25 September 2024
The Great Comedy Debate has become a calendar highlight in Warkworth and it’s back for its 15th year on October 12 at the Town Hall.
The event raises essential funds for Harbour Hospice, the region’s only specialist palliative care provider, but organiser Murray Chapman promises that’s the only serious thing about this event.
“It’s all about fun,” he says. “A no-holds-barred battle of wits between two Warkworth Toastmasters teams and two invitation teams of Lions and celebrities.”
This year’s moots are ‘Experience is better than enthusiasm’ and ‘Men are the superior beings’.
Local celebrities Matilda Green and Hayley Holt are arguing the affirmative alongside award-winning international speaker, author and Professional Speakers Association president Monica Moore. They say they have sorted their game plan.
“We can have a lot of fun with this. We’ll probably go with extreme sarcasm,” Matilda says.
This is Matilda’s second year with The Great Debate, after she and husband Art Green formed part of the celebrity team last year.
It was her first time debating, and Matilda says she was surprised by how much she enjoyed it. Art adds, “Matilda was very good at thinking on her feet.”
Matilda and Art, who met on the first season of The Bachelor NZ, moved to Warkworth six years ago and have grown to adore the town and its people.
“The community is honestly second-to-none,” Matilda says. “When we lived in the city we didn’t really know our neighbours.
“But as soon as we moved to Warkworth, I was blown away by the warm welcome we got. And I just love the fact that everyone knows each other. I can head into town and have a catch-up with different people on the street.
“When I had my first child, Milo, I had people that I didn’t even know come and drop off a little something. And I thought, ‘How kind. It’s people just looking after each other and expecting nothing in return’.”
Matilda has a friend who is a hospice nurse.
“And Hospice is such a big part of the Warkworth community. If I can do something to give back then I want to do that.”
For Hayley, who moved to Warkworth with her partner Josh Tito three-and-a-half years ago because they wanted to start a family and live close to her parents, this will also be her second time in The Great Debate.
Hayley was part of the celebrity team in 2017 and relished the experience, made sweeter by the fact her team won. Now a mum to Raven, two, and Kingston, three months, she’ll be preparing for the debate in between feeds and nap times.
Hayley discovered the joys of debating in high school, saying, “I took it seriously. I relished rebutting the other team’s arguments, and I was very competitive!”
Tickets to The Great Debate, sponsored by Barfoot & Thompson, are $35 and are available from Tui House, Harts Pharmacy, Mahurangi Matters and the Warkworth Info Centre.
This story was first published in Mahurangi Matters.
