Gala Dinner Success
29 November 2012
A night of celebrations is a huge success.
On Wednesday 28th November Debate Mate celebrated its fifth birthday in style with a Gala dinner that brought celebrities and city high fliers to the grand and historic settings of Middle Temple Hall.
The historic hall in all its Debate Mate glory.
Guests were welcomed with a champagne reception, steel band and a number of the Debate Mate students who are currently taking part in the core programme.
After the reception guests were treated to a lavish three course meal and took part in a silent auction that saw bids flying around the hall for exclusive prizes that included two X factor final tickets, a signed Arsenal ball and our very own ‘Debate like a World Champion’ workshop.
Following dinner the CEO and founder, Margaret McCabe, thanked guests and said that Debate Mate has been “highly successful over the past five years, and that we can keep growing and my aim is to have a million children involved in ten years.”
Maragret giving thanks and putting forward her future vision.
A live auction took place with the brilliant Nick Nugent entertaining the crowd and inspiring bidders to contest lucrative prizes. An undisputed highlight of the auction was the heated contest to go on a date with Nancy Dell’Olio that eventually went for £4,000!
The night culminated in the eagerly awaited debate, ‘This House Believes it is better to be rich than good-looking.’ Comedian David Baddiel and writer Kathy Lette put forward the argument for the proposition whilst Nancy Dell’Olio and actor Alex Macqueen fought for the opposition.
The debaters preparing before they set the stage alight.
As the debate went on the Elizabethan Hall erupted with laughter as both sides did their best to persuade and convince the captivated audience. After both sides had finished their speeches it was the job of the Apprentice’s Margaret Mountford to ask the audience who they thought had won. As both sides received substantial support it was the proposition that managed to raise the double hammer beamed roof as they were declared the winners.
The Gala dinner ended with admiration for all those who had organised the event for what must be one of Debate Mate’s most successful nights.
Perhaps one of the best statements of the night came from David Baddiel who summed up the importance of Debate Mate when he said ‘Teaching kids who aren’t posh to debate is a brilliant form of English revolution, but without violence.’
Following on from the success of the Gala dinner here is to the next five years of Debate Mate’s English Revolution.
We also managed to get featured in The Evening Standard:
