The Darbyshire Debating Competition was once again a roaring success, which provided a great source of entertainment and consternation for both Upper Fourth and Lower Sixth students. Audiences swelled for each successive round. The students were engaging, passionate, and well-informed in every phase of the competition.
Crawfurd’s team of Allegra Sheen and Paige Chamberlain defeated Raven, Propert, and Murrell to win the Upper Fourth championship on the topic of whether or not Britain should welcome advances in artificial intelligence.
The Lower Sixth teams were asked to debate whether or not one should be optimistic about Britain’s future. Carr’s team of Max Rossi and Calum Hutchinson managed to make a persuasive case for pessimism and won the Lower Sixth championship.
The winning houses, Crawfurd and Carr, will split the prize fund of £250, to be spent on an item for the benefit of the whole House.
What is the history of The Darbyshire Debating Competition?
Old Epsomian, Dr John Darbyshire (Propert 1944-48), has been generously funding The Darbyshire Debating Competition since 2013. The competition consists of inter-house teams from the Upper Fourth and Lower Sixth debating on a given subject. Dr Darbyshire also funds the College’s academic inter-house competition, University Challenge, run along the same lines as the iconic BBC programme.
On leaving Epsom, Dr Darbyshire went on to study at Rhodes, Cambridge and London Universities. He wrote his doctoral thesis in 1963 while working at Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, the world’s oldest agricultural research institution. He retired in 1991 as Head of Microbiology at the Macaulay Institute for Soil Research, Aberdeen.
The College is sincerely grateful to Dr Darbyshire, and thank him for his continued support and generosity
