Fearnhill Feature Writing and Speeches

What is Halloween to you? For most, the 31 st of October is a festive gathering, a fun night out, or even a day for free treats, but has it ever occurred to you what we are celebrating? Derived from the celts, Halloween is a day marking the beginning of the season of cold, darkness and decay. In order to celebrate it, an annual sacrifice would be made to prevent an entire year of catastrophes, these sacrifices were often 67% of the village’s children!  The fancy costumes we wear were once animal carcasses, skin and heads, and the innocent jack o’ lanterns we carve were used as a symbol of a fateful deal with the devil. Naturally, it became associated with human death and was used as means to get away with things. Despite this, Halloween is quite simply one of many ‘memento mori’ traditions designed to make death just a little bit more fun and provide an age-appropriate hint to children about an inescapable fact of life, which is that life ends. Wrong. By doing this, death re...

Today I want to talk to you about zoos and their purpose.  Should animals be kept in zoos?  What would happen to them if they were left in the wild?  There are people in foreign countries who kill these wild animals for their skins, fur and bones.  Some are used for medicines!  This is cruel.  There are only around 2,500 Bengal tigers left in the wild.  The Javan rhino is one of the most endangered species of animal, with only 40-60 of them left.  The pagolin has been on the Red list since 2014 and is the most trafficked animal in the world!  We need to support all the zoos in the world to make sure these animals have the chance to live a good life.  Why would you not want to save the wild animals?  Why would anyone not want to see these lovely animals in a safe environment?  I feel we should support all our zoos and continue to keep these places alive to protect the animals.  We have a duty to give all animals a cha...

Stop!  Think about what the world would be like if everyone was equal.  Name one thing that wouldn't exist.  One thing I thought of is racism.  Racism is what I am here to talk to you about today. What is racism?  Well, by the end of this speech, I hope you have a greater understanding of what racism is.  I asked a few people what they thought racism is, and I have a favourite answer.  It is this:  "Racism is discrimination directed against a person or people depending on their race or ethnicity". In 2013/2014 there were 14,571 'racist incidents' recorded by the police in England and Wales.  On average, that's about 130 incidents per day!  But historical events have shown us that racism isn't something new.  Racism has always been a part of this world.  In the 1960s Martin Luther King peacefully protested for what is right.  Many people admired him for this, including me.  And everyone knows the story of Rosa Park...

Maybe you are at the darkest point of your life; you're ready to quit; you're ready to give up.  I've got one word for you.  Warrior.  Yeah, warrior.  The only thing that is stopping you from being your best is fear.  Let me tell you this.  Fear is not real.  The only place fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future.  It's a resident of our imagination making us fear things that may never exist.  Fear is a choice.   Only the brave souls that risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.  Everyone on this planet should have a dream of what they want to accomplish in life.  And I want that dream to be so clear, that when you wake up in the morning, all you have to do is step into that dream.  But what people don't realise is that the first step of accomplishing your goal is that you have to believe it's possible.  You can do it.  Where you are is temporary.  You will not be there...