Bishop Lyons

Every year students at Catholic secondary schools in Canterbury compete in public speaking for the Bishop Lyons Shield.

It was established by Bishop Lyons in 1947, who was the Bishop of Christchurch at that time. The competition is between the seven Catholic secondary colleges in the Christchurch diocese and victory is highly coveted. The event involves Debating, Prepared Speech, Impromptu Speech, Scripture Reading and Religious Questions. Not only is the competition intense and the standard superb, it is also a wonderful opportunity for the young Catholic men and women, and also staff, from the competing colleges to socialise. 

It dates back to 1945 and St Bede’s College has had a fine tradition of success in this competition, being the overall winners of the shield 24 times and most recently in 2010 and 2013.

Congratulations to the following 2013 team members:
Tom Koko – Impromtu speech
Rahul George, Ben McGuire and Chris Cooper – 2nd senior debate
Will Chambers – 1st senior prepared speech
Tim McGuire – 2nd junior prepared speech
Aaron Poulter – 1st scripture reading
Leon Borcoskie, Matt Jones and Sam Pitcaithly – 1st religious questions. The team was captained by Jack Boyle and there were a number of supporters who also played their part.

2013 Shield Winners

Will Chambers (left), Tim McGuire (right)