An All Boys Team are the overall winners in the 2007 BPW Public Speaking National Finals when Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Bristol win the Dalton Trophy
Saturday, 30th March 2007 once again saw many people turning up for the National Final of BPW’s Public Speaking Competition at Moreton Hall School, near Oswestry. Whilst currently sponsored anonymously the English Speaking Board has been on hand with assistance and guidance, especially for this year’s change of format, which made for another interesting and diverse competition.
Throughout the Autumn of 2006 teams form schools and colleges throughout the UK competed initially at Club level, and then onto Regional Finals before the six teams arrived for the National Event.
Each team is allocated 15 minutes to run a ‘meeting in miniature’ which is opened by the Chairman, who hands over to a Speaker from one of the other teams. After the talk the Speaker has to handle questions from the floor before the Expresser of Thanks has to begin to draw the meeting to a close.
Once again the range of topics was rich and varied and all the participants have to be commended for all the work they put into subjects that were obviously close to their hearts. These topics were:-
- “Art Disturbs, Science Reassures” , Colchester Royal Grammar School
- “Third World Aid Does More Harm Than Good”, Bablake School, Coventry
- “The Scandal of Africa” ,St. Louise Grammar School, Ballymena
- “Does Violent Entertainment Make For a Violent Society”, Ellesmere College
- “Dying to Eat”, Keith Grammar School
- “Britain, Britain, Britain” Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Bristol
Those who had the unenviable task on the day to judge the school Finalists were:-
- Marina Jones, Chairman – an ESB Examiner
- Lynn Petoldi – BPW
- Don Nixon – ESB Examiner
Whilst everyone else enjoyed a good lunch and some fresh air the Judges took the time to deliberate on the performances before they returned to give some insights into the competition and announcing the winners of the various categories. After the awards giving they spent time with all the competitors giving them individual guidance on their performances. The awards were presented to the winners by Ann Wiseall, National President of BPWUK.
The Awards:-
The Elizabeth Peacock Cup – awarded at the discretion of the Judges for any aspect of the competition that they felt appropriate, went to Tim Wright, Speaker from Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Bristol, for the way he handled questions from the floor.
The Carillion Trophy – for the best Expresser of Thanks went to Mary Pauline McGuickian from St Louis Grammar School, Ballymena
The South Eastern Division Trophy – for the best Speaker went to Someit Sidhu from Bablake School, Coventry
The Bradford Trophy – for the best Chairman went to Ross Adams of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Bristol
The Eastern Division Trophy – for the Runners Up team went this year to St Louis Grammar School, Ballymena
The Dalton Trophy – for the Winning Team went to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Bristol
Special thanks must also go to all those who work ‘behind the scenes’ to ensure the day of the Final goes so smoothly, led by Annette Jones for BPW Oswestry and Merriel Halsall-Williams of the ESB.
