Wellington Speaking Union | Debating in Wellington

Here are the documents presented at the WSU AGM last night.

2009 AGM Minutes

2010 President’s Report

2010 Intercollegiate Report

2010 Treasurer’s Report

2010 Provisional Financial Statements

2010 Survey Summary

The Wellington Speaking Union AGM for 2010 was held tonight at Turnbull House. The various reports will be uploaded here soon.

The following people were elected to positions for the 2011 year:

President – Stephen Whittington
Treasurer – Christopher Bishop
Secretary – Daniel Wilson

The Union thanks David Dewar for his work over the last two years as secretary as well as the convenor of the Junior Certificate grade.

Here is a full list of the results in intercollegiate debating and public speaking events this year.

Premier A Grade for the Henning Cup

• Winners: Sacred Heart College
• Runners-Up: Scots College

Premier B Grade for the Fred McComish Trophy

• Winners: Chilton St James School
• Runners-Up: Tawa College

Senior Certificate Grade for the Rennie Cup

• Winners: Wellington East Girls’ College
• Runners-Up: Wellington Girls’ College

Junior Premier Grade for the WGT Wiggs Cup

• Winners: Sacred Heart College
• Runners-Up: Hutt International Boys’ School

Junior Certificate Grade for the Wellington Speaking Union Cup

• Winners: Paraparaumu College
• Runners-Up: St Patrick’s College, Wellington

Impromptu Cup for the IMPS Trophy and The Evening Post Cup

• Senior: Wellington College
• Junior: Wellington College

Stockley Cup / Dunsheath Plate for Public Speaking

•  Senior: Duncan McLachlan (Wellington College)
• Junior: Daniel Gendall (Wellington College)

Congratulations to all of the above schools and individuals!

Paraparaumu College have emerged as winners of the Junior Certificate Grade f0r 2010 after defeating St Patrick’s College (Wellington) in the Junior Certificate Grand Final last night at Turnbull House, winning the Wellington Speaking Union Cup.

The Paraparaumu College team successfully negated  the motion “That access to the internet is a human right”, winning in a 3-0 decision.

Congratulations to Callum Brazier, Cameron Matheson, and Jesse Duckworth.

Commiserations to Angus Stallman, Bart English and James Ramsay.

The debate was adjudicated by Joe Connell, Polly Higbee, and next year’s Junior Certificate grade convenor, Nicola Wood.

Sacred Heart College have won their second intercollegiate debating grade for 2010, after defeating Hutt International Boys’ School in the Junior Premier final last night at Turnbull House, winning the WGT Wiggs Cup.

The Sacred Heart team successfully affirmed the motion “That we should ban private health care”, winning in a 2-1 decision.

Congratulations to Maddy Nash,  Harriet Willis, Emma Leahy and Lexi Crosbie.

Commiserations to Prashan Casinader, Matthew Austin, Oliver Pooke, Matt Grenfell, Alexander Ryde and Samuel Williams.

The same Sacred Heart team also defeated the same HIBS team in the final of the Junior Certificate grade last year.

The Wellington Speaking Union Impromptu Cup for senior and junior students was held on Saturday 16 October at Wellington College. It was a great day of debating, despite fewer teams in the competition than normal.

Eight teams entered the senior section. After three rounds of debating followed by semi-finals, the Grand Final featured Wellington College 1 against Wellington College 1. Eventually Wellington College 1 were the winners in an unanimous decision, after successfully negating the motion “That we should make voting compulsory”.

Congrats to Duncan McLachlan and Marcus Playle who win the IMPS Trophy, and commiserations to Rayhan Langdana and Tom Mitchell.

Four teams entered the junior section. The Grand Final was between Wellington College and Sacred Heart College, with Wellington College eventually prevailing after affirming “That it should be compulsory to learn Maori at secondary school”.

Congrats to Luke and Jack who win the Evening Post Cup.

Thanks to all those who judged during the tournament, and to Wellington College for hosting.

The Stockley Cup Public Speaking competition was held on Wednesday 20 October at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, with six speakers competing in the junior section for the Dunsheath Plate, and seven speakers in the senior section for the Stockley Cup.

The range of speech topics varied from racism, domestic abuse, mothers, war crimes, and a spirited defence of Victorian values. The judges (Christopher Bishop, Sarah Wilson, and Daniel Wilson) were very impressed by the quality of all the competitors’ speeches.

Junior

3rd place: Juliet Bergin (St Mary’s College) – “Still Points in a Turning World”
2nd place: Harriet Willis (Sacred Heart College) – “Mothers”
1st place: Daniel Gendall (Wellington College) – “Prejudice and Pride”

Senior

3rd place: Mia Alejandro (St Catherine’s College) – “Hope”
2nd place: Michael Howard (Newlands College) – “Victorian Values”
1st place: Duncan McLachlan (Wellington College) – “Truth Seekers”

Photos will be posted soon.

In the Junior Certificate semi-finals last night, Paraparaumu College 1 defeated HIBS 2 and St Pats Town 1 defeated Newlands College.

The final between the two teams will be held on Wednesday 3 November.

Topic: That access to the internet is a human right

St Pats Town 1 will affirm and Paraparaumu College 1 will negate.

Venue to be advised.

The Victoria Shield (formerly known as Management Cup) impromptu debating tournament was held at Victoria University last night, with eleven teams entering.

The winners of the competition were Clodagh O’Connor-McKenna and Paul Smith, who defeated Ihaia Tichborne and Peter McCaffrey in the Grand Final, affirming the topic “That there should be a minimum price on alcohol”.

Beaten semi-finalists were Seb Templeton, Richard D’Ath, Christopher Bishop and Asher Emanuel.

Thanks to Stephen Whittington for organising the night, and also to the adjudicators for their time.

The Junior Premier Grade Grand Final will be held on October 27, with Sacred Heart College affiming and Hutt International Boys’ School negating.

The topic is: “That we should ban private healthcare”.

Debate will be held at Turnbull House, Wellington, at 7pm, followed by a light supper.

Congrats to Sacred Heart and HIBS for making it this far, and commiserations to the beaten semi-finalists, St Mary’s College and Samuel Marsden Collegiate.