Good start to the new year

Wednesdays are indeed the new Tuesdays Laurie and it seems Debating Society is now the cool place to be for Year 7s. As we kicked off our first debate of the year, we were very pleased to be joined this week by our new cohort of Year 7s. Existing Society members were few in number today (half a dozen at most) but we still managed to see one of our best attended 'normal' debates in the history of the society. Today's debate was attended by 24 audience members, most of whom were all Year 7s. This is promising stuff and will hopefully yield good results in terms of our future prospects in competitions.

Our first debate tackled the contentious issue of the summer; the case of the Lockerbie bomber. Our young Year 8s, Ben Wallace and Thomas Knight argued it was right to show compassion to Abeldbaset Ali al Megrahi and release him from jail. Whilst newcomer Mohammad Azizyan (stepping in at the last moment) and Sahan Bentotage argued that Mr al Megrahi did not deserve compassion. A lively Q&A session followed that saw many of our Year 7s get involved.

In the end the judges and the audience came to a split decision; the Opposition picking up the floor vote, 15 votes to 9 and the judges bonus point going to the Proposition. All agreed it was a great way to start the year.

Next week will see a planning session with a difference as we prepare our new members for their first debates. Proceedings start at 2.40pm, in L7 on Tuesday 30th September. A full list of forthcoming debates will be published at that point.

Wednesdays are the new Tuesdays...

The nights are drawing in and September marks the return of our debates. We kick off on Wednesday, 23 September 2009 with a brilliantly topical show-down on the subject of the Lockerbie bomber. Our newsletter will return then too.

And it's all change at the Union Society, as six of our most senior and experienced debaters have headed to the HeadStrong Club for another chapter in their debating careers. However, they've been duely succeeded by the wealth of debating talent already present among our Year 8 – 11 members, plus some promising newcomers from Year 7 and beyond.

Those debaters will now be taking each other on during Period Seven on Wednesdays, instead of last year's weekly Tuesday meetings.

What's more, former Society President, James Bartle MYP is joining the judging panel indefinitely, while Laurie Dudley will return to meetings in a month in some role or another.

If you'd like to find out more, browse our website or drop in on Wednesday from 14:40 to 15:30.