PUPILS from St Edmund Arrowsmith High School in Blackburn were celebrating after coming top of the class at a public speaking event in 1979.

It was all part of a festival, organised by the Blackburn Rotary Club and was held in the main hall of the Blackburn College of Technology and Design with teams of four pupils aged between 11 and 15 from six Blackburn schools - Notre Dam High, Pleckgate, Westholme, Witton Park, St Edmund Arrowsmith and Billinge.

Rotary Press officer George Wormleighton said: "The judges were very impressed with the standard of all the speakers, but especially by the gestures and lively presentation of all the St Edmund team under their chairman Simon Cole."

The winning team also included: Deborah Weall, Katherine Hartle and Ann Derbyshire.

The competition was judged by Mrs G Lea, John Musgrave and Canon B Beaumont.