The Plate Final!!

 

Rosie the missing mascot!!

Hello there.

DUNCAN DISORDERLEY here, making a guest appearance because Nick had swanned off on holiday leaving his Waters Green Phoenix team-mates to cope as best they could in the Plate final.

I can’t say I was happy when Nick rang me. I retired from this reporting game ages ago and he still hasn’t paid me for last time. I was not having a very good morning anyway. I’d just heard that my old friend Charlie, who had always said that he wanted to die under the wheels of a steam-train finally went and did it. We are all a bit sad but not Charlie – he was chuffed to bits. Then a man came to the door and asked if he could come in and talk about my carpets. I thought “Bloody Hell, that’s all I need – a Jehoover’s Witness!”

Anyway, I goes over to the Weaver’s to do my report and it turns out that the opposition was the Harrington Arms. Now I haven’t been in there since the days of the old lady – can’t remember her name but she had a part-time job push-starting jumbo jets at the airport. Face like a bulldog chewing a wasp and wanting to know what the hell you were doing in her pub. Never went there again, though I believed
things have improved. I hear that they’ve even changed the 15watt light bulbs for 40watt!

Then there was the question master, a guy called Rick Davies who did very well with his impersonation of that guy who used to do quizzes on telly who had an IQ of 300 and green pubic hair – Bamber Grassgroin.

The Tavern team looked a bit lost without their spiritual leader who was no doubt getting very spiritual in Norway at the time. There was “Tommo” Thompson who is a well-known magician I believe, but not so good at business. He was the one who founded a website called origami.com but it folded after a week. Steve Berwick was
telling me he was going to release a single soon which is bound to be a hit. Watch out for it, it’s called “I Used To Kiss Her On The Lips But It’s All Over Now.” Wendy Brown is still in denial about having been the 1972 All-Merseyside Ladies Freestyle Wrestling Champion, and was feeling some pressure as she had forgotten to bring the team mascot, her dog Rosie. Then there was Bob Langstaff, who, if I remembered rightly from the last quiz I saw him in, reckoned that Wat Tyler is a bathroom design magazine.

The quiz started OK but scores, I have to say, remained suspiciously close. This was still the case after three rounds and as I glanced round the room I could see the fear in the eyes of the Committee. Results fixing is all over the newspapers and everyone was fearing the worst. I listened carefully to some of the hushed comments from the audience – “It’s a bit bloody close”; “It’s your round”, “Give us a crisp” “What’s the football score”, etc. Then someone reported that there was a Bookmaker from Pakistan in the other Bar and he was immediately detained. It turned out that he wasn’t a bookmaker from Pakistan, he was a Book-keeper from Patricroft, so he had
to be placated with a double brandy and allowed to continue watching his football match.

That was about the end of the excitement. Things went a bit downhill for the Tavern – the “eternal bridesmaids” - and they eventually lost…

I thought the questions weren’t too bad, and the Tavern got the best of them anyway, so I have to congratulate the Harrington (bastards!). Forty watt light bulbs obviously concentrate the mind. The questions weren’t to everyone’s taste though. When I was
taking a farewell pee the guy next to me said “There’s nothing like a good quiz, and that was nothing like a good quiz.” But I am mentioning no names, so your little  secret is safe with me Robin.

QUIZ PARTY

 

Although the start of the quiz season is still some months away, the spirit is kept alive by the Waters Green Phoenix who hold a party every year. The origins go back to the team’s promotion to the A League some years ago, followed the subsequent year with a party to celebrate relegation back to where we belong. Mid table mediocrity has been the reason for subsequent parties.

Nick’s home was the venue and refreshments were a wide selection of Indian dishes and a magnificent Thai starter kindly provided by Maliwan from her restaurant. Two barrels of beer kept the atmosphere lively for which we are indebted to Brian the owner of the Waters Green Tavern.

Steve (wearing stetson) brought along his guitar and entertained with a selection of songs soon to be joined by John with his squeeze box and Nathalie on guitar and even a mandolin played by neighbour Peter.

Bob the grand old man of the team (but by no means the oldest) read from his book Untold Tales of Rainow ending with the now forgotten BR slogan We’re Getting There:

Boadicea

The Queen of the Iceni nation

lay underneath St. Pancras Station

proud and serene, she lay in state

still –waiting for the 12.08

Two fearsome daughters and their Mum

had come to sack Londinium.

they'd done the job and had a feast

and all-triumphant, headed East.

