Talented By the Bridge young person had MP Tracy Brabin in stitches after being picked from over 5,000 entrants to reach the final of a prestigious national joke competition in Parliament.
Toby*, aged 10, from our Yorkshire branch, was one of 25 gifted schoolchildren who made it through to the Voice Box final with his witty joke which he had to come up with from scratch.
Finalists, including Toby, travelled down to London for the final of the competition which is run by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists for all mainstream and special educational needs schools.
Toby’s joke: “Which hand would you use to grab a poisonous snake?... Someone else’s!” provided welcomed laughter and much-needed respite from MPs usual duties when they attended the event in the Speaker’s House.
MP Tracy Brabin said: “It’s always a treat when a young constituent visits Parliament and when they come with a hilarious joke at the ready it’s even better.
“It is a fantastic achievement to reach the final of a such a brilliant competition and after hearing talented Toby’s entry, it was very well deserved. It takes a lot of skill to come up with good a joke – as I found out when they asked me and the other MPs to tell one during the competition. It’s safe to say that I’ll leave that to Toby and other winners in future.
Tracy continued: “More than 10% of children and young people have long term speech, language and communication needs so it’s important to have a competition that’s all about boosting confidence and celebrating all the immensely valuable speech and language work being done in schools.”
Congratulations to Toby, we wish him all the best in the final.