A lively debate, getting competitive, celebrating Richard

The ground rules for the Ashley Debating Society are set and we convene for the first time early next month. Already we are having a debate about the debate and what topic we should use.  The agreed format is that everyone will be told the theme two weeks before the date of the debate and will not know, until the evening, which side of the motion they will take.  That way we don’t run the risk of having no debate because we find that everyone agrees. So after a convivial sausage supper and a glass of wine it will be a thirty minute team effort to share research on the topic and prepare the argument before nominating one person from each team as speaker.  Each side will have ten minutes to present their argument succinctly and concisely (hopefully) before the floor opens to any contribution.  At the end we shall vote.  It looks like it will prove to be quite a hoot from the level of interest shown in the idea so far and as Chairman I get the impression I will have my hands full keeping the (public) house in order.

In the meantime there are the results of the Cambridge Day Out photography competition where I pitch myself against a professional photographer friend.  The images have been shortlisted and anonymised.  Now they will be presented to ten totally impartial, studious and highly qualified individuals to decide the winner.  OK, it’s likely to be ten mates from each side in the pub.  Watch this space for the result!

The rowing course has finished, I am now technically no longer a novice and are entitled to take a boat out on the rowing lake at my leisure.  I successfully got through the ten week course without falling in.  But in this inclement weather it’s impossible to get out on the water, even for an experienced crew and so we have spent our time on the concept 2 rowing machines in the gym in the boat house improving technique and building fitness.  In the 2000m sprint competition today on the concept 2, I finished in a time of 9 minutes 28 seconds.  I was so exhausted I nearly fell off the seat when I stopped. I see the need to push myself a lot harder on the rower at the gym especially as I want to compete as a single sculler for the first time in May. 

It’s been a busy social month so far with a medieval banquet in St Martin’s Great Hall in Leicester to celebrate the finding of Richard III, lots of friends turning out for a New Year’s drinks party at home (where the Cambridge photo competition was hatched and the interest in the debating society confirmed), impromptu supper parties and what has become regular early evening drinks on a Friday at the thriving pub in the village down the road.  And Enterprise Tuesdays in Cambridge have begun again.  Fab.