Through two world wars, a flood and a pandemic, the Aldermere Union has never missed a Thursday. We spent an evening in the chamber.
The motion was "This House would abolish homework", and the chamber was full half an hour before it began. Every Thursday in term the Union debates something - serious or otherwise - under rules that have barely changed since 1871.
Speakers stand at the dispatch box, hold the floor for seven minutes, and may be interrupted only by a "point of information" that the speaker is free to refuse. The President keeps time with a brass bell donated by the Class of 1904.
A training ground
Past members include two prime ministers, a Nobel laureate and, the Union likes to point out, a great many schoolteachers. "You learn to listen to the argument you disagree with," said this year's President, "because you might be asked to make it next week."
