25th November–The Plate Round 1

 

 

Hello All,

Duncan Disorderley here standing in for Nick for this one as he is in London on secret business. Our fifth man, Tony, stood in admirable. Having lost in the first round of the Cup to the Dolphin the Lemmings settled in for a hopefully long haul starting with the Lamb Shanks as our opponents. The soundtrack to the evening was the efforts of Manchester City to overcome 10-man Bayern Munich and the talk amongst the spectators was which would be the better match – City v. Munich or Lemmings v. Lamb Shanks. Add the fact that Macc were playing Torquay and the heady mix was complete.

Speaking from the experience of many years of Cup and Plate matches, I have to say that this was a tough one. The first round was won 11-7 by the Lemmings. The second round was drawn 10-10 after which the Lemmings managed to maintain leads in each round up until Round Five which the Shanks won 14-10. A preponderance of literature questions was evident throughout the quiz and this worked to the advantage of the Lemmings and stopped the Shanks from creeping up on us too much!

The final result was 74 to the Lemmings and 56 to the Shanks. Thanks to the Lamb team and question master Juliet for a friendly and enjoyable quiz and to Brian for a smashing cheeseboard. So – Manchester City, Macclesfield Town and the Waters Green Lemmings were the winners on the night.

The only small blot on the horizon was a stonking entry for the Nine-banded Armadillo Trophy. Here it is folks:

What did Roy Jenkins replace with a ‘fridge?

Easy, you might think, but neither team got it right. It was a chalkboard on which were scrawled the names of prisoners awaiting execution.

Yes... so did we!

All for now.

18th November–Away To The Bate Taverners

 

This was the first time the Lemmings had visited the Bate Hall since the management changed recently  and it is good to see the the high standards brought in by the previous managers are being upheld. The pub is a very old former coaching inn dating back to at least 1525 and still retains a priest hole reflecting former intolerant times. The Marston’s beer is on top form and the pub has a welcoming atmosphere.

The questions had been set by the Cock-A-2 and the Chester Road Tavern covering a wide range of subjects and it was a very close game with the Lemmings at the end of the Specialist rounds just a nose in front with 53 to the Bate’s 52. There had been some confusion when Nick heard education to be vegetation (Round 3 Q6) and not one of America’s greatest legal decisions.

In the General Knowledge the Lemmings were less successful falling quite a way behind at one stage but eventually managing to claw back the lead with 86 to 82, final score being 139 to the Bate’s 134.

It was an excellent light-hearted game rounded off with a fine selection of sandwiches.

Individual scores Bob 9/24 Wendy 6/24 Nick 9/15 and Tomo 15/12 conferred points 11/12 with 3/8 pass-overs; the Bate picked up 3/9 pass-overs.

Thanks are due to the Bate Taverners, and to the landlords for providing a large room and excellent supper.

11 November–Away to The Park Taverners

 

it was good to meet up again with old friends from the Park Tavern, a brewery-owned pub with a wide range of Bollington Brewery beers. It also has a lively social life with a film night, monthly scibar meetings and its own weekly quiz night.

The Lemmings were perhaps a little over-confident as they gathered in the room that had been set aside for the game. They were top of the League, Bob was first in the individual merits with Tomo not far behind and best of all we had our mascot Rosie. The questions had been set by the Ox-Fford C and covered a wide range of subjects from baking to film – the Lemmings thought they were very good except for one thing – they didn’t know the answers!! Scoring was very low and in the Specialist rounds not one Lemming member managed to get double figures, losing by 64 to 45 – a deficit of 19. In fact in one round (Sport) not a single point was scored and the home team cleaned up!!Even so, the Lemmings had made up similar deficits in the past. But it was not to be – they made up a little ground but the score for the General Knowledge was 82 to the Park’s 76 with a final score of 146 to 121 – a sound thrashing!!

No complaints – the questions were good, no points were thrown away, conferring was good – but the Lemmings were just not good enough – well done the Park Taverners. There was lots of laughter throughout the evening and a generous selection of excellent sandwiches to finish a very pleasant match.

Individual scores were Bob 9/12, Wendy 6/18, Nick 9/9 and Tomo 6/24; conferred points were 11/10 with 4/3 pass-overs. The home team collected 7/14 pass-overs (a story in itself!!).

Well done the Park Taverners and a big thank you to the Park Tavern.

4th November–Away To The Cock-A-2

 

It’s been some time since we faced the Cock-A-2 who moved to the Cock from their old haunt The Castle – always been a tough team to beat and after two consecutive losses the Lemmings were not brimming with confidence. It was interesting to note that the quiz league has now become an international event with American spectators and another supporter listening to Liverpool against Real Madrid.

We found both sets of questions very good although some had everyone scratching their head, in particular the largest lake in Europe  - they were however well balanced and very few did not get a correct answer. It was interesting to learn the name of the inventor of plastIcine!!

Breaking with tradition the Lemmings were ahead at the end of the Specialist rounds with 57 to 46 taking the General Knowledge with 81 to 70. Both Bob and Tomo scoring in the 30’s.

It was a very pleasant atmosphere with lots of laughter, particularly as Bob reminded us of some of his old jokes, and the Robinson’s Dizzy Blonde was on good form.

Individual scores were Bob 15/24, Wendy 9/6, Nick 9/9, Tomo 15/18; conferred 3/16 and pass-overs 6/8. The Cock-A-2 picked up 6/4 pass-overs.

Final score 138 to 116.

The evening ended with a fine selection of sandwiches – many thanks to the Cock and the Cock-A-2 for a most enjoyable evening. Liverpool lost too.