Out competition. A public speaking contest held every year by the Rotary Club, Speak Out tests its participants on their powers of persuasion and oratory skills. The team from Fyling Hall this year was Harry Brindley as chairman (a last minute replacement for Jeremy Normanton, who was sadly poorly), Elfie Field as main speaker, and Lilli Walsh as proposer of the vote of thanks. Their task was to argue “Why mobile phones are not always a nuisance.”
For some time before the competition itself, the team were working hard to put together their respective speeches, which went through several stages of development. The first phase was to decide on the content of their argument, which took a considerable amount of time! They then moved on to writing the speeches themselves. The team dedicated their lives to researching their topic, finding facts and figures to back up their arguments, and adding touching personal anecdotes to their speeches. To practice for the big night, the team rehearsed in front of their classmates, and later the whole junior school!
On the night of the competition, all three were nervous but excited. After an anxious wait (‘Techno Talk’ were due to perform last), where they had the opportunity to observe the other fantastic teams, they gave a stellar performance. In fact, sitting at the back, Mrs Freer and Rosie were considerably more nervous than the three on stage! After a hearty round of applause and a quick biscuit break, the teams reassembled for the judges’ comments. The adjudicators were highly complimentary of their performance, saying they were ‘impressive’ and worked ‘very well as a team’.
Whilst ‘Techno Talk’ didn’t win, they put in an amazing performance, and impressed not only the judges, but Rosie (their team-manager), parents, and audience members. All three worked exceptionally hard, and all of Fyling Hall is very proud of them. They will surely be public speakers of the future.
Thanks to Elfie Field, Harry Brindley, Lilli Walsh and Jeremy Normanton, as well as Miss Rosie Havelock (team manager) and Mrs Freer. Thanks also to Dr Richardson for driving the minibus.
