Cup Final 26 April

 

Unfortunately no-one from the Lemmings was able to attend the Plate Final, but if anyone would like to add comments please feel free to do so.

See you next season!!

Two Sad Losses RIP

 

In short order the League has lost two of its most long-standing and prominent members. Not only is this a loss to the Quiz League, but as teachers both made a significant contribution to preparing youngsters and youth in the town to face the world,

Rick Davis will be known to all quiz players even if they never played against him – he was a exceptional question master in the Cup and Plate finals maintaining a firm hand enlightened with quips and comments and demonstrating  a remarkable breadth of knowledge. He was a teacher at Beech Hall school whose pupils thought very highly of him, as can be seen in this article in the local paper. The thoughts of all quiz members go out to his family and friends.

 

I am thrilled to reproduce the article beneath taken from the newspaper Chiang Mai Sixes – Rick had many strings to his bow!! Hope to include more soon.

The other sad loss was Alan Levitt who had played in the league for almost 30 years – I have been given permission to reproduce the address given by Tony Browne, the light touch I feel being just right.

“We have come here this afternoon to say goodbye to a brother, a good friend, ex-colleague and a quizzer.

Alan was born to Hilda and Fred Levitt on 10th July 1952 and lived in Buckingham Street, Hull. Two years later Alan’s brother Mike joined the very close-knit family. Alan attended the local infant and junior school in Crowle Street. During his time here he was a studious and gifted pupil who at the age of 8 joined the Science Club, looking for facts and the understanding of many things. He was the first in the group to know why a flame needs oxygen to burn and why liquid expands. He sat the 11+ and became the first pupil from Crowle Street school to pass and therefore go to Hull Grammar School in 1963.

As a youngster Alan was a very keen train spotter and spent many hours pursuing his hobby. When he started at Grammar school he was delighted to see they ran a train spotting club.He soon joined. A few weeks later he came home and announced that the club were running a trip to York. He didn’t tell the school that in fact he and a mate had travelled the length and breadth of the country train spotting visiting places such as Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Eastleigh, Cardiff, Swindon and Bristol to name just a few.He left the club as he didn’t think they had anything to offer him.

Alan had many interests throughout his life. His first love was of course Hull FC. He would often put people right about the fact that there is only one club called Hull in Hull and that is Hull FC rugby league, the football team is Hull City and the Robins the other side of the city are … well the less said about them the better!! Alan would attend all the home games with his Dad and Mike and go to many of the away games also. He continued his fanaticism throughout his left even recording the Australian rugby league matches and sending them over to Hull for Mike to watch.

Alan’s second love was that of music particularly Bob Dylan, although Bob Dylan and music seem a contradiction in terms to some of us but not to Alan. He had all his recordings and saw him in concert on many occasions. Although his favourites were Dylan, The Band, David Bowie and more recently Natalie Merchant he always had a very wide interest in music. From being a teenager through to his 30’s he amassed an amazing collection of albums. In fact if you had visited him in his flat in Chestergate you would have seen albums from floor to ceiling on all four walls. He had in excess of 30,000 albums!! Most of these he sold for a deposit on his house in Coronation St.,

Duri9nt this time Alan had left Hull Grammar School and gone to Bangor to study theology and trained to become a teacher. In 1975 he took up his first, and only, post at Ivy Bank School. It was a career which would put his love of learning and vast general knowledge, as well as his capacity to see humour in many situations to extremely good use. He was very much loved and respected by staff and pupils alike. During his 30+ years at the school Alan guided the football, tag rugby, cricket and netball teams through many successful seasons winning a number of trophies when sport was allowed to be competitive. He also ran the junior Macclesfield Town football team for a number of years.

During the 1990’s Alan had a spell of visiting many exciting and exotic countries such as China, America, Russia, South Africa and Australia. I think the latter was to watch a number of rugby league games rather than to see the sights.Later these solo trips became holidays with a number of the ladies from the staff of Ivy Bank. They visited various European destinations such as Paris, Nice, Barcelona, Rome and Lake Como. Although everyone looks back on these trips with great love and happy memories Alan would not always want to take it easy and take a trip on a beautiful lake, he would rather see another art gallery or museum.

