Wednesday 22 September 2010

This House believes that Portadown is the worst place to live in Northern Ireland

G2 was the setting on Wed 22^nd September for the much awaited first debate of the term.  A number of announcements in assembly and an enthusiastic rally in the canteen from the members of the debating society ensured a good turn out for the debate.  The motion before the house was “This house believes that Portadown is the worst place to live in Northern Ireland”.  It was definitely the battle of the sexes where the proposition team of Anna Wilson and Sarah Mulholland (Year 12) pitted their wit and knowledge against Stephen Clarke and Keir Crozier (Year 13).  Anna got the debate off to a great start emphasising that Portadown had nothing to do for teenagers and had a serious lack of facilities with shopping and leisure facilities threatening to close.  Stephen came back strongly with the point that it was not the worst place to live, you only had to look next door to Lurgan for that!  The debate continued with strong arguments from both Sarah Mulholland and Keir Crozier producing very positive reactions from the floor.  The question and answer session was lively producing very positive reactions from the floor.  The question and answer session was lively and there were some very strong and eloquently worded opinions expressed from the floor.  The motion was voted on and the result was Proposition 26, Opposition 6, Abstentions 2 (including Mr Harper who felt that it was only right to sit on the fence!).  All in all, the debate was a great success and we look forward to the next one in a few weeks.