On April 24th 2023, Elizabeth Opoku-Denki was crowned Gabbler of the Year 2023 at the 34th Grand Final of The Gabblers’ Club, which was held in the Ballroom of The Bristol Hotel in the presence of the Deputy Lord Mayor of Bristol – Cllr. Steve Smith.
Prior to the final, the competition – which is open to all lower sixth students at schools in and around Bristol – was hosted by The Bristol for six preparatory dinners where entrants had each made three speeches that accounted for 50% of the participant’s scores; with their final performance accounting for the second 50%.
In the biggest Grand Final the competition has ever seen, more than 250 guests heard Elizabeth speak eloquently and entertainingly for four minutes on the topic of ‘Small Talk’, and wow both audiences and judges alike with her captivating speech.
The night also saw Lucy Haseltine of Queen Elizabeth Hospital win the runner up prize, with her speech: ‘Dr Who?’, and Yijing Ren (Badminton School) and Gracie Joyce (The Redmaids’ School) take home third and fourth place prizes for their speeches ‘The Spice of Life’ and ‘Challenging Behaviour’. Theo Power was also awarded the Most Improved prize with his speech, ‘In the Dock’.
This year’s Grand Final marks a proud moment for the Gabblers Club, as it completes its first competition since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the organising committee would like to thank all the fantastic young people who took part this year and made such a fantastic competition possible. The committee looks forward to repeating the success of this year’s competition in September with a new cohort of participants.
If you’re a Year 11 student in Bristol or the surround area and are interested in participating in next year’s Gabblers competition, speak to your head of sixth form and ask them to express their interest in participating to Brian Kirkup (Club Chair) on brian.kirkup159@btinternet.com
