26 January–Home to the Dolphin.

The Lemmings started the second half of the season with a home game against the Dolphins – on the previous occasion the Lemmings had lost by over 20 points and were hoping to do much better this time, lifting themselves from the bottom of the table.
The questions had been well vetted, only one being challenged: “Which county cricket team plays its home games at New Road” with the given answer Leicestershire (Q2 in Sport) – in fact the answer should be Worcestershire and the setters became the bête noir of the evening. But in fact, the error crept in at the vetting stage when a question already asked recently was removed and replaced with this one.
The evening was not without humour, in particular in relation to the refining of pig iron (Q33 General Knowledge) – the Dolphins helpfully explained that it entailed extracting slag from the pig iron; Bob replied “Keep tarts and cops out of this” to general merriment.
The Lemmings got off to a good start winning the Specialist rounds with 65 points to the Dolphin’s 58 – things were looking up!!
But things then returned to normal and the slender lead was eaten into until it gradually disappeared into the the Dolphin’s maw as they took the General Knowledge rounds with 96 to the Lemmings’ 75. Final score 154 to 140 to the Dolphin – a smaller gulf than our previous meeting but enough!!
Individual scores were Bob 15/18, Wendy 15/21, Nick 9/3 and Tomo 12/15 – conferred points were 8/15 and 6/3 pass-overs. The Dolphin picked up- 4/7 pass-overs.

Brian provided a fine selection of filled bread rolls to round off a very pleasant evening with special thanks to him, to the visitors and to Mark who as question master kept a light hand on proceedings with humour.

19th January–Away to the Royal Oak

This was the Lemmings’ first visit and we’d be very happy to return. Following a recent refurbishment it is now a community-owned pub with warm and welcoming staff and four hand pumps including two beers from microbreweries that we’d never heard of –  Bridestones from

Hebden Brtdge, an excellent brew at only 3.9%: and a superb pale ale Man Up  from the nearby village of Timbersbrook where the cause of the dreadful fire is still under investigation.
The game was the half-way point in the competition and it was good to be playing old friends. The questions were different in various ways: the Specialist set by the Plough Horntails broke new ground in many ways, sport in particular, and were very well received; and the General Knowledge had a spectacular history – the Sutton Club were unable to set them for various reasons and the problem was passed to Mark as secretary – but as he was playing on the night he could not do them and asked for help from his former colleagues who produced an excellent set of well-balanced probing questions.
At the end of the Specialist the Lemmings were behind by 14 points (66/52) Nick in particular having had a difficult run; the Lemmings fared rather better in the General Knowledge winning by 83 to 79 but insufficient to take the game losing 145 to 135.
Individual scores were Bob 15/15, Wendy 9/12, Nick 3/21 and Tomo 12/15 conferred points were 12/11 with 1/9 pass-overs. The home team collected 6/9 pass-overs.

The evening closed with an excellent selection of very tasty sandwiches – many thanks to the the landlords whom we wish the very best of luck, to the home team who are always a pleasure and particularly to the non-League question setters who did a remarkable job.

12th Jan Cup/Plate Quarter Finals

“Tradition is a guide and not a jailer.” 
― W. Somerset Maugham
 
The Lemmings had been knocked out of both competitions and only had to supply one question master for the quarter finals so they took the opportunity to ask at the Waters Green Tavern and combine it with a social evening; this meant breaking with tradition and  rotating the question master, probably something of a first.
A further break with tradition came with Manchester United scoring three goals (against Newcastle United - thanks are due to Sunil for following the game and keeping us informed); unfortunately they returned to form and only managed a draw despite being ahead most of the game.
But these unusual happenings were cast into the shade by a much more unusual event in the game between the Park Taverners and the Wharfies: towards the end of the game some chancer (neither a quizzer nor a regular) tried to rob the till!! the barman stopped him despite being threatened with a knife threw him out, then phoned the police. One would think that was enough excitement for one night, but when the police arrived they closed down the pub as a crime scene and both teams along with other customers were thrown out!! Showing much ingenuity the teams and question master decamped about 30 yards to Last Orders, a very different establishment, and finished the quiz in considerable discomfort. The first time a quiz has been held in two venues!!


Being the question masters I’ve not commented on the questions other than to say they were varied and interesting with little dissent from the two teams.

A very pleasant evening finished with an excellent cheese board – many thanks to both teams and to Brian for the supper.

5th January home to the Ox-fford C

After the excitement of Christmas the Lemmings gathered for the first time in some weeks to face the Ox-fford C. For some it had been more exciting than others – Nick had booked a hotel in the Trough of Bowland  to avoid cooking and stress; unfortunately the hotel was surrounded by flood water by Boxing Day and several roads closed.It was a pleasure to welcome the Ox-fford C team whose questions we had enjoyed in our last game; it was an evening with no 
distractions from the ladies’ darts, football or anything else (except for Nick’s sudden attack of sneezing brought on by the hops) so the question master Rosalie from the Royal Oak had a relatively easy ride which she conducted with good humour.
The questions the Lemmings liked very much as they had clearly been given a lot of thought and introduced some new ideas into the format; in particular it was interesting to learn that The Fisher King is more than a Robin Williams film; even so, the Lemmings still struggled, losing the Specialist rounds with 60 to the visitors’ 77.
Often the Lemmings have made up a deficit in the General Knowledge but the visitors maintained their superiority (with the same proportion actually 0.78) taking the rounds with 109 to 84. Final score 186 to 144 for the Ox-fford C.
Individual scores were Bob 12/6, Wendy 6/21, Nick 12/21, Tomo 18/21 conferred 9/12, pass-overs 3/3; the visitors picked up 5/5 pass-overs.

Another enjoyable evening rounded off with a splendid cheese board with baguettes and salami. Many thanks to Brian, to the visitors for an entertaining evening and to Rosalie for her patience.