Lucy is talk of Turnbull High

S5 student Lucy Rae returned with the Martin Lavery Cup for Excellence after taking part in the final of the Glasgow Bar Association contest.

Lucy beat stiff competition from five other Glasgow schools in a closely fought competition with judges describing the standard of public speaking as “outstanding”.

In the end, Lucy’s engaging, passionate and often witty speech on the topic of ‘Snowflakes’ – the term used to describe young people who are overly sensitive or easily offended – won over both the audience and the judges, eliciting many laughs along the way.

Michelle Cowie at Turnbull said: “Lucy was praised for her confident delivery and use of humour to engage the entire audience – a very worthy winner.”

The competition was held in memory of Martin Lavery, a highly respected defence solicitor known for his eloquent courtroom speeches, who passed away in 2016.

Lucy said afterwards: “I was really happy to win but mostly shocked! It was an amazing experience.

“Just before giving the speech I was really nervous and shaky because I hadn’t done any public speaking since I was 11. However once I had spoken for about 20 seconds I started to relax a bit more and could see the audience actually looked interested. I even received a round of applause mid-speech for what was quite possibly, the world’s most horrific joke!”