27th January–Away To The Robin Hood

 

“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce” – thus has Karl Marx been misquoted … and yet!!!
We had played the Robin Hood at home last October and suffered a bruising defeat by 30 points. 30 points!!! We couldn’t let that happen again.

Nick was again determined to improve his recent shabby form and Tomo and Bob were second and third in the individual merits respectively whilst Wendy has maintained consistency throughout the season – bring it on!!!

The Robin is a welcoming pub nestling in the hills above Macclesfield that was serving Wainwright’s ale in good form – the team are good-natured and fun-loving and the Lemmings were looking forward to a keen closely-fought game.

The questions had been set by the Wharf and the Harrington B and John from the Wharf officiated as question master. Let the games begin!!

At the end of the Specialist questions a familiar score appeared – the Robin Hood had 63 whilst the Lemmings had mustered just 33 – another deficit of 30 and we were only half-way through!!! Nick and Wendy remained consistent with scores of 0 and 12 respectively.

But we’ve pulled back before and undaunted the Lemmings launched into the General Knowledge questions – only to find that nothing much changed – in fact it got worse as the home team notched up 101 to the Lemmings 51 – increasing the lead by 50 and an unprecedented victory by 80 points!! 164 to 84!!!

Individual scores were Bob 6/12, Wendy 12/6, Nick 0/9 and Tomo 3/12; conferred points were 10/10 with just 2/2 pass-overs. The home team gathered an impressive 6/16 pass-overs.

No armadillo questions noted (although other teams may do so) and there are no complaints about the questions – in fact we thought they were pretty good – it was the Lemmings answers that were rubbish.

The evening was rounded off with an excellent selection of sandwiches with chips – many thanks to the Robin Hood, the team and to John for his good natured question-mastering.

The Lemmings then set off into the cold dark night deep in thought as they threaded their way back to town.

Plate Quarter Final 20th Back At The British Flag

 

Once again, the Lemmings were back at the British Flag, this time in the quarter finals of the Plate knockout competition.

Last week’s competition was a very close finish with the Flag staging a very good comeback in the General Knowledge questions – and there are no Specialist rounds in the knockout competitions.

The scene was set on arrival to a chorus of We’ll Meet Again and cries of Deja vu and a very pleasant evening followed, in the same spirit as the previous week.

The light and hoppy beer of the previous week (actually called Hobgoblin but brewed by Robbies, not the Wychwood variety) had been replaced by a ruby red Voodoo Dawn again showing how Robbies are breaking out of the mould.

The questions had been set by the Bate Taverners and the Park Taverners and were very evenly balanced. There were quite a few classical music questions that work to the Lemmings’ strengths but former Prime Ministers’ residences gave rise to much head-scratching.

The Lemmings took two of the first three rounds with narrow margins leading by 56 to 51 at the half-way stage. The next three resulted in one draw and one narrow win for the Lemmings but also a very fortunate round that the Lemmings won by 10 points giving a final score of 116 to 97.

Once again, the game was held in good spirits with jokes and laughter, no nominations for the 9-banded armadillo trophy and another supper of excellent sandwiches. Many thanks to the landlord, the team and to Grenville the question master.

January 13th–Away to the British Flag

 

This was to be a tough one – the two teams sharing the top spot separated only by over 80 scored points to the Flag’s advantage. At the first meeting the Lemmings had scraped through by five points. Moreover, Nick was out to prove a point by improving on his recent appalling form – he set himself a modest target of reaching double figures – the team held their breath in trepidation. Moreover his son was there to monitor developments – a lot to lose!!

The pub is owned by Robinsons and has held a good reputation for the condition of its beers for many years and this was no exception – in fact there was an excellent hoppy light beer on that we’d not seen before (but have forgotten what it was called!!!). The team are old adversaries and good friends and the evening was spent in good spirits. One question in particular (56 in the General Knowledge) gave Bob the opportunity to tell one of his favourite jokes – that if the cat had been going the other way Percy Shaw would have invented the pencil sharpener.

The questions had been set by the Knot ‘Arf , old friends again, and covered a wide variety of subjects including the latest additions to the Oxford English Dictionary (neologisms)– but in fact the scoring on both sides was very low, and several rounds passed with no or just one 3 being scored. At the end of the specialist rounds, the Lemmings had slipped ahead with 53 to 38 – a lead of 15!! In the General Knowledge, the Flag fared rather better and steadily ate into the Lemmings’ lead  taking those rounds with 78 to 66.

Nick’s ambitions were demolished throughout the evening – usually very cautious and quick to confer, he was determined to score on the night – and threw away valuable points on several occasions leaving his team open-mouthed at his wrong answers – he equalled his personal worst!!

Final score was 119 to 116 in favour of the Lemmings – a very narrow victory that could so easily have gone the other way

Individual points were Bob 9/15, Wendy 9/6, Nick 0/6 and Tomo 18/12; conferred points were 7/16 with 10/11 pass-overs. The Flag collected 7/16 pass-overs.

Finishing with a fine selection of sandwiches many thanks to the landlord and to the team for a very pleasant evening.

6th January - Away to the Nag's Head

 

The second half of the season starts after the Christmas break and the first game is against the Nag’s Head who gave us a very close game in the first leg.

It is a welcoming pub built for the market trade as it stands opposite the former cattle market and with its many rooms and three floors would have provided accommodation for herders and farmers that had brought their sheep and cows for sale. There is an excellent history of the pub in Paul Wreglesworth’s Volume 2 of The Pubs And Breweries of Macclesfield – Nick’s favourite is the crowds of unemployed silk workers who gathered outside to hear the fiery speeches of their leaders. Now owned by Robinsons’ brewery it is showing the improvements made by the new brewer, with two guest beers (admittedly brewed by Robbies) in addition to the normal Unicorn and the very reliable Dizzy Blonde. (Isn’t it odd that I can buy Robbies’ beer in London freehouses, but can only get Robbies in a Robbies pub).

 

The questions can be found here .

An embarrassing start to the quiz was Nick mishearing round 2 as Missing Bowels – an alarming image sprung to mind not helped by mishearing the explanation “Just Consonants” as Continents!!

The Specialist rounds saw the lead swing from one team to the next until the Lemmings scraped through with 65 points to 59. The General Knowledge questions were perhaps over-loaded with sport but unusually worked to the Lemmings’ advantage as they finished with 81 to the Nags’ 61, a final score of 146 to 120.

Individual scores were Bob 9/15, Wendy 12/18, Nick 3/6 and Tomo 21/12; conferred points were 10/20, pass-overs 10/10 whilst the home team collected 4/7 pass-overs.

The evening was rounded off with an excellent supper of chicken nuggets, chips and bread and butter – many thanks to the landlords, the home team and to Heather the question master who controlled the game with patience and a light touch