The Inaugural Bradford Area Rotary Youth Speaks Tournament was held at Bradford Grammar School on 15th February. Nine teams from Beckfoot School, Belle Vue Girls School, Bradford Grammar School and Carlton Bolling College competed in teams of three in both the Intermediate (years 7-9) and the Senior (years 10-13) age groups.
This was the first time that the Youth Speaks competition had been held for these age groups in the Bradford Area. The District Governor for Rotary District 1040 Phil Poole presented the prizes to the winners of the team competitions both of whom represented Bradford Grammar School speaking about 'Social Media' and 'Educational Reform' and to the winners of the Best Speech competitions Danyal Akhtar and Sukruth Kundur who spoke about 'The Fear of Failure' and 'The Moral Case against Animal Captivity’. The shield for the best Senior Speaker had been donated by Mrs Ursula Pratt in memory of her husband Barry Pratt who had been a member of the Rotary Club of Bradford from 1966 to 2015. The speeches had all been well researched and gave the audience an informative and entertaining evening.