Appleby College - Argus Yearbook (Oakville, Ontario Canada)

Page 65 text:

Baines, and Brad Thompson can- not be forgotten. They all argued forcefully in their own style, be it suave, humourous, sincere or boisterous. Our particular thanks go to Paul Van Tighem who on two occasions pulled us out of a bind at the very last moment. In fact, for the regional tournament he had a half an hour ' s notice. There are so many others, who participated in debating, and who took part as speakers, or timers who should be mentioned. I would particularly like to extend the thanks of the entire Debating Society to all those people from the Oakville area, as well as the masters ' wives, who gave up their evenings to judge sometimes boring, often amateur, but hopefully enlightening debaters. Mr. Humphreys ' per- formance as coach, organizer and judge, as well as his gentle guidance throughout the year spurred all members of the Society to do their best, and we are grateful for his help this year. As regards the future of debating all that needs to be said is that this writer is confident, and refuses to believe that all the ef- fort has been put into debating this year will be allowed to come to naught. Debating has carved out for itself a permanent and prominent position at Appleby this year, and there is unlimited potential for the success of debating at Appleby in years to come. Kevin W. McMurchy President 61

Page 64 text:

Debating This year has been an exciting year for debating, - a year of con- solidation, of progress, mistakes - but as an end result, debating has taken on a new dimension. Twenty-eight boys represented Appleby in no less than twenty- three inter-school debates and tournaments this year, the most number of debates Appleby boys have been involved in since the creation of the Debating Society. In inter-house debating no less than fifty-four boys debated in fif- teen informal but hopefully enlightening confrontations, plus we also took on the respon- sibility of sending three debaters to the Southern Ontario Model United Nations Assembly. Debating took on an added im- petus with the enthusiastic influx of 9E who were made aware of the fun of debating through the direction and leadership of Mrs. Dickens. Thank you Mrs. Dickens for your unremitting support and guiding hand. Futhermore this year, the Debating Society has instituted a new award which will be bestowed and presented for out- standing contributions to debating - a Debating Tie. Awards will be selected by the Society ' s co-ordinator in cooperation with previous holders of a debating tie. This year Debating Ties have been awarded to Kevin McMurchy, Ed Dickens, and Bryan Davies. It is hoped that the presentation of debating ties will further instill the desire to attain the highest concievable levels of achieve- ment in debating, as well as be- coming an Appleby tradition. During the past year Appleby de- baters have attained the status of being the debating team to beat. Our aggressiveness has not al- ways met with favour from the judges, but our major debates have been fun and that is above all the name of the game. It is ►©lUTl OKI . It IS Tfese VrYTO I hoped, in fact, it is imperative that Debating becomes a mjaor activity in our school, even more so than it already is. Debating throughout the province has grown, and is still growing at a fantastic rate. And as a result of this past year ' s success, Appleby has been requested to lead and co-ordinate debating in the new- ly formed Halton-Peel Region. We feel confident that this will further debating not only within our Society but within the pro- vince of Ontario as well. During the Winter and Spring Terms, Appleby was represented at the St. Clement ' s Tournament, the St. Andrew ' s College Tour- nament and the Regional Tour- nament at Lakefield. As a result Kevin McMurchy was selected to represent the Toronto region at the Provincial Finals, held this year at Trent University, in which 64 debaters took part. Kevin distinguished himself by retur- ning to Appleby as the second best debater in Ontario. But as always, it was the people involved that made debating a success. The names of Peter Taylor, Ian Cameron, Hartland Paterson, David Crosbie, Tom Henkel, Nick Waterfield, Sean 60

Page 66 text:

We started off our Debating calender winning against S.A.C., the ultimate victor of the Fulford Cup. Congratulations are due to Jim Wetmore (Joe ' s diabetic germ and peptic ulcer) as well as John Rosseel and John Slattery. This victory gave us the necessary lift for the following Fulford Debates, in which an error of judgement was made, as we lacked the necessary top- notch debaters needed to clinch each confrontation, which in one case we ended up losing very closely by as little as 8 points out of a possible 600. We finished off the Fulford round of debates on a high note, defeating T.C.S., following a most hectic journey, having battled the elements of wind, snow and sleet, which almost cost us the loss of Mr. Stott and three junior debaters in a ditch. The expertise required to argue Appleby to victory over Trinity College School was ably and enthusiastically provided by Kevin McMurchy, Melind Pen- dharker and Graham Leggat. All in all, despite the weather, we did have a pleasant evening and T.C.S. were wonderful hosts, put- ting us up for the night. Regar- ding future Fulford Cup debaters, things look extremely promising for next year as our present younger debaters gain much in maturity and experience. This past fall we sent two Grade 11 ' s, Bryan Davies and Ed Dickens, to McGill to participate in their tournament. Although our lads were debating against much more senior debators, they managed to do quite well. (Apart from the foregoing, they distinquished themselves by being the only registered guests at the Montreal Central YMCA in blue suits). One of the highlights, most certainly, of this year ' s debating was the sixth Annual Appleby College Invitational Co- ordinate Debating Tournament, in which sixteen schools, from as far as St. Charles College in Sud- bury, participated. During the af- ternoon, the resolution under heated debate was that, it is resolved that This House en- dorces Bill 22 as enacted by the Government of Quebec. When the first two rounds of debating were completed, all participants gathered in the John Guest Hall for the final debate which was competently and ex- pertly judged by Mr. A. Abbot, M.P. for Peel South, Mrs. Strucken, and Mr. B. Lee. When the smoke of the heated arguments cleared, Basil Gerol was declared the winner. The whole day, though sometimes hectic, was well rounded off with a delicious feast prepared by Hilda and her helpers. 82