The Queen consulted her adviser

which form of transport was the wiser?

"My Queen", he said, "we're sitting pretty-

just put your trust in Inter-city!"

Her chariot of gold was sped

down to St. Pancras engine shed.

She checked the times and bought a seat,

first-class return to Watling Street.

The hours passed, she lost her daughters

who'd wandered off in search of porters.

The Queen, her ladies, and her men

were never to be seen again.

The centuries they came and went

until some antiquarian gent

whilst studying her erstwhile race

confirmed the old Queen's resting place.

B.R., with keen anticipation

decided on an excavation.

This find would guarantee their fame-

they'd even have a change of name.

They'd call it Boadicea Station

the latest travellers sensation!

The crowds would flock from near and far

to the "Scythe and Chariot Burger Bar'.

They dug beneath the London clay

and found where Boadicea lay.

Around her head, a golden band,

a London Saver in her hand.

The station-master, passing by

came to look, and gave a cry.

'Dear dear" he said "now don't you worry

we'll have this sorted in a hurry.

We've cleared the blockage on the line,

the train will leave at half-past nine

and as you've had a lengthy wait,

we'll only charge you off-peak rate".

The dig had been a huge success

with lots of pictures in the press.

They took her from her hallowed ground,

she left her grave, museum bound.

The Queen of the Iceni nation

has now moved three miles from the station.

Two thousand years, but don't despair –

with British Rail - WE'RE GETTING THERE.

Tomo delved deep into the future with his tarot cards and all the food, all the beer and many bottles of wine were all finished by the end of the evening.

Many thanks to all who attended and a special thanks to Neela who worked very hard to produce the food, to Brian and Tracey for their support throughout the year, to Maliwan and to friends who came from London to attend. And perhaps most of all to Marion who had to put up with Nick’s stress-induced temper in the preparations for a hugely succesful event.

East Cheshire Hospice Quiz

 

Whilst not a fixture of the Quiz League, some of the Phoenix took part in the annual East Cheshire Hospice quiz, where several familiar faces were spotted.

It was a very good quiz drawn up by two members of the League; teams were limited to 8 but as 10 people from the Tavern and their friends and family had volunteered, two teams of five were set up: Quiz Team Aguilera (gerrit?) and Nick Clegg’s Horse Trading Company. Whilst it was strictly for fun, there was naturally friendly rivalry between the two teams, with Quiz Team Aguilera keeping a slender lead until the last round, but the questions fell right for the horse traders and the two teams eventually ended up with a dead heat – but not the winners. From memory I think they were 7th out of 40.

There were the usual blunders – and as usual it was Nick who made them. He insisted that “I wandered lonely as a cloud” came from Intimations on Immortality and the team foolishly accepted this – at least the poet was right!; but revenge was sweet when the team refused to accept his answer of Nadia Comaneci but probably because they could not spell it.

It was a most enjoyable evening with supper thrown in (including chips!!!) and we look forward to next year’s quiz.

For the moment it is on to the 18th July

The Other Cup Final

 

Brushing aside the offer of using Wembley’s impossible-to-stand-on pitch the Macclesfield Pub Quiz League opted to use the cavernous bar of The Weaver for the Cup Final. The last gasp of the 2009/10 season, this was the final of the knock-out competition for the two teams who had been victorious throughout the season (there is also a Plate competition for teams knocked out in the first round that might be expected to go further but had the misfortune to come up against one of the strongest teams).

For the second year running, the competing teams were the Dolphin and the Ox-Fford C. All teams in all Leagues had been asked to submit questions that had been selected by Graham of the Weaver and John of The Castle for the night.

There was a healthy turn-0ut for the event with most teams being represented and the quiz started in an expectant atmosphere. Once again Rick Davies was the question master showing his light touch and humourous asides ably assisted by Alan Sherratt keeping time.

Many questions had the competing teams and audience scratching their heads but they were fair and balanced and a good selection for the last game of the season.

The eventual result was Dolphins 106 to the Ox-Fford 97 after a closely fought contest.

The quiz was followed by the trophy awards for the season and an appeal to all present to try to engage other pubs in the area that have weekly quizzes but do not participate in the league.

A great end to a magnificent season due in no small part to the secretary Mark and the committee.

