Hitting below the belt is an art form, and very much expected, at the annual Wingham Probus Club versus Wingham High School annual debate.
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This year’s debate, held at the Wingham Memorial Services Club on Wednesday, August 22 held to tradition, but with fewer insults and groin hits than is usual in these affairs.
It was the 12th year of the annual debate, and the adjudicators once again awarded Probus the win, bringing the tally to nine wins for Probus, and four wins for Wingham High School.
Watch the highlights of the debate:
The topic for debate was ‘The name of the game is blame’ with Probus arguing the affirmative, and the high school team the negative.
Arguing for the affirmative were Robyn Gibson, Bill Beech and Eric Penfold with Helen Brown as team advisor. Arguing for the negative were year 10 students Georgia Hudson, Jim Byrne and Dimity Bartlett with Eliza Baker the team advisor.
The adjudicators were Wingham High School English teacher, Gary Dunbier and ex-Probus member Alan Hughston.
The usual insults about “old people” were slung from the school team to the Probus team, though they were light in number this year.
Much was made, by both sides, of Donald Trump as a blame game player, with the negative adding Barnaby Joyce to the mix.
The affirmative team concluded their argument by saying if they didn’t win, “it’s not our fault – it’s that of the adjudicators!”
Gary Dunbier performed true to form, bringing much hilarity to his summing up of proceedings.
Julia Driscoll
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
