First Round of the Cup

This week saw the first round of the knock-out competitions Cup and Plate (for those knocked out of the Cup competition in the first full round).

The Phoenix were at full strength and were drawn against the Chester Road Tavern; this is a team we have often met over the years in a friendly pub selling real ales. There is a strong interest in sport in the pub so there are several TV screens to cover various sporting events.

Unfortunately the night of the quiz coincided with two minor events involving Manchester United (against Villarreal) and Celtic (against Aalborg). It would seem that these lesser events were of more interest to the regulars than the quiz and at times audibility was rather difficult.

The questions (see link aside) were set by the Ox-fford C and The Church House Bollington and thought to be of a high standard; the Phoenix managed to win each of the six sets of 20 but only by a narrow margin and the final score of 109 to 83is rather misleading as to how close the two teams were.

A very pleasant evening was rounded off by a selection of tasty sandwiches, black pudding and pork pies. Much appreciated. And although United did not score they go through to the knockout stage of the Champions League.

Puss Heads no Pussy Cats!!

The Puss Heads moved this season to join the Puss Artists at the Puss In Boots pub on the Buxton Road. They are old friends having spent many years at the St Dunstan in Langley before moving briefly closer to town prior to this latest move.

The pub is very comfortable with large rooms and whilst good food is served it does not overshadow the fact that this is a pub; well-kept real ale is on sale (Brains inter al) and the staff are friendly and helpful.

The quiz was hotly contested with questions generally thought to be different and good. The Puss Heads had a small lead at the end of the Specialist rounds (51 to 45) and neither side gave much away in the General Knowledge. However the Puss Heads slowly pulled away with a finishing score of 130 to 111 - worthy winners in a well-fought contest.

Individual scores were Bob 12/9, Wendy 9/15, Nick 6/18 and Tomo 6/6; conferred points (demonstrating good team work) were 6/14 whilst passed-over questions from the home team gave just 6/4. Passovers to the home team gave them 7/7.

Well done the Puss Heads - no complaints - they were good.

The evening was rounded off with a fine selection of sandwiches.

The Phoenix Rises

Despite having good scores, the Wonderers narrowly missed promotion last season; undeterred, they gave notice of intent with a change of name to the Waters Green Phoenix.

Then if there is no promotion this season they will drown their sorrows with beer from the brewery of the same name.

They started well with two home games each with excellent support from a reserve.

Game 1 was against The Baths, old friends and adversaries with a lot of experience in the League. This was a taut and highly contested game with what are generally thought to be very tough questions set by The Knot and Chester Rd Tavern (see link at right). The Phoenix were a nose ahead at the end of the Specialist rounds, but The Baths came back fighting hard and the final result was a narrow victory to the Phoenix with 111 points to 108.  It is good to report that three of the team scored 21 points each and 27 valuable points were scored with conferred questions. Just 16 were passed over.

 

Game 2 was again against a familiar team from The Cock at Henbury with both sets of questions set by the Harrington Academicals generally thought to be very good. Again the scores were very good with Bob getting 36, Tomo 30, Wendy 24 and Tony 21 – final score 155 to 111. Coincidentally conferred points were again 27 with 17 passed over to The Cock.

New Season 2008/9

As the cold winds and heavy rain of the summer gave way to the darker, colder winds and heavier rain of autumn mysterious figures shuffled out of the bleak, black night of Macclesfield into the welcoming arms of the Weavers. Yes the Macclesfield Quiz League was shuffling off the sloth of summer and getting into prime condition as the AGM heralded the start of another season.

First off was the Plate final which pitted the Principals against the Knot – the former is a long-established team with a healthy record in the A League for many years whereas the Knot have had a remarkably strong first season coming top of the C League winning promotion to the B League and getting to the final of the Plate.

As usual the question master was Rick Davies who conducted the question with a fine blend of authority and humour.

The Knot put up a spirited performance but in the end the experience of the Principals won through.

I hope to publish the questions at a later date.

All was not bad news through the summer – once again the Wonderers had their annual end of season party celebrating with Indian food, music by Steve and Tomo’s miraculous conjuring tricks. As usual Nick had chosen one of summer’s few fine days (well in advance!) and the team’s numbers were swollen by friends.

To greet the new season and express their intentions, the team will be known as the Waters Green Phoenix (we can always fall back on the name of the brewery!)