After a summer of padding the streets on Tuesday nights with nothing to do the League will start the next season with the Plate final (in which the Phoenix will be taking part) and the AGM.

Well done the Dolphins, well done Mark and the committee and we look forward to meeting old friends and adversaries next season.

Home to the Horntails

 

The Phoenix were buoyant turning out for the last game of the season: playing at home, no distractions from other activities (darts etc), the best beer in town and sitting joint second behind the Knot. A win tonight with a good score against the Horntails who were facing relegation could mean promotion to the A League – a long-held ambition. We had lost when we played the Horntails on the first leg but we then had a soggy beer mat playing for Wendy; Wendy was now with us – BUT she had not brought the team mascot Rosie. Nevertheless we were hungry with ambition.

The Specialist questions had been set by the Horntails’ sister team the Plough Taverners and were quite original with a good spread for most topics. Scoring was a bit slow for the Phoenix and at the end of the Specialist they were trailing by just two points with 51 to 53.

The General Knowledge questions, sealed since January when the snow meant the games could not be played, had suffered with the passage of time and many of the original questions had since been asked, so wisely they were allowed to revise the questions. This held no problems for the Phoenix who usually pull up from behind on the General Knowledge questions – sadly this was not to be – at the end of this set of questions they were behind by another 10 points 56 to 66. This meant that they lost 119 points to 107.

No complaints – we marked the questions highly, there were no wild guesses and points wasted – just that on the night the Horntails were the better team. So no promotion this season but as Hemingway said “You know what makes a good loser? Practice”.

Individual scores were Bob 12/9, Wendy 6/12, Nick 9/3, Tomo 9/15 conferred points were 10/12 and passovers 5/5; the Horntails picked up 5/13 passovers.

A great game with lots of fun and laughter, a superb season and we’re looking forward to the Plate finals and another great season in the autumn.

The Knot will now go up to the A League and we wish them every success tinged with sadness – they’re a great team.

Well done the Horntails, and many thanks to Brian and Tracy for their support over the season and an excellent selection of sandwiches.

17th March – Question Masters

 

This penultimate game of the season saw the Phoenix asking the question in the B League having set the General Knowledge set. The only game outstanding now is the postponed game from the snowy depths of winter when most teams were unable to tunnel out of their homes to get to the venues.

Positions in the League are very tight – at the start of the evening, the Phoenix were top of the League with 20 points but only ahead of the Church House Bollington because of total game points scored, and the CHB had a game in hand.

Also with a game in hand were the Knot on 19 points and the British Flag on 18 points; and still in the running were the New Castle and The Albion so the tussle for 4th place in the Premier league looks rather small beer compared with the mighty conflict in the B League of the Macclesfield Pub Quiz League.

The results of the evening’s games are awaited with bated breath and it will also be interesting to see how our peers viewed the questions on the night.

Home To The New Castle

Our opponents this week are old friends who were sorely missed last season when they sojourned in the A League – this season they have been tussling with the Phoenix to reach that coveted 1 or 2 position for promotion.
This was the last game of the season for the Phoenix (except for the postponed fixture) and much hung on the result. The Ladies’ Darts team were not playing  so the game took place in a comparatively monastic atmosphere.
This was to be a game with some firsts: the questions  had been set by The Nags Head and set off well, the first few rounds being well received but they then sagged into trivia mode; the Phoenix generally got less than their usual scores and Nick had a first – 0 in the Specialist and just 3 in the General Knowledge. A personal worst hopefully never to be repeated. In fact the fist question he answered was Q51 about Belle De Jour the high-class prostitute, which perhaps tells us something about him. Consequently the scores for the questions were very low – another first.
The question-master from The Knot also scored a first – he had not done it before! He coped very well.
At the end of the Specialist  the Phoenix had nudged ahead with 52 to 38, but the New Castle fought back hard in the General Knowledge that eventually finished  with equal points 62 to 62. Final score 114 to 100.
Individual scores were Bob 15/12, Wendy 12/15, Nick 0/3 Tomo 12/12, conferred 8/11 and passovers 5/9. The New Castle picked up 5/9 passovers too.
As always with the New Castle it was a very cheerful evening with much laughter rounded off with a huge tray of sausages with onions and bread and butter. Many thanks Brian and Tracey and to the New Castle for a pleasant evening despite the questions.

Home to The Pack Horse Bowling Club

 

This was the return leg of the League against a team that narrowly beat us when we last met. They are old friends and it was good to come up against them again.