As I have mentioned already Alan had a fantastic general knowledge and a great thirst for learning. This led him to an interest in quizzes. He had played in the Macclesfield Pub Quiz League for nearly 30 years and was well known for his ability. He was a member of teams that had won both the League and the Cup. He always featured in the top ten individual scores at the end of the season winning it outright on a number of occasions. Alongside the serious stuff of the League he attended many fun quizzes both as a competitor or question master.Here Alan would not only show his great knowledge but also his dry wit and dry sense of humour would come to the fore. He had run a very successful and popular quiz at the Flower Pot on Monday evenings for 25 years. Not an easy task to thin of two different marathon rounds, a picture round, a music round along with 60 general knowledge questions every week!! Monday nights just won’t be the same!!

Finally in recent years Alan had become increasingly absorbed in art and the art world. He attended an art class at Macclesfield Silk Museum for around 8 years during which he displayed exceptional talent. These art classes gave him immense satisfaction and he spent many happy hours perfecting different art techniques and experimenting with different materials. He taught himself digital art and regularly shared his work with fellow art students. He became a member of the Royal Academy of Art and presented work to the Academy for possible display.He regularly visited art galleries around the country to study the work of the great artists.

In July of this year at Macclesfield Sunday School there will be an exhibition of art work produced by “Have a Dabble”, the art group Alan attended and this will include some of his work.

Although Alan is no longer with us and will be sorely missed we will always remember him for different reasons but I am sure we will all remember him for his intellect, quick wit and dry sense of humour.”

They will both be greatly missed and always remembered. May they both rest in peace.

12th April – Home to the Royal Oak

 

The final game of the season was played under a heavy cloud – shortly after the sad loss of Rick Davies , another long-standing player passed away: Alan Levitt of The Weaver, although he had played for sever\al teams over the years. There was added poignancy in that Alan had set several of the questions being asked in this last game. See separate blog.

The Lemmings already knew that they were to be relegated whatever the result and the Royal Oak had an interest in how our sister team the Rams got on.

Throughout the specialist rounds the Lemmings felt they were steadily slipping behind, so much so that Wendy stopped keeping score – it therefore came as a great surprise to find that they were ahead by 52 to 47. They fared less well however with the General Knowledge losing with 74 to the visitors’ 75, but still won by the skin of their teeth with 126 to 122.

Individual scores were Bob 6/18, Wendy 9/15, Nick 6/6 and Tomo 15/15; conferred points 12/11, pass-overs 4/9 whilst the visitors collected 5/11 pass-overs.

Further bad news is that both Tomo and Wendy will not be able to play regularly next season – both have been strong assets in the Lemmings’ team and have regularly appeared in the list of top ten scorers. They will be sorely missed and we hope to keep in touch with them.

We have enjoyed the season and it is a pity that it should end on a sombre note

The evening ended with a magnificent supper of sausages, onions and chips – thank you Brian, and thank you to the Royal Oak team for a great game (whom we hope to see in the summer at Nick’s party) and to Graham Bailey who as question master must have been under emotional stress having lost his team member and friend so recently.

22nd March Away to the Ox-Fford C

 

No jokes or humour this week out of respect for the terrible events in Brussels that morning and also the loss of long-time quizzer and outstanding question master Rick Davies who passed away on Monday.

Results were home team after the Specialist questions 74 to 63, after general knowledge 114 to 62 final score 188 to 125.

Individual scores Bob 12/15, Sunil 6/3, Nick 15/12 and Tomo 15/21 conferred 13/10, pass-overs 2/1 whilst the Ox Fford C picked up 3/12 – again the pass-overs telling a story.

Many thanks to the Ox Fford pub for the chip butties and to the team for  an excellent evening.

Comments still welcome

15th March–Beached by the Dolphin Dragons

 

The Lemmings were at home this week to the Dolphin Dragons with none of the distractions of last week (Mark was more forthright than I was!!) as they settled down to a leisurely game with the friendly Dolphin Dragons. Sunil again stood in for Wendy and whilst expectations of winning were not high the Lemmings were determined to make a fight of it.

