The Final of the Dumfries Rotary Club Primary Schools Speechmaking Competition took place on March the 19th 2019 at Saint Andrews Prmary School.
The Finalists, in order of appearance were Sophie McLean, Eilidh Martin, Joe Clark, Eve Young, George McGeoch, Maya Nassar, Caleb Irvine, Tess Harper and Freya Paterson.
Each young speech maker spoke for five minutes on the topic: “The Future of Our Planet”
These young people came at this subject from every angle…They didn’t miss a thing!
And the winners were:
⭐️ First Place went to George McGeoch who identified that the species destroying the planet is… Us! George covered the topic comprehensively and finished with an appeal for parents, teachers and Rotarians to help his age group to take action. He presented a graphic image of “The End” if we don’t…
⭐️ Runner Up was Maya Nassar who presented her speech from the year 3,000. Her words imagined a world that included air quality that would make breathing difficult if there are no trees left as well as the best holiday destination being Mars… 10 months away! She also warned that “Easy Rocket” have a tendency to lose luggage!
😂 Tess Harper won the “George Taylor” trophy for most humorous speech. Her funny anecdotes around technology and Artificial Intelligence particularly had the audience smiling whilst considering the warnings wrapped in the humour. Tess finished with a reminder that it is our job to look after our planet… She said “I’m In… Are you?”
Judges Colin Grant, Director of Education, Dumfries & Galloway Council. Willie Johnston , former BBC reporter and John Glover , Dumfries Rotary Club had a difficult job in deciding on winners and Colin Grant in his words prior to the prize giving said that such was the quality of the competitors, he hoped the Rotary Primary School Speechmaking Competition would be in the future of our planet.
The competition was organised by Eileen Robertson , Convenor of the Dumfries Rotary Club’s Youth Services Committee.
The evenings proceedings were M.C’d by Rotary Club member, Rab Smith and the prizes were presented by the club’s Vice President Tom Marchbank who also delivered the Vote of Thanks and final words that closed the event.
The three winners will be attending the Rotary Club of Dumfries’s lunch meeting this Friday to present their winning speeches to the membership.
