MEET some of Oxfordshire’s best speakers.

They were among the young people who took part in the 10th annual public speaking contest at County Hall, Oxford, in 1954.

It was organised by the Oxfordshire Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs.

A team of three girls from Oxford Junior Young Farmers’ Club won the junior section, while Banbury took the intermediate crown. Bloxham School came second in both sections.

The Oxford Mail reported: “Faced with a number of teams, most of whose members showed not only confidence but a surprising degree of knowledge as well, the judges had a difficult task.”

Subjects included the Bodleian Library, Danish farming and the incredible ichneumon (a mongoose in North Africa).

Judges Mrs S M Gatehouse and Mr J Harrison said the junior award, for teams aged 10 to 16, had gone to Oxford because they were “such an extraordinarily friendly and cheerful team, full of life”.

Banbury won the intermediate section, for teams aged 16 to 21, “by a short head” because of their “very cheery naturalness”.

Praising all the teams, Mrs Gatehouse said: “People like you give me fresh heart in this mechanised age. “I am getting alarmed at the number of people who seem content to spend their lives looking at television and soaking in everything the BBC puts over.

“It will be a tragedy if television takes the place of live meetings, where one can enter into discussion, ask questions and disagree with one another.”