53 Clubs and Activities

CLUBS and ACTIVITIES

TOP HOUSE QUIZ

Quiz fans had been eagerly looking forward to the return of the inter-house general knowledge competition. The teams were duly selected and battle commenced on February 27th. The ensuing four weeks saw the usual keen rivalry between houses, with encouraging support from the audiences. An innovation this year in the semi-finals was the round calling for the recognition of staff voices. Whilst Mr. Boardman's "Humpty Dumpty" was instantly identified, others proved more taxing. The final took place in the Memorial Hall on March 19th between The Rise and last year's winners, The Manor. It was fiercely contested and the Manor emerged as victors by the narrow margin of 49 to 46. Congratulations go to the triumphant team of Tim Dunn, Joel Hopwood, Mark Benson and Nick Abrams. My personal thanks go to all those who participated.

J. W. G. Shaw

DEBATING SOCIETY

It has been a fantastic year's debating for St. Peter's School with an average attendance figure of sixty-eight people for debate highlighting the pupils interest in this popular society. Through the great diversity of debates, styles and topics new doors have been opened for the future of debating events at the School.

The first debate of the year was held on Wednesday 28 September 1991 with the motion:' 'This house believes a boarder receives a better education than a day pupil" being proposed by Debbie Small and Andrew Moxon and opposed by Caro Roberts and Jack-Patrick Weatherall. A heated discussion resulted from this controversial topic. The motion finally being carried by 49 votes to 15 with 9 abstentions.

The second event had a huge attendance of 129 people, partly, I believe because it is the first time in a very long while that St. Peter's has had a debate against another School, although I do not doubt that the fact Queen Mary's School is an all-girl establishment may have created an added interest. As it was close to Halloween the motion "This house believes in ghosts" was proposed by Joel Hopwood and Sarah Richards and was opposed by Miss K. May and Miss T. Still of Queen Mary's. The motion was carried by 94 votes to 17 with 18 abstentions and as the evening was such a success another was arranged for later in the School year.

The next debate was held at St. Peter's with the motion "This house believes legs are more important than brains" being proposed by James Hague and Damien Lipman, and opposed by Olivia Smart and Emma Brown. The motion was naturally defeated by 28 votes to 6 with 6 abstentions. The intellectual audience did not seem to be swayed by the posters of half naked women and men that Damien and James presented them along with their argument.

After the successful Queen Mary's debate another was organised with the Mount. As I was not required to chair the meeting I spoke with Alex Martin and we opposed the title: "This house believes asexual reproduction is the only way forward". The proposers from the Mount, Gemma Druz and Katya Hoshing were defeated by 28 votes to 16 with 10 abstentions. An enjoyable evening was had by all with amusing anecdotes and descriptions coming from Damien Lipman and Alain Mahmoud.

The second of the two debates with Queen Mary's was held on the 11th March 1992 away. Alison Blair and Eleanor Bowling proposed the motion "This house does not believe in co-education" and were defeated by 38 votes to 11 with 7 abstentions against the opposition Sophie Hill and Lucy Holgate of Queen Mary's. My thanks to Mr. Buttery of Queen Mary's with whom I organised these debates and who chaired what I felt was the best debate of the year. It was good to travel away for a debate and I am grateful to the School for providing transport and to Mr. Clarke who accompanied us.

The next debate was with Bootham School. Here, as an experiment to prevent biased voting, the teams were integrated with Sarah Bray of Bootham and Paul Ferrow of St. Peter's proposing the title "This house believes God is simply a wasteful concept". The opposing team of Emma Boddington (Bootham) and Steven Clegg (St. Peter's) defeated the motion by 42 votes to 11 with 9 abstentions at the event which I chaired and was held at Bootham.

After a controversial comment, to which no-one could reply, by the Chaplain in chapel the morning after the Harris execution an opportunity was created for the society to discuss the very debatable topic: "This house supports Capital Punishment". This was proposed by Gordon Gibb and Tom Duncan and opposed by Rev. Harvey and Jam Bunnag. I would like to thank the Reverend for speaking in a debate in which the audience enjoyed a chance to question and challenge him. However, Tom's chatty style and Gordon's emotional conclusion showed that how you say it is just as important as what you say. The motion was carried by 39 votes to 27 with 15 abstentions.

The final debate of the year took place after a lot of effort and planning and I am very grateful to the four speakers, particularly Mrs. Kershaw and Mr. Robert Clarke, as well as Mr. Pittman and Suzie Roberts for their help. The motion "This house believes there is no such thing as problem, only problem parents" was proposed

by Richard Ambrose and Christopher Braganza and opposed by Mr. Clarke and Mrs. Kershaw. A small handful of parents took this great opportunity to see and take part in a School debate making the concept a success. The result was that the motion was defeated 24 votes to 6 with 22 abstentions.

I would like to thank everyone who has supported and contributed towards the success of the society this year, the Bootham, Mount and Queen Mary's, Baldersby, debating societies and Elly Clegg, the secretary of the society for this year. I would also like to extend my best wishes to Jack-Patrick Weatherall and Eleanor Bowling who will take over as President and Secretary respectively next year. I hope that St. Peter's Debating Society will continue to grow and flourish in the future. Jeremy Corner, President of St. Peter's Debating, 1991-1992

CHALLENGE FOR MANAGEMENT

Amnesty International campaigns in defence of those who are imprisoned for their peacefully held beliefs. Amnesty advocates fair and early trials for all political prisoners and opposes the death penalty, torture or any other inhumane or degrading treatment.

With an increasing membership and much active interest the St. Peter's Amnestry Group this year has continued with much success. Various fund-raising activities have been held including popular lunchtime cake sales and a successful Christmas disco. Letters have been written throughout the term in an attempt to persuade authorities to free prisoners of conscience. A letter writing campaign was organised with the result that approximately two hundred letters have been written. As part of a general awareness campaign Amnesty members took the chapel services for a week in which we were fortunate enough to have Simon Watterson perform a short play for us.

As Chairman I wish the Amnesty group continued success next year under the chairmanship of Chris Braganza and James Fieldsend, and thank Mr. Drysdale for his continued support and encouragement. Bridget Torlesse