The Specialist rounds looked promising from the titles but the Lemmings got off to a worrying start in the first round, only Tomo managing to get a 3 in the Arts and Entertainment; but we thought that was just a glitch – we’d do well in subsequent rounds. But it was not to be – at the end of the Specialist rounds the Dragons had a commanding lead with 50 to 25 – but the Lemmings have made up deficits of that size before in the General Knowledge. But no, the Dragons increased their lead by another 23 points with 70 to 47, final score 120 to 72.

The Lemmings generally take a dim view of blaming a defeat on lack of balance in the questions but it must be said that there were many occasions where one or other of the Lemmings could answer questions put to the Dragons whilst really struggling with their own. This is reflected in the pass-overs .

Nevertheless spirits remained high during the evening and a question about the Grand National gave Bob the opportunity to tell of the couple who were found having sex under Beechers Brook – they asked for 27 other fences to be taken into account.

Individual scores were Bob 6/6, Sunil 0/6, Nick 0/6 and Tomo 6/12; conferred points were 7/10 and 6/7 pass-overs. The Dragons collected 12/13 pass-overs.

The evening was rounded off with very tasty sandwiches including Brian’s remarkable roast beef, many thanks to Brian, to Haydn for his patient question asking and the Dragons for the usual good-spirited game.

8th March Submerged by the Ox-Fford

 

The Lemmings were at home to the Ox-Fford refreshed after being the previous week’s question masters. They were back to full strength Wendy having returned for a short visit before jetting off again next day – there must be something in this retirement lark!! As usual there were other sporting events as a distraction – not ladies’ darts this time, but Arsenal facing mighty Hull and the scandal of Sharapova’s banned substance that she had been taking for a decade with no apparent damage whatever its effect on her stamina. There was however a considerable challenge to the question master from a discussion at the bar which made listening very difficult at times.

The questions had been set by the Dolphin and the Lemmings were very happy to begin with as we thought the first three or four rounds were very good indeed; after that however, they seemed to get much harder and the visitors began to pull away – this is not to say the questions were worse, just harder. The Ox-Fford eventually finished 31 points clear with 81 to the Lemmings’ 50.

The General Knowledge were more consistent and whilst the Lemmings still lost they put up a creditable performance with 82 points to the Ox-Fford’s 98

Individual scores were Bob 9/18, Wendy 12/9, Nick 9/21 and Tomo 12/18; conferred points were 7/11 with 1/5 pass-overs while the visitors collected 8/11 pass-overs – figures that tell their own story. Final score 179 to 132

Hull shared the same fate as the Lemmings but they were only stuffed by 5 the Lemmings by 47; and Maria Sharapova still looks fantastic. But it was a very pleasant and jovial evening rounded off with a fine selection of cheese and biscuits. Many thanks to Brian, the Ox-Fford and the put-upon question master.

1st March– Question Masters

 

Once again the Lemmings were not playing but asking the questions this time. For some weeks this blog has been an excellent forum for the exchange of ideas about balance, obscurity etc. and I feel it proper to say something about the Park Taverners’  questions. To guard against imbalance and so on, they had drawn up a spreadsheet identifying for each question where the player would be sitting  (so they don’t get questions on the same subject twice), whether the questions would be classified as history or whatever (for subject balance) and a rating as to how difficult the questions were. I think this was a remarkable effort and is to be applauded – it certainly showed at the Ox-Fford where the scores were very close. Against this however, they should bear in mind the advanced years of some of the question masters and print the questions in a larger font than last night.

Nick was at the Ox-Fford where there was a battle at the top of the League with the Weaver; the specialist did not suit the Weaver at all but the GK was a much closer battle; the pub has greatly improved with a wider selection of ales and a much brighter ambience – and they make excellent sandwiches.

Wendy was saved a long drive to the Royal Oak which was closed for maintenance, and her battle was held at the Old Millstone – once the centre of the league.

Any reports of something interesting in the other two games will be added later.

23rd Feb Home to The Weaver

 

Refreshed after having the previous week off, the Lemmings bounced into their home venue looking forward to a clash with The Weaver. Sunil was standing in for Wendy and looking forward to a PB whilst the Weaver looked pretty secure in second place in the League. The game clashed with the Arsenal Barcelona football but even the remarkable two goals of Messi failed to inject any excitement into the quiz battle; however one question (GK 71) did initiate a lively discussion about how much tolerance, if any, should be given – in this case, the Weaver answered with gorgon but the given answer was (correctly) Medusa – see Duncan’s comment below. I must stress this in no way detracted from the high standard of the questions.

