A preliminary meeting in the first week of the Easter Term saw the election of new officers—G. Gildener as Chairman and A. M. Headlam as Secretary; also, Hunt, Wakefield, Powell, Le Pla and P. C. N. Brown were elected to membership during the course of the term. At our first meeting on Tuesday, 6th February, Mr. D. R. Galley was invited to address the Society on a subject of his own choice. He proceeded to outline the general tenets of the existentialist under the general heading of 'Existentialism is a Humanism'. On 20th February, the Society welcomed Mr. G. Hopkins who outlined the 'Problems facing composers in the 20th century', and digressed a little to describe `musique concrete' for the benefit of the 'avant garde'. We finally succeeded in securing the services of Dr. Bowen of Bootham Park Hospital who gave an introductory talk on 'Psychiatry'. Our final meeting took the form of another evening of original contributions, ranging from Brown's rendering of several Victorian ballads to an amazing sketch by Territt and Gildener adapted from an article in the
Observer. May we finally extend our thanks to our speakers and also express our
appreciation of the excellent refreshments provided by the Kitchen staff. A.M.H.
THE DEBATING SOCIETY The past debating year has seen many changes and developments; Mr. G. D. Field has taken over from Mr. Cummin as Master-in-Charge; after holding office for the first term, Messrs. P. Collins and J. M. Pickard were succeeded by Messrs. C. J. Territt and G. Gildener as President and Secretary respectively. In November Messrs. Collins, Territt and Pickard were invited to the Ampleforth College Debating Society to propose the motion: "This House sees no value in the U.N.O. today". The motion was defeated. The first motion of the Christmas term was "This House refuses to fight to maintain the status quo in Berlin." The proposer, Mr. J. F. Williams, appealed for negotiation which, he felt, would avoid bloodshed. Mr. C. J. Territt, opposing, suggested that the fall of West Berlin would result in domination of the world by the forces of Communism. Messrs. A. J. Wakefield and C. G. Evans seconded and the motion was defeated —militant patriotism won the day by 129 votes to 13. The second motion, "Gaudeamus igitur, dum iuvenes sumus," was proposed by Mr. C. J. Parker, who thought true enjoyment was constructive, not destructive, and there was, therefore, no reason to imply that merriment in youth led to misery in old age. Mr. J. M. Atkinson, opposing, demanded that we work to make the country worth living in. Rejoicing was escapism. Messrs. R. E. Bryan and J. C. Powell seconded. The motion was easily carried. At the next meeting Mr. P. C. N. Brown, proposing the motion "This House would abolish the Welfare State" based his argument on an attack .on the inefficiencies of the Health Service. The opposer, Mr. Gildener, asserted that the British had a basic sense of responsibility for the welfare of their fellow citizens and this was guaranteed by community action. The seconders were Messrs. D. R. Gow and C. L. Brown, and the motion was defeated. 15
