When former CEO of Dudley Private Hospital Geoff Riley first muted the idea of the Dudley Debating Cup, I’m sure he had no idea of the standard the competition would produce 26 years later.

The debate which is sponsored by Dudley Private Hospital and organized by the Rotary Club of Orange North is a yearly fixture on the club’s calendar. The debate is open to local and district high school students in Years 9 and 10 and in 2018 attracted six teams. This year the preliminary rounds were hosted by Orange High School while Kinross Wolaroi kindly hosted a necessary play-off to decide the second finalist.

The final which was held at the Orange Ex-Services Club was attended by a supportive crowd of Rotarians, parents, visitors and guests. Heather Grant, a former secondary teacher with considerable debating experience had the unenviable task of adjudicating the final between Molong Central School and Orange High School. The topic, ‘That single sex schools are better for students’.

Both schools debated their case extremely well, but in the end Molong Central School was declared the winner. Lin Eccleston, a past university debater herself and debating co-ordinator for the Molong team was thrilled with the success of her team. She applauded the Rotary Club of Orange North for promoting debating in our area and encouraging our youth to have a voice on a wide range of subjects in a world which they will inevitably inherit.

The current CEO of Dudley Private Hospital Paul McKenna had the pleasure of presenting cheques to both teams and the Dudley Cup for 2018 to Molong Central School. He congratulated all the participants on a most entertaining debate and said that Dudley Hospital was keen to continue the tradition of sponsoring and encouraging our local youth in the skills of debating and having a voice in their community.