At the end of the Specialist questions the Lemmings despite their energy and confidence were trailing by 23 points!! They had 45 to the Weavers’ 68 but have been known to make up a deficit in the General Knowledge.

As someone once said “We shall fight with growing confidence” – so, after drinks of Brian’s fortifying ales the Lemmings confidently sat down to make up the deficit. Sadly this was more of the Dardanelles than most other battles and the Lemmings lost the General Knowledge with 65 points to the Weaver’s 114 making the final score 182 to 110. The worst ever defeat for the Lemmings in all their incarnations.

Individual scores were Bob 12/9, Sunil 0/6, Nick 12/9 and Tomo 9/18; conferred points were 8/17 with 4/6 pass-overs whilst the Weavers collected 9/11 pass-overs.

Arsenal lost too

However, the beer was of its usual exceptional standard and was soaked up with a magnificent selection of sandwiches and a superb pork pie – many thanks to Brian, to the Weaver and to the Dolphin who supplied the questions and question master

16th February Cup/Plate Semi Finals

The Lemmings were not involved in either competition having been defeated earlier, the questions are however published - a good variety of questions and it will be interesting to see the results

9th February–Away to the Robin Hood

It was such a pleasant surprise to arrive at the Robin Hood – the car park was full, inside all the tables were full with people dining, drinking, talking  etc. There were three hand-pumps with a good selection of wines, draft cider and a comprehensive menu. It is so pleasing to see how the pub has been turned around – and a great relief that tables had been reserved for the quiz.

The team are old friends and adversaries and it is always a pleasure to play against them. Unfortunately the Lemmings were without Bob who had suffered a loss in the family; of the two usual substitutes Sunil was giving a talk to a gathering of web designers and Tony was sick but Wendy’s husband Ken kindly cancelled a previous arrangement and made up the team.

The questions were out of the ordinary and this seems to be a recurring theme recently – a very welcome turn away from quiz books etc. and some proper thought put into the questions. Unfortunately this did not work to the Lemmings’ advantage and they were trailing by 11 points at the end of the Specialist with 63 to 74; they did much better in the General Knowledge but still lost by 1 point (60 to 61) with a final score of 135 to 123 to the Robin Hood. There was just one question that both teams thought was wrong and a substitute was used.

Individual scores were Wendy 18/12, Ken 9/3, Nick 15/3 and Tomo 12/15; conferred points were 8/21 with 1/6 pass-overs while the Robin took 3/6 pass-overs.

A very tasty selection of sandwiches (including excellent roast beef with horseradish!!) rounded off a very pleasant evening – many thanks to the Robin Hood, to the team and the question master who sometimes plays for the Robin and who covered for the Rams who were unable to provide one,

2nd February–Local Derby

The Lemmings were playing the Rams who had the home advantage but the Lemmings got there early and grabbed the favoured home team table in an attempt to psychologically distract the Rams; this failed very badly as at one stage it looked as though both teams would be sitting at the same table!! Eventually the Lemmings slunk to the fireside table with their tails between their legs. But there was more to come!! The start of the quiz was then delayed because there was no sign of Bob – the Lambs and question Master Andrew graciously agreed to a delay (second moral victory) and after 10 minutes Nick received a phone call from Bob who was looking for us in the Robin Hood high in the hills above Macclesfield; further time was allowed but eventually the Lemmings offered to start conferring Bob’s questions until he arrived (fortunately he only missed one, didn’t know it, the others didn’t either and nor did the Rams so nothing was lost).

The questions themselves were certainly different (a marked lack of soccer questions except for a picture of a lady footballer) and quite testing, particularly the Specialist reflected in the individual scores below – even so at the end of the Specialist the Lemmings had a lead of 16 with 48 to 32.

The General Knowledge however showed a marked turn in the Lemmings’ fortunes but only one was disputed (Nick on the Ho Chi Min question – he was wrong but the question should have stipulated North Vietnam) and the Rams clawed back 10 points with 76 to the Lemmings’ 66. Even so, the Lemmings took the game with a narrow victory of 6 – 114 to 108.

