Dubbo Eisteddfod 2022: Volunteer Narelle Jeffrey full of praise for participants

The speech and drama section of the eisteddfod ran from Wednesday, June 1 to Friday, June 3.

It was adjudicated by Robyn Christmas.

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Ms Jeffrey, who has been an eisteddfod volunteer for numerous years, said she had been fortunate to be involved with the speech and drama section.

"Across Dubbo and surrounds we have such amazing talent when it comes to speech and drama and we've been really thrilled in terms of the quality of work being recited and prepared for the even this year," Ms Jeffrey said.

"We've heard the most amazing, original speeches on a variety of topics."

Ms Jeffrey would not be surprised if some of the students ended up acting professionally.

"This children really have the ability to go on and become serious actors within the industry and it's lovely to think the Dubbo Eisteddfod of Performing Arts really gives them that opportunity to take the stage, remove all of that stage fright and then help them move forward and have long-lasting careers," she said.

But there are benefits for anyone who embraces public speaking.

Ms Jeffrey said public speaking, and the eisteddfod competition, gave children an opportunity to stand in front of people and "be considered". It also boosted their critical think skills and persuasion skills, she said.

The eisteddfod volunteer also praised all the schools and teachers who were involved in the verse-speaking choirs.

"It takes a very dedicated teacher to be able to prepare the children to be able to provide two verse speaking contrasting pieces and every school attending this year was absolutely fabulous in the work that they did. You can see the hours of work that took place behind the scenes and you can actually see the joy and rapture on the faces of the children,' Ms Jeffrey said.

"It was wonderful to see and we really encourage other schools in future years to come on board and be quite involved with that."

Overall, Ms Jeffrey said Dubbo and the surrounding regions should be "exceptionally proud" of all those who took part in this year's eisteddfod.

"We really have enjoyed hosting again the Dubbo eisteddfod speech and drama program and we're really keen to secure additional patronage for future years," she said.