Playing at home has benefits but also some drawbacks; being a very successful pub (and rightly so!!) the Tavern is very busy and this was no different.  A group of young people had gathered to celebrate something or other – no complaints, it is a pub! -  but much credit must be given to the question master Dave from the Plough Horntails who managed to make himself heard whilst at the same time controlling the timing for the questions. Not only that, he had also assumed responsibility for vetting and printing the questions – definitely the star of the evening!

The questions have been described as being a bit  “boys own” (in particular the Specialist) and (perhaps because I have no interest at all in this) I must admit that a round on WWII aeroplanes is a wing too far. But the rounds on musicals and Macclesfield’s history were different and were perhaps to the Phoenix’ advantage. At the end of the Specialist questions the Phoenix had a lead of 57 to 37, and took the General Knowledge rounds 86 to 77.

Individual scores were Bob 15/12, Wendy 6/21, Nick 6/15, Tomo 15/18 conferred points were 5/11 and passovers 7/9. The PHBC picked up 3/10 passovers.

The final score was 140 to 114 after a very pleasant game finished with a selection of fine sandwiches – thank you Brian and Tracey and the PHBC for a great evening.

Lashing By The Knot

This was always going to be tough one - despite some bad luck recently, the Knot were still top of the League and Art was top of the individual scores.
The Phoenix were in second place just one point behind, and with Bob and Tomo both in the top 10 individual scores. Our mascot Rosie (shamefully not credited last week!!) was unable to attend – a bad omen!!
The Harrington Academicals had set the questions that were fine and the questionmaster Graham from the New Castle was firm on timing which has been something of a problem this season.
The Phoenix played with great team discipline and there were no silly answers or points thrown away, but they were up against a very powerful team. Brian for instance scored a remarkable 45 with 18/27. Nevertheless there was much laughter and fun lubricated by the fine ales in the Tavern.
At the end of the Specialist questions the Knot had a lead of 61 to 52, and although the Phoenix fought back hard the Knot won the General Knowledge rounds with 89 to 78, the final score being 150 to 130.
Individual scores were Bob 12/18, Wendy 6/15, Nick 9/9 and Tomo 12/15; conferred points were 9/16 and passovers 4/5. The Knot picked up 6/9 passovers.
The Knot seem assured of promotion now having only failed last season because only one team went up – they are worthy of the A League and I don’t think they will come down at the end of the season.
Congratulations to the Knot and all the best next season. It was a great game!!

Thrills – Milan or Waters Green?

We sat down for this game with the knowledge that Manchester United were 1-0 down to AC Milan after only two minutes. But we knew the real excitement was to be in the Waters Green Tavern with the Phoenix playing the Plough Horntails in the semi finals of the Plate.
The questions are arranged in six groups of 20 and as all questions are conferred peer pressure halts any breakaway answers.The Phoenix took a small lead in the first two but scored very badly in the third spending the next two rounds trying to catch up. The penultimate round ended with the Horntails one point ahead and the last round was won by the Phoenix by just one point leaving the score a tie.
Scores for each round were as follows (Horntails score first):
13/17, 10/16, 14/5, 11/16, 18/11,17/18 making the scores 83/83.
As usual, the answer to the tie breaker was a finger in the air job and the Phoenix just managed to clinch it. A very exciting game and although one or two of the questions caused some discussion it was played in good spirits rounded off with a selection of sandwiches from Brian and Tracey.
Oh, and United won 3-2 with Rooney playing a blinder. David who???

AROUSAL AT THE PLOUGH

 

The Plough Taverners are old friends with a long history in the League. This was the second leg playing away from home.

Sadly Wendy was ill with bronchitis and could not make it, but Steve was on one of his very rare Tuesdays off and was able to step in as substitute at short notice.

The questions by the Lamb and the Church House Bollington were fine and very much the sort the Phoenix like, although there were some raised eyebrows. When Nick was asked “What is the common name for acetylsalicylic acid?” had answered with a confidence bordering on manic “Viagra”!!! (Should be aspirin). This led to a theme for the rest of the evening of ribald jokes (“so that’s why it doesn’t work!! etc etc). Steve rose in everyone’s estimation by scraping “The High Chapparal” from the inside of his skull.

At the end of the Specialist rounds, the Phoenix led by 61 to 52 and found the General Knowledge also to suit their interests, with Tomo continuing his streak of scores over 30.

