Soroptomists: local pupils have got ‘gift of the gab’

It was one of the first events to be held in the beautiful, newly opened Broughshane House.

Ballymena Soroptimist Club President Norma Evans opened the evening by welcoming the competitors, their teachers, parents and friends. She gave an overview of the work of Soroptimist International, the aims of the Competition and the programme for the evening. The participating schools were Ballymena Academy, Slemish College and St. Louis Grammar School. The adjudicators for the event were Petra Corr, Maria Hunter and Noelene Steele of Ballymena Soroptimist Club.

The competition aims to encourage girls to play a more prominent part in public

life, to improve the art of communication, to encourage girls to develop the skill to speak effectively and to articulate with clarity and to develop self-confidence and personality.

The girls from Years 12 and 13 in local schools were asked to prepare and deliver a speech lasting between four and six minutes on a topic chosen from several options which cover the six areas of interest in Soroptimist International.

The competitors had clearly researched their subjects very thoroughly and delivered their speeches with confidence. The winner was Eva Richards of Ballymena Academy who chose to speak on The 2012 Olympics – a ‘Winner’ for Britain? Eva left the audience in no doubt of her reservations about the difficulty that people will experience getting to the games, the spiralling cost of London Hotels and how many of the venues will actually be used after the games. She gave the example of how New Zealand has considerably expanded its tourist trade by promoting the settings for ‘Lord of the Rings’ yet Britain has done little to take advantage of the Harry Potter phenomenon.

The standard was so high that the judges decided to award joint second place to Bethany Meban of Slemish College, Nicola Donnelly of St Louis and Anna McKinely, also of St Louis. Bethany spoke on The European Union – a victim of its own success? Nicola spoke about Challenges of an ageing population – is it my problem? And Anna addressed the issue that Nature provides a free lunch but only if we control our appetites.

The winner from the Ballymena heat will now go forward to take part in the 30th Northern Ireland Regional Final to be held in the Great Hall, Stormont on February 25.

President Norma Evans closed the evening by thanking the competitors, their teachers and the adjudicators for participating in the competition and the Youth Award Committee and other club members for helping to organise the evening.