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Thursday 14th October saw the Rotary Club of East Kilbride hold its third annual Youth Speaks competition for the town's three senior schools. The event was held at the East Kilbride Group Training Association premises in Nerston and members of the East Kilbride Speakers Club provided the judges, Bob Hunter, Ken Murray and Audrey McGillvray and the timekeeper, Ross Hammond.

Six teams were entered by the schools, two in the Intermedate competition for pupils aged 11 to 13 years, and four in the Senior event, for pupils aged 14 to 17 years. Each team was speaking to its own chosen subject.

In front of a lively audience of pupils, teachers, parents and friends the teams had ten minutes to speak, followed by a question from the floor. It was clear that all the teams had researched their subjects very thoroughly and the quality of their presentations was reflected by the difficulty the judges had in agreeing the winners.

Ken Murray of the Speakers Club provided a summation of the evening and a review of each teams' performance before announcing the results.

In the Intermediate category the winners were Duncanrig Secondary School second team of Jennifer Rae, Sian Oo and Maria Goodarzi, who spoke to the topic "Design for Life".

The Senior competition was won by the St Andrews and St Brides High School team of Luke Laneres, Lewis Field and Ashwin Mariampurakal who spoke on the topic "United Nations or Disunited Nations".

The trophies were presented to the winners by David Brown, President of the Rotary Club of East Kilbride.

Both winning teams will now go forward to the Rotary District event which will be held at Pollokshaws Burgh Hall on the 1st and 15th February 2014.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening for all involved.