Individual scores were Bob 9/9, Steve 18/9, Nick 12/15 and Tomo 15/18; conferred points were 4/11 and passovers 3/11.  The Taverners picked up 5/14 passovers. Final score 134 to 101.

It was a most enjoyable game with lots of laughter and fun expertly handled by the questionmaster Ed from the Church House Bollington all rounded off with a very generous massive platter of chips with bread and butter.

Thank you The Plough and Wendy – get well soon.

Stonewalling at the Flag

 

Playing away this week at the British Flag, a well-established Robinson’s pub beloved of sports fans because of the large screen. Hull’s draw against Chelsea on the night did not intrude into the quiz but brought cheer to the Manchester United supporters. The sole ale, Unicorn, was in good condition.

The Phoenix were still licking their wounds following defeat last week largely due, as Tomo pointed out on Facebook, to not following “team rules” – a three-line whip tonight!!

Following last week’s defeat the Phoenix had slipped to 4th in the League and the Flag were just two points behind but with a game in hand – an important game.

The questions were pretty good but there were no big scores in the Specialist subjects except for Tomo whose orange juice fuelled brain clocked up 15 points. Nick on the other had had scored nothing at all by the last specialist round, and was so anxious to break his duck that he broke ranks and gave a wrong answer – when a moment's thought would have given the correct one!! Custer’s first name, for chrissake!!!

At the half-way point the Phoenix were trailing 51 to 46.

The General Knowledge questions were more to the Phoenix’ liking and they slowly clawed back into the game with no further transgressions eventually finishing with a slight lead – 124 to 136.

individual scores were Bob 9/15, Wendy 6/21, Nick 0/15, Tomo 15/12; conferred points were 11/18 and passovers 5/9. The Flag picked up 5/7 passovers.

An enjoyable evening finished with a tasty selection of sandwiches.

Bad News from Happy Valley

 

  It was good to be back upstairs at The Church House in Bollington – the pub has gone through some difficulties but is now firmly back on course having returned to its former owners (the Robinson family) after the Enterprise pub chain allowed it to run down. It is quite an old building dating back to Bollington’s growth as a cotton town and is making a name for itself for excellent food and real ale – the specials board looked particularly attractive last night and the three ales were all on top form, especially the Bearskinfull brewed in nearby Congleton (known locally as Beartown).

This was the return leg of the competition and the Church House were keen to make up for losing the first leg played at the Tavern. The two teams were practically neck and neck at the start of the game sharing second place in the League.

We thought the questions were very good if rather hard and scores were lower than usual. Nevertheless it was a very pleasant atmosphere with lots of laughter and friendly banter.

Special mention must also be made for Jenny from the Albion who acted as questionmaster – in addition to joining in the merriment she was very good on tiimekeeping which comes as a welcome change - recently some teams have taken advantage of sloppiness on the part of the questionmaster to gain extra time to sort out the answer. Well done Jenny!!

At the end of the specialist round the Phoenix were struggling 10 points behind (38/48) but began to make up lost ground until at the end of the penultimate round they had a slight lead. But then their luck changed with the final round which just did not go their way. Although they won the general knowledge rounds by 70 to 67 the final score was 115 to 108 to the Church House. Congratulations and thank you for a most entertaining game.

Individual scores were Bob 6/15, Wendy 3/12, Nick 3/6 and Tomo 6/9; conferred points were 13/16 (good teamwork ) and passovers 7/12 – the Church house picked up 6/11 passovers.

A very pleasant evening ended with a generous selection of chinese chicken wings, meat pies, sausage rolls and well-filled sandwiches – thank you to the Robinsons and well done the Church House.

QUARTER-FINALS – HOME AGAINST THE COCK

 

This would be a tough one!! The Cock currently top of the C League, looking for promotion and Jackie heading the individual merits. Fortunately we were on our home turf with an outstanding selection of real ales to fortify the mind.

The selection of ales has made the Tavern a very popular venue and it is busy every night; but this time the numbers were swelled by football fans watching the Manchester derby (City playing United in the Carling Cup) and the Ladies’ darts team playing at home. It must be said this had its drawbacks as the visitors (in particular) had difficulty hearing the questions.

