The Oxford Union National Schools’ Debating Competition.
This academic year 2008-09 has proven to be the most successful to date in inter-schools competitions. We began with a warm-up invitation ‘balloon debate’ hosted by Surrey University’s new English Department. The team, April Robinson and Louise Cameron, gave a supremely confident extempore defence of Tennessee Williams and unaccountably found themselves displaced from the final places in the balloon by teams with a more ‘researched-and-rehearsed’ approach.
In the subsequent Cambridge Union Competition, the team found itself in the unhappy position of being in the room without a judge – the man from Cambridge had gone astray and never reached the Venue: The City of London Freemen’s School. A hastily-assembled panel of willing though inexperienced teachers volunteered to do the judging. The Chair seemed to take exception to April’s colourful and exuberant language, whilst Louise learned a valuable lesson in thorough preparation of the summary speech.
On to Guildford Girls’ High School for the regional round of the Oxford Union Competition. The A team on that occasion comprised Catalina Blackman and Ebiye Alaibe and, after two outstanding performances apiece, both teams found themselves in the final frame of three for the last place to progress to Finals Day at Oxford. The judges, with maybe some subtle prompting, smiled on Louise and April. So all four travelled up to Oxford on Finals Day to join teams from all the other regions in the British Isles as well as the Netherlands, Canada and Australia. In a marathon day, Hurtwood competed against teams from Monmouth School, Newcastle High, Tunbridge Wells, St Declan’s Dublin, St Saviours and St Olave’s, Heathlands, Bradford, Eltham, Winchester, Hills Road Cambridge, Edward IVth Morpeth and Llandaff. The team gave a very good account of themselves and were beaten by the eventual Grand Finalists. April was accorded the accolade of most entertaining speaker of the day by the judges – some achievement in a field of well over a hundred of the nation’s finest! The photographs record some of the more enjoyable moments of a very proud day for Hurtwood House.