WITHBURGA house were crowned the winners of the King’s Ely Senior House Debating Competition for the second year running.
King’s Ely Senior’s nine day and boarding houses each put forward a team of skilled and energetic debaters, all of whom demonstrated admirable passion for a range of topics throughout the Michaelmas Term.
It was the Withburga team of Charlotte Ebbens, India Thomas and Isabelle Jupp, and the Hereward team of Aaron Blatch, Mikhail Demianov and Johnson Leung who made the finals. Students and staff came together in the school’s Hayward Theatre to witness what proved to be an intense debate of vigorous arguments, well-researched points and entertaining Points of Information all surrounding the motion: ‘This House believes that to strive for immortality is morally reprehensible’.
Hereward were proposing and Withburga were opposing. The arguments ranged from extensively researched to those focused on various meanings of what it is to be ‘immortal’ with some excellent, impassioned arguments from India Thomas and a well-executed rebuttal from Aaron Blatch.
After much deliberation, the lead adjudicator, Richard Spencer, Principal of Ely College, announced Withburga as the winners, earning them the prestigious Senior Debating Trophy for the second year running.