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Evie Howard and James Langford
College in Debating Final
20th March 2009
Hereford Sixth Form College, represented by James Langford and Evie Howard, took the College to the final of the Three Counties Debating Competition at Malvern College recently.
12 schools and colleges from across Worcestershire and Gloucestershire as well as Herefordshire took part in the day-long competition, which used the British Parliamentary Debate format.
Two morning debates were followed by a further debate in the afternoon, leading to the final in which the four most successful teams competed.
Joining HSFC in the final were King’s, Worcester (the eventual winners); Hereford Cathedral School; and Malvern College (with an all-girl team).
Just 15 minutes’ notice of each topic was given to speakers at the start of each round – a short enough time to prepare for some challenging topics: “This House believes that social net-working sites are a danger to society” was followed by “This House believes that parental consent should be mandatory for under-age abortion”. Following lunch, teams debated “This House believes soldiers should be allowed to opt out of conflict on grounds of conscience”.
For the final the four successful teams debated the motion “This House would talk to terrorists”.
In each debate four teams, each of two speakers, fulfil a particular and specific role either as First Proposers, First Opposition, Second Proposers, or Second Opposition.
Each speaker has five minutes in which to speak, and the first and last minutes of these sessions are ‘sacrosanct’. During those times speakers cannot be interrupted, but during the middle three-minute section of each speech the speaker may be challenged on points of information. There is a definite technique in knowing when to interrupt, and in assessing which interruptions to allow and not to allow.
Mike Vockins, our College Chaplain, who accompanied the team, spoke of the high standard of competition. “Throughout the day the standard of speaking and debating was extremely high, and this was particularly so in the final."
“Although King’s, Worcester won the final – and perhaps deservedly so as their team of Tim Rogers and Lucy Lewis had maintained an impressive standard all day – our team of James and Evie certainly gave them a run for their money. It would not have surprised me in the slightest if James and Evie had been nominated as winners.”
James’ and Evie’s splendid performance for the College drew warm praise from Peter Blair, of Malvern College, the competition organiser: “They should be congratulated on their success - James in particular has many William Hague-like qualities!”. James of all people would recognise the compliment in that, for it was those qualities which led the judges to nominate him as the best speaker in the final.