The young winners of the Great Lancashire Debate have been announced.
Chorley St Peter’s CE Primary School (pictured) and Balshaw’s CE High School in Leyland, were hailed winners at the event, held in County Hall in Preston on Wednesday.
They each had five minutes for a team presentation, in which they predicted how life will be different in 50 years time and explained about changes that should be made today to benefit Lancashire over the next half a century.
This question was chosen as 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of Lancashire County Council.
The winning team from Chorley St Peter’s CE Primary School was made up of year five pupils Lyle, Liam, Lola, Eva-Grace and Alasdair, with Lola also hailed best individual speaker.
Alasdair said: “I’m very proud of myself and that we won it as a team. It’s been an amazing experience to win something so big. It’s overwhelming, but I just feel proud.”
Other schools that took part included Barrowford St Thomas CE Primary School, Edenfield Primary School, Sherwood Primary School, St Thomas CE Primary School from Blackburn and Worsthorne Primary School.
The following day, it was the turn of secondary school pupils to take their place in the Council Chamber to present their teams response to the same question.
The winning team was Balshaw’s CE High School which was made up of year nine pupils, Rory, Zac, William and Omar.
Omar said: “It was amazing and everything went to plan. We were all really calm under pressure. Our school won last year too so we’ll be aiming for a third win next year!”
The Best Individual Speaker was Tabitha from Broughton High School.
Other schools that took part were Broughton High School, Haslingden High School, Ribblesdale School, St Christopher’s CE High School, Accrington and Tarleton Academy.
Phillippa Williamson, leader of Lancashire County Council, was on the judging panel for both events.
She said: “It’s been a fascinating two days hearing from these young people who so eloquently put their points across and made it incredibly difficult for the judges to decide on two sets of winners.
“The competition was extremely fierce, and it was clear that a lot of time had been spent by each school researching and preparing their viewpoints.
“I will be reflecting on all of the ideas that were put forward and they could make a real difference to Lancashire in the future.
“I could certainly see many of these young people in the council chamber again representing a community as a councillor.”
The best individual speaker from each day will also receive a book token.
