In defence of teenagers: Rhiannon wins Thurso speechmaking contest
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A DEFENCE of teenagers took the accolades in a Thurso speechmaking competition for young people.
Rhiannon Arrowsmith's well-argued stance that teenagers are too often subjected to a bad press and are much more positive in society than they are portrayed won her the Rotary Club of Thurso's 48th Annual Speechmaking Competition for Young People, held in Thurso West Church.
She was one of seven students from Thurso High School who entertained, challenged and stimulated an audience of family, friends, the public and Rotary members.
Judges Anna Swanson, Samantha Malcolm and John Hook had the difficult task of choosing a winner.
Kyle Leavesley started the evening with his topic, Why Nuclear Should be the Future. Kyle presented arguments about the strengths, weaknesses and limitations of other forms of energy production and argued that nuclear should be seen as the future of our energy production in Britain.
Rhiannon followed with her address on The Unfair Stereotyping of Teenagers, while Gary Williamson enlightened the audience with the fascinating but obscure topic of The Emu War of 1932 in Australia where the government brought in the military to undertake a cull of 1000 unwelcome crop-destroying emus by machine gun. After a prolonged barrage of fire, only 12 emus perished – they proved to be as resilient to bullets as tanks!
Ashleigh Coghill brought the listeners closer to home with her talk on the benefits of the North Coast 500. She explained that this tourist route had brought 29,000 more visitors, injected over £9 million into the local economy and created a year-long tourist season for local hotels.
Louis Pickering took the audience on a sub-atomic journey to the land of particle physics with his subject, The Higgs Boson. He told how Higgs and his team attempted to show where mass comes from through the now-proved theories regarding the Higgs Boson particle.
Kimberly Brown discussed Animal Abuse both in the UK and abroad. She spoke passionately about how improving animal habitats and stopping further abuse is a work in progress.
Erin Bonniface rounded off the event with a powerful speech on Mental Health. She talked about how people with mental health conditions think about their feelings and the way society deals with them.