With a couple of exceptions the questions were very good (objections were raised to questions that required two answers) and it was a very close game. Before the last set of 20 questions the Cock were ahead by just 3 points with 74 to 71 and it all hung on the last round. Split up into the six groups of 20 questions the scores were (the Cock results first as the guests):

16/14, 11/18, 14/14, 12/15, 21/10 – the final round score was 12/19 and the Phoenix won by a whisker (86/90).

Sadly the tensions generated by the close competition and noise problems meant that the game lacked the fun and laughter we usually enjoy - challenges to the questionmaster’s scoring always create bad feeling.

But the beer was excellent and went down well with the fine selection of sandwiches offered by Brian and Tracey.

Hard luck the Cock – it was  a great contest!!

"Albion rose from where he labour'd at the Mill " - Blake.

The Albion Hotel stands close to the deserted mill that was once Hewetsons, a major force in the town. Specialising mainly in embroidery the firm steadily grew from 1898 until it was employing some 1,000 workers at the end of the 'Fifties and was a great influence in the town's football club. It then steadily declined until it finished trading in 1993.
The Albion Hotel dates back to Victorian times and would have seen the fortunes of the mill change over the years. It is a Robinson's pub and the Unicorn bitter was well kept. It is now home to  a quiz team that has followed a similar trajectory over the years but has now settled down to a consistent and strong team that at the half-way point was one of the teams in joint second along with the Phoenix (see link to News & Views at right).
This should have been the second game in the second half but the previous week's games had to be postponed as half the teams were either snowed in or were inaccessible. It was bound to be a tough game - in the first leg The Albion had won by 15 points and John Hargreaves was standing top of the individual merits.
All questions had been drawn up by The Dolphin Dragons and were well received; the Phoenix gained the edge in the Specialist rounds finishing with a slight lead of 53 to 48. In the General Knowledge the Phoenix hung on to the lead with Tomo in particular playing a very strong game. All the questions can be seen here.
Individual scores were Bob 12/12, Wendy 9/18, Nick 15/9 and Tomo 12/18; conferred points were 3/10 and passovers 2/9 - both teams had played a very  close game and the Albion's passovers were remarkably similar at 2/10. Final score was victory for The Phoenix with 129 to 104.
A strong start to the second leg and we look forward to further challenges.

15th December - Questionmasters

                        
This week was the exact half-way point in the Quiz League and whilst The knot were pretty secure at the top of the B League three teams were jockeying for second place - News and Views (see link at right) will carry the details next week.

As the Phoenix had vetted the questions we thought some were hard and some easy but the balance was very good and did not affect the scoring. Al the questions can be viewed here.
We look forward to the second half of the season.

A WELCOME RETURN

This week the Phoenix played away to the New Castle at the half-way point in the fixtures; we have not seen them for some time as they have spent the previous two seasons in the A League so it was bit of a reunion - they are a very pleasant and fun-loving team and it was great to play them again.

Moreover we were playing away at the Castle Inn probably one of the oldest buildings in the town said to have had links to the original castle that stood nearby.It is a beautiful old building with many sectioned-off rooms decorated with brass hangings, beamed ceilings and walls with a warm welcoming atmosphere. The beer is Theakstons, with just the bitter available on the night.

A curious coincidence arose with the questions in that both the Specialist and General Knowledge were set by the two teams from Staffordshire: the Knot who have made a strong impression since joining the Macclesfield League and the Royal Oak enjoying their first season and setting their first questions.

The questions in both sets were challenging and enjoyable; Nick was particularly looking forward to the "Knot Quite In Cheshire" round, expecting questions on Rudyard Lake, Leek and even the revived Knotty (North Staffordshire Railway). Sadly it wasn't like that and he pathetically spent the rest of the evening whingeing that his question had been one on sport!!! They were actually quite difficult with everyone scoring less than usual except Bob who chalked up a storming 33. Individual scores were Bob 12/21, Wendy 9/9, Nick 3/6 and Tomo 12/9; conferred points were 6/14 whilst we picked up 7/12 passovers. The New Castle collected 8/7 passovers. The Phoenix scraped home by just 9 points.


All the questions can be seen here.


The question master from the Knot was Andrew Bogie who joined in the fun and laughter and exercised his judgement with authority.

A most enjoyable evening rounded off with extremely tasty sandwiches - thankyou questions setters, question master, the New Castle and The Castle Inn.

