St Mary's College in Crosby has made a winning start to its 2010 public speaking campaign.

The school finished in first place in the opening heat of the English Speaking Unionıs national public speaking event, held at Birkenhead School, and will now compete in the Liverpool finals at the city centre Athenaeum.

The successful team was made up of Matthew Foulkes (Chairman), Gabriel Bean (Questioner) and Ruth Cawdron (Speaker) who discussed the topic of money is the root of all evil.

This is the eleventh successive year that St Mary's has reached the Liverpool finals.  On three occasions - including last year - the school has gone on to reach the national finals of the competition in London.

The ESU event for year 10 and 11 pupils is designed to promote clear communication, with the youngsters being encouraged to pit their wits against one another in a polite, non-adversarial way.

Competitors are trained to listen carefully and speak confidently in a wide variety of contexts, adapting what they say and how they say it to different situations and people.

St Mary's College Head of Sixth Form, Daniel Magill, commented: "I am very pleased that we have made a successful start in this yearıs competition, thanks to some high-quality public speaking from the team members.

"St Mary's has a very impressive track record in this event, and everyone is hoping that we can match our 2009 success by reaching the finals in London and giving a really good account of ourselves later in the year."