Rotary Club of Caerleon
Yesterday I agreed to be interviewed for the Young Interviewer of the Year competition being held by the Rotary Club of Caerleon. This was an opportunity for youngsters up to the age of 19 to prove their skills as a young interviewer. William Graham, as a prominent member of the Caerleon Rotary Club had asked me to get involved.
It is good to do these sorts of things which are a break from the normal political round, and the Comprehensive School at Caerleon is clearly an excellent school. The event had been organised by Rotary Club President, John Dare, and Hugh Edmunds. There were a group of judges including Nick Partridge of HTV, and I had to present evidence as to whether or not we should build more prisons in the United Kingdom and then be questioned by the four students. The students were Daniel Edwards, who is studying ‘A’ levels and hoping to go on to read medicine at Birmingham and is a keen musician, then Funminiyi Obilande, who is doing science based ‘A’ levels and hoping to qualify as a doctor. She is a representative in the European Youth Parliament, then James Pickering who is studying languages, history and maths and has already gained a place to read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oriel College Oxford, and finally Sophie Morgan who is also a member of the European Youth Parliament and studying ‘A’ levels at the school, and apparently and rather frighteningly a very accomplished kick-boxer.
All four students were really excellent. The degree of preparation that had been put in to the research that they had done when questioning me for the allotted time was extremely impressive. I had a far harder ride from the four of them than I often get from political journalists.
At the end I would not have liked to choose amongst the four of them as to who was to be victorious. I am glad that this task was one for Nicole Garnon of the South Wales Argus, Nick Partridge and Rotarians Mel Harris and Jean Watson. They eventually awarded the prize to Sophie Morgan who, indeed, was excellent.
My thanks for such a splendid evening and for organising such a worthwhile event to the school and to Serena Lewis who was there representing the school and to the Rotary Club of Caerleon.
This is the first venture into this territory, and I know that they are intending that it should be rolled out more widely, and I hope indeed that is what happens.