Individual scores were Bob 9/21, Wendy 6/3, Nick 6/3, Tomo 9/18 conferred 12/10 pass-overs 6/10; the Rams collected 6/11 pass-overs

The evening finished with an excellent soup from Brian with fresh crusty baguette slices - much appreciated by all - thank you Brian, Andrew and the Rams for a good hujoured game.

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.

15th December Away to the Dolphin Dragons

Still without Bob the Lemmings trudged through a dark and damp (but surprisingly warm) winter evening up the hill to The Dolphin to face the Dragons.
The Dolphin is a very friendly and welcoming pub sporting five handpumps that although all Robinsons are very well kept and in top condition.
It was a disappointing start for the Lemmings as Liz from the Dragons managed to get locked in the toilet – but escaped.
The game itself was very interesting as the lead shifted from one to the other, the Lemmings winning the first Specialist round but lost the lead with the second – the game continued thus until at the end of the Specialist both teams had 48 points. An encouraging start and a tribute to the question setters.
Fortune then abandoned the Lemmings who at one stage were 30 points behind, but they rallied and whilst unable to catch the Dragons they pulled back some points losing by 93 to 72 – final score 141 to 120.
A most enjoyable game  with no disputes and lots of laughter
Individual scores were Sunil 3/3 Wendy 12/6 Nick 3/18 Tomo 9/18 conferred 13/8 and pass-overs 8/6. The Dragons picked up 9/9 pass-overs
The evening was rounded off with an excellent stew with pickled red cabbage – hearty thanks to the landlord and staff, and to the Dragons for a most enjoyable evening.

And finally may all who see this and all players in the Macclesfield Pub Quiz League have a very merry Christmas and health and happiness in 2016.

Away to the Ox-Fford 8th December

 

Heads hung low and with drawn faces, the team trudged out to the playing area, they knew they were heading for another dull game and certain defeat and once again endure laughter, sneers and jeers for yet another poor performance. They were not to be disabused, Manchester United lost 3-2 to Wolfsburg and crashed out of the Champions League with barely a whimper.

At the Ox-Fford however, the buoyant Lemmings bounced into the room set aside for the quiz looking forward to a keenly fought but fun evening. Bob was unable to take part due to family sickness and his place was taken by Sunil, Nick’s son. The Specialist questions had been set by the Harrington Academicals which both teams thoroughly enjoyed, Dumb Britain in particular was original and great fun; nevertheless with the exception of Tomo the Lemmings’ scores were on the low side. At the end of the Specialist, the Lemmings were trailing with 44 points to the home team’s 73.The General Knowledge were less well received but did at least gain a nomination for the Nine Banded Armadillo award ; the Lemmings’ scores were a little better except for Nick whilst Sunil did something to defend the family honour. The Ox-Fford increased their lead with 89 points to 55 – final score was 162 to 99 – not much of a cliff-hanger but at least they went down fighting

It was an excellent game with lots of laughter as Alan Hodgson squirmed with embarrassment as he asked the GK questions he felt should have been vetted (they probably had been but suggestions ignored)

The Ox-Fford lived up to its escalating reputation with a selection of six real ales and very friendly staff - whilst the German football match was on TV it did not intrude until either team scored that then raised another set of questions.

Individual scores were Sunil 3/9, Wendy 6/15, Nick 3/3 and Tomo 15/12 – conferred points were 13/9 with 4/9 pass-overs

The evening was rounded off with a very tasty sweetcorn chowder – many thanks to the landlord, the home team and to Alan for his patience and good humour.

1 December Question Masters

 

It was the Lemmings’ turn to set and ask the questions and we  are under a huge obligation to Matt, AKA Alan-A-Dale, who covered at very short notice for Wendy who had some family problems. Not only did he travel to the Weaver, he seems to have had the roughest ride of the four games.

“All OK - good to see a game played well and competitively - until the Weaver pulled ahead in the last few rounds to run out winners without a steward’s enquiry.

There was some grumbling re: questions (even though only 2 GKs didn't get answered by anyone).  Can a race contain only one team/participant? - all three parties decided that it could so we replaced the three-legged race with a supp.  I suspect that many teams spotted "woolsack-gate" and a second supplementary did the job.

