The Cobbleford Debating Society has voted to stop debating motions, on the grounds that topics are scarce and its own past debates are not. The society, which meets on Thursdays above the old skittle alley, passed the change at its annual general meeting after a discussion of its annual general meeting.

"It was the best-attended debate we have ever held," said the chairman, Mr Gerald Fenwick, who proposed the change and then seconded it from the floor. "People who never come out for the water question came out to argue about the water question."

Under the new format, each speaker receives four minutes to dispute the performance, tone or conclusions of a previous speaker, ideally one from an earlier season. The society's archivist, Mrs Doreen Whitlock, read out the fixtures for the winter: a response to a speech given in spring about the spring speaker's response to the harvest festival debate, and a motion of censure against the seconder of the motion of censure.

The minutes

The difficulty is provenance. The society's minute book for the year of the canal dispute was taken home by a treasurer who has since moved to a distant county, and the debate it recorded is now known to members only through the rebuttal of it, which is itself now the subject of a rebuttal entered for the December meeting.

"Somewhere in there there was an argument about the canal," said Mrs Whitlock. "I have seen people refer to it. Whether anyone made it, I cannot say."

The society briefly considered debating the question of whether an argument had occurred, but the proposal was ruled out of order on the grounds that it resembled a motion. It was instead added to the calendar as a discussion of the ruling, which has been scheduled against a discussion of the calendar.

What happens next

The season concludes with the Cockpit Cup, awarded by a panel of three former winners to the speaker judged to have engaged most thoroughly. Last year's cup was retained by Mr Fenwick for a rebuttal of the panel's own previous ruling on the meaning of the word "engaged". The panel has confirmed the ruling was correct, in a statement responding to its statement.

Applications to join the society are open, and consist of a four-minute critique of the application process. One applicant has already failed it twice.

The society says it is not worried about running out of material. Every debate, it points out, produces a debate.