BOWLED OVER

This was the Phoenix' first visit to to the Pack Horse Bowling Club, new home of the peripatetic quiz team that spent some years at The Beehive, then moved to The Baths until that closed down (now reopened with a new quiz team) when they moved here. We very much hope they stay here for many years to come as it is a warm, welcoming place serving well-kept real ale. The team are well-known to the Phoenix as we have had many games together over the years enlivened with humour and good spirits. This was to be no exception.

Again there was a different slant on the specialist questions and whilst playing to the Phoenix' love of real ale and food in two of the rounds at the end of the Specialist the Phoenix were lagging by 12 points.

There was a spirited fight back in the Specialist questions particularly by Tomo who had a great run of 3's
whereas the questions just did not fall right for Nick who scored just 3.

The final score was 139 to 136 - the Phoenix lost by 3 points.

Individual scores were Bob 12/21, Wendy 12/15, Nick 9/3 and Tomo 6/24. Conferred points were 9/14 with 2/9 passovers. The home team collected 6/5 passovers.

A pleasant rounded off with a lovely selection of sandwiches and pork pies apparently provided by the team itself - many thanks.

The questions can be viewed by clicking here

27th November Cup and Plate

The Phoenix were not playing as they had secured a bye to the next round, but they had to provide one question master. The plan was to make it a social gathering in the Tavern but due to various family and work commitments just Nick was left to ask the questions. Fortunately Tomo arrived just in time to keep an eye on Nick and his repeated scoring cockups.
As one set of the questions had been considerably delayed the two sets had not been vetted as was obvious when the questions were read out: there were two questions on China's longest rivers (does anyone know the third longest? It's actually the Pearl river), there were two questions on the British Prime Minister at the time of the Suez War, some questions could have a variety of answers (Fitzroy, who accompanied Darwin on the Beagle did a lot more than give his name to a shipping area and the Met Office) or were incomplete (the Ganges Delta whilst partly being in India, has two-thirds of its extent in Bangladesh where the floods cause most damage).
The questions can be seen by clicking here
The quiz was in good spirits and it was good to see the Phoenix sister team win despite their grumbles. A fine selection of sandwiches rounded off an evening of quizzing and fine ales.

Away to The Knot

Please click here for the questions -
We thought we had seen the last of The Knot when they finished 2^nd at the end of last season (having beaten the Phoenix both at home and away!!) and were eligible for promotion to the A League. But then Fate intervened and as two teams dropped out with just one new team signing up it meant that only the team in first position was promoted. Undeterred by this setback, The Knot have started the season with a great run of 5 wins out of 5 games and are sitting comfortably at the top of the League. Nevertheless the Phoenix made up 30% of the top ten scorers, with Bob, Wendy and Tomo all making an appearance.
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Wendy had volunteered to do the long drive to Rushton Spencer and was very keen to show off the heated passenger seat, despite Nick’s constant anxiety about the effect the warm seat might have on his cold body (he believes putting cold feet into hot water gives chilblains and was drawing uncomfortable parallels …).

The Knot is a large pub originally built in 1853 next to the newly-built station on the North Staffordshire Railway, later a victim to Beeching’s destruction. It offered a warm welcome and a choice of three real ales.

The Specialist questions had been set by the New Castle who were kind enough to send two lovely young ladies as questionmaster and timekeeper. The questions were very well received, with a different slant being given to the five mandatory rounds and inventive questions for the remaining three. At the end of the Specialist the Phoenix were ahead with a score of 67 to 48.

The General Knowledge questions had been set by The Cock and were of uneven quality – some were very easy bog-standard questions and others terribly obscure. At the end of the rounds, the Phoenix had increased their lead with a score of 77 to 68. If there was an imbalance in the questions it was clearly to the advantage of the Phoenix. The final score was 144 to 116 in favour of the Phoenix. I feel it is probably true to say that the Knot had called on their strength in depth and did not necessarily turn out their strongest team - there were dark murmurs of pantomimes etc.

Individual results were Bob 15/18, Wendy 15/12, Nick 12/9 and Tomo 12/18; conferred points were 5/13 and passovers 8/7. Obviously the top three scorers were determined to hang on to their places in the top ten doing so with strong team work as The Knot only picked up 3/5 passovers.

At the end of the quiz the landlord showed why they have built a good reputation as a food pub with a selection of generously stuffed sandwiches.

A very pleasant evening - thankyou The Knot, the team and the landlord.