In a youth development initiative, the Bay of Plenty Officers' Club set up an annual speech competition to be contested by the champion from each of the three NZ Cadet Force Units based in Tauranga.

The competition was named in honour of one of its former members, Squadron Leader John Leslie Munro, CNZM, DSO, QSO, DFC, JP RNZAF Rtd.

Known as Les, he was a RNZAF pilot in WW2 who died in 2015 at 96. He flew Lancaster bombers with 617 Squadron RAF.

'The competition was convened in conjunction with the resident Area Support Officer of the NZ Cadet Forces, Major Eli Crawshaw,” says Aviation Historian, Des Underwood.

'As the competition convenor, the Bay of Plenty Officers' Club set the challenging the topic for the inaugural competition as, 100 years on, what does WW1 mean to New Zealanders?”

The 2018 competition was held in September on the final day of third school term. It was contested by the speech champion from of the three Tauranga NZ Cadet Force units.

This year, they were competing for a prize pool of $500 and the Les Munro Lancaster Trophy, which will be held by the winner's Cadet Force Unit for the year of the competition.

The competing speech campions, included Able Cadet E Andrews from Training Ship Chatham, Leading Air Cadet Abbie Thomas, 16 Squadron, and Under Officer Bradley Taylor, Western Bay of Plenty Cadet Unit.

The three contestants were allocated between seven to 10 minutes to convince the panel of judges of the merits of their speech.

After speeches had been evaluated, the chief judge announced the winners in reverse order with, Able Cadet E Andrews in third place, Under Officer Bradley Taylor in second place, and Leading Air Cadet Abbie Thomas as the winner.

'Cadet Thomas is a year 11 pupil at Mount Maunganui College. As well as their prize money, each contestant was presented with a certificate showing their participation in the 2018 competition,” says Des.

'The presentations were made by Christine Ross, Les Munro's partner, herself a member of the Officers Club which Les had been a member.”

In a debrief of the contestants, Alison Underwood, timekeeper and referee, herself a Toastmaster, complimented the three speakers on the high quality of the speeches delivered.

In addition to the Officer's Club, other contributions to the prize pool included, the six Hauraki Association, as well as the Mount Maunganui and the Tauranga RSA Clubs. Classic Flyers aviation museum donated a supplementary prize for the winner included a flight in a Stearman bi-plane.

At the Officer's Club Ladies Dinner held at the Tauranga Club on Saturday October 13, Leading Air Cadet Abbie Thomas had been invited to repeat her winning speech.

'She delivered it in the same confident and clear manner she has used to win to competition and was met with to very warm applause from those attending,” says Des.

'She was presented with the supplementary prize. With the Leading Air Cadet having won the 2018 speech competition, the Les Munro Lancaster Trophy was awarded to her Cadet Force Unit, 16 Squadron.

'The Unit Commander was represented by Pilot Officer Rob Jones, the Unit's Training Officer.”