This competition was established to commemorate Heather Brown, Baroness Brigstocke of Kensington who died tragically in Athens on 30th April 2004. Heather was the International Chairman of the English Speaking Union, and ASROGA felt that an annual public speaking competition would be a suitable memorial. Mrs Patsy Thornton née Soundy (Chairman of ASROGA at that time) launched a popular appeal resulting in a dedicated fund available for managing the event. The competition is an inter-house one comprising a qualifying round and an inter-house final round. Teams consist of a Chairman and a Speaker; a period of 13 minutes is allotted for introductions, the talk, questions and summing up. The adjudication panel comprises three people, one of whom is an Old Girl. The competition is held in the Richards Hall and is watched by UIV and LV.
It wasn’t long before girls from lower forms asked for their own competition, and The Young Brigstocke Memorial Public Speaking Competition was born. This competition follows the outline of the older one, but is slightly shorter. Girls from UIII and LIV represent their Houses in the competition.
Past competitors testify to the value of this competition, especially for building confidence and gaining experience. Two competitors from the 2008 competition were in the team which won the national final of the English Speaking Union Public Speaking Competition shortly afterwards. The team from The Abbey beat over 400 teams from across Britain to win this very prestigious trophy.