Balance was a common theme in discussion during and after the quiz – Alan L’s campaign for pairing sustained when the occasional difficult question was followed by a “doddle” – although I think (at team-level, at least) this probably evened itself out. Not sure if this was a broader pattern but the gap between the two “big beasts” answering 2^nd (both scored 45) and the 2 going 4^th (42 between them) was indicative of some seats being comfier than others on the night (with or without a woolsack).

As expected and befitting the pedigree of the two teams, the quiz was hard-fought, but with humour increasingly on show in the latter stages. An apparent escapee from the WGT’s ladies’ darts team did briefly interrupt the second half with a lengthy and vociferous monologue nearby, whilst a passing punter slipped by to offer Mark some (useless as well as unwelcome) advice on the chemical properties of diamond.

What was very clear to me is that the evening could have been less enjoyable had I been personally implicated in the setting of the questions. As such, I will continue last week’s message – could the “chicken and egg” problem of dodgy questions vs. too much grumbling. My impression of the Weaver is that whilst they are a team who are happy to criticise a question (and these were criticisms I could frequently see coming), they also often have a perfectly legitimate suggestion for how it could be rephrased. In this spirit, two suggestions for the question-setters scrapbook:

1. “West Sussex” and similar. Not an ideal answer if the player might respond with “Sussex”, for example. Correct? passed over? ask for further guidance and then when “East Sussex” comes out, it is a freebie to the opposition?

2. “Specifically” seems like an invitation for trouble – was glad that nothing was riding on the last question. The initial answer of “concerto” was a long way from wrong. “With which instrument….”?

This was my first (and quite possibly only) exposure to a top of the A League ding-dong. It was a healthy reminder of the breadth of competitiveness and skill on show across the divisions. Whilst many participants see the purpose of Tuesday’s to be fun, there are serious quizzers out there and they are not wrong in wanting their contests to be decided by the skill of the players and not the questions. Like football referees, questions will never be perfect, but that shouldn’t preclude discussion of how to get closer.”

Matt was only able to help out as the Robin Hood have a pool of players, and it was Bob who returned to the lovely Peak District pub as question master.

“NEWS FROM THE FRONT LINE - A QUESTION MASTER'S VIEW:

"Tonight's quiz was a question masters dream. A warm, friendly and welcoming pub with two teams who were up for a good night's entertainment.

The Robin Hood and the Dolphin Dragons engaged in combat but sparked off each other in the most humorous ways. Driven by banter from Jim Kennelly and Liz Horrocks in turn, the evening bounced along most agreeably. Even the 'problem' questions were dismissed with a casual 'have a supplementary'.  Best of all was agreement between the two teams that you can ENTER a three-legged race with two people but you can't RACE until there are four.  This promoted much hilarity, as did the "Who wrote Blue Suede Shoes?"  It began when Tim Grimes of the Robin Hood asked the assembled teams what was the anthem of one-legged Elvis lovers.... answer... "Blue Suede Shoe". This prompted a rare joke from question master Bob Langstaff who halted proceedings to tell the sad story of the man who had trouble with his feet. The doctor examined him and informed him that he actually had TWO LEFT FEET! Not in the sense that he couldn't dance, but that he literally had two left feet. The man was grateful for the answer to his problem but depressed that he had two left feet. He left the surgery and as it was a lovely sunny day he decided to cheer himself up by going into a shoe shop and buying himself a pair of flip-flips."

Dolphin Dragons won the match 158 to 130. Great evening.”

Tomo made his way to the Dolphin where he too had an enjoyable evening.

“I had a good evening, too.
I don't know how Little Women got into the Mr & Mrs round and it was immediately pointed out that The Woolsack is sat upon in the House of Lords, but apart from that it was  a very good evening. The Royal Oak marked the specialists down as they were getting some stinkers, but overall the balance looked good. The Dolphin gave the specialists 8. I can't remember the scores for GK.
Final score Dolphin 156 - 143 Royal Oak”

And finally Nick was at the Ox-Fford that has just been renovated and has a very friendly landlord and staff. Moreover, they are no longer tied to Marstons and had an interesting selection of real ale including Sharp’s Atlantic (previously only seen in bottles) and who remembers draft Worthingtons? It was a very friendly tussle, with the two major errors already referred to being spotted and without the challenge of a single three-legged horse race. A high point was Haydn getting all of his General Knowledge questions. The evening was rounded off with an excellent selection of hot pies – a most enjoyable time with thanks to both teams who tolerated Nick’s twice reading the answer instead of passing over the question with good humour and with every good wish for the new landlord’s success in the future.

