Rotary Evening of Youth 2018

Press Release – Youth themed Rotary Meeting – 11 December 2018

The Kirkcudbright Rotary meeting on Tuesday 11th December had a definite youth theme. Competitors and participants of recent youth events came together to share their achievements with assembled Club members.

First, before the traditional meal, Beth from Gatehouse Primary school gave a repeat of her winning talk for the Primary Youth Speaks competition. She gave a fascinating talk on turtles describing the various types of turtle and she explained that plastic bags floating in the ocean were often eaten by turtles because they looked like jelly fish.

A meal consisting of broccoli and stilton soup followed by baked salmon, sautéed potatoes and green vegetables was then served. This was the meal that Stephen, an S4 student at Kirkcudbright Academy, cooked to win the Club round of the annual Rotary Young Chef competition. Stephen was busy in the kitchen of the Selkirk Arms Hotel, assisting with the preparation and cooking of the meal. Winner of the Area Final, held at Dalbeattie High School, and competing against young chefs from Dalbeattie, Lockerbie and Castle Douglas Rotary Clubs, was Maya J, with Stephen this time finishing as runner-up.

After the meal three Kirkcudbright Academy students gave a presentation about their experiences of taking part in the Rotary Challenge Enterprise weekend, which was held at Carronvale House in Larbert. Millie, Maya R and Bradley told of how they had been split into groups to work with other students who were total strangers. They had to get know each other very quickly so as to effectively handle the challenges set by the Rotarian staff. Several business leaders gave lectures to the students, including Kirkcudbright Rotarian Richard Haslam-Jones. All agreed that the weekend had left them feeling more confident with improved people skills and with improved practical business knowledge.

Parents of some of the students were present at the meal to listen to the young people as were Nicola Cluckie, Principal Teacher of Health and Wellbeing and Richard Boyce, Business Studies teacher, both teachers at Kirkcudbright Academy

Kirkcudbright Rotary President Gordon Cowan applauded both teachers for their hard work and dedication to their students and Richard Boyce responded by saying just how much the students, their parents and their teachers valued the support given by Rotary to local schools.