A PERSHORE pupil showed her verbal virtuosity as she won a debating contest, leading her team to overall victory.

The debating competition, organised by Malvern Rotary Club, was won by Pershore High School student Fleur Homfray.

Fleur, aged 18, won the debate at Hanley Castle High School, Church End, Hanley Castle, in a contest which involved several other schools and colleges, including Malvern College, Hanley Castle High School, Malvern St James and King's School in Worcester.

The team of three also won the overall debating prize.

Fleur, who is studying A-levels in English, history and ethics and philosophy, produced an eloquent, well-balanced argument that MPs should know more about the real world, enabling them to provide better support to their constituents.

John Rees, head of information, advice and guidance at the school, was there on the night, which was attended by more than 100 people.

He said: "She won because she was able to speak without notes. It was a polished performance when she came to answer questions at the end following the four minute speech."

She was supported on the night by two other pupils with heavyweight debating skills, Kat Gullick, aged 17, from Norton, and Henry Felton, aged 15, from Worcester.

Henry spoke on the topic of gas guzzling cars and the need to reduce the number on the roads through taxation to safeguard the future of the environment.

Kat gave a more offbeat argument, called Small Dragons Are Better Than Big Dragons.

Her central argument was that larger companies and organisations were not necessarily better than smaller ones, using the example of Tesco when compared to smaller, family-run businesses.