Comment has been made about the times shown on the blog – the server is in America and shows their local time – I’ve not found a way to change it but will ask Google who own Blogger.

NOW SORTED!!!

24th November Cup/Plate Away to the Robin Hood

 

Although it was only two weeks since the Lemmings had last played the Robin Hood, here they were again, this time playing away in the Cup.

It was a real pleasure to return to the Robin Hood, as last time the Lemmings played there the pub seemed to be on its last legs with a big question mark over its future. Under the new landlords however it is a warm and welcoming pub with very friendly staff and three hand-pumps including Hobgoblin and Thwaites. There is an extensive food menu and whilst we were unable to take advantage of it, the photographs are very attractive.

The usual contributor to this blog Alan-A-Dale was this time restored to the home team (strength in depth means players rotate) but the Lemmings were confident following their previous win despite Wendy being away with Sunil standing in for her.

And at the end of the first round of twenty questions the home team were reeling – not from the staggering breadth of knowledge displayed by the visitors but because they had completely thrashed the Lemmings with 21 points to a wretched 10; the second round was much closer with 18 to 17 but they returned to form in the  third set with 17 to 8. With the score at 56 to 35 there was then a beer break – perhaps one that “refreshes the parts that others cannot reach” would perhaps strengthen the straw the Lemmings were clutching. But no – round 4 continued the trend 19 to 13. But then the tide turned and the Lemmings put in a crashing 19 points to the Hood’s 15 – only to revert to form with 18 to 14. Final score 108 to 81.  The Lemmings well and truly shot down by the Robin Hood.

Being ever-optimistic the Lemmings can now look forward to a night off in future rounds.

But it was a most enjoyable evening, great atmosphere in a friendly pub rounded off with tasty beef and egg sandwiches – many thanks to the landlord, to the team and as usual the patient and tolerant question master.

And finally may I say how pleased I am that the blog has become a forum for an open exchange of ideas and suggestions – thank you all.

Stitched Up By The Weaver

 

“If we see light at the end of the tunnel, it’s the light of the oncoming train” – Robert Lowell

The Lemmings knew they were up against it for this game as both Bob and Wendy were away on holiday (not together I hasten to add); reserves Tony and Sunil stepped in and both made a creditable score.

Although playing at a disadvantage,the game was not without its moments of humour; Sunil pointed out that part of question 60 of the General Knowledge is a pizza at Pizza Express; as usual Nick struggled with names, in particular that of the new Bond girl - then immediately after passing it over remembered it was Monica Belucci. And Fortune smiled on the Lemmings in the form of questions on local beers and pubs and they were ahead at the end of the first specialist round.

Despite this, however, the Lemmings were soon floundering and at the end of the Specialist were losing 64 to 38. This pattern was to be repeated for the rest of the evening.

The questions were not well received, in particular for lack of balance – very obscure difficult questions were followed by the simplest and obvious even though in two of the specialist rounds only one 3 was scored: the Sport and Money rounds.

As mentioned before the Weaver has had a substantial renovation, has introduced a wider selection of beers (including their own Weaver brewed by Tetleys) and have a very welcoming landlord who had set aside a corner of the large room for the quiz.

Individual scores were Tony 9/9 Sunil 9/6 Nick 12/12 and Tomo 3/21; conferred points were 3/17 with 2/2 pass-overs – the Weaver picked up 9/11 pass-overs. The Weavers total of pass-overs was mainly through the Lemmings quickly passing over the question so as to cut down on the home team’s conferring. Final Score 180 to 105.

Despite the crushing defeat it was actually a very pleasant evening with lots of laughter, sympathetic questioning from the Dolphin Dragons’ question master and tasty sandwiches to round off the night. Many thanks to the Weaver landlord, the team and the question master.