Around 50 members arrived at the Carrington Room, Wades Centre recently for a winning combination of quizzing and afternoon tea – eight teams of six plus some willing and efficient helpers.
On arrival we were quickly checked off and sent to our team table to greet our fellow team-mates and, in the case of those not in a pre-formed team, to get to know them. Our new social secretary Maggie Forbes was quiz master, having been supplied with her questions by a regular quiz setter. She was assured the answers were correct and in any case announced that her answers were final. We were all very well behaved in this respect but it was good to establish that at the start! We did chatter a lot though and she sometimes had a job to get our attention. A gavel next time, maybe? (I hope there will be a next time)
We worked through several rounds on different subjects, some whose titles were deliberately quirky so it was hard to know when to play our joker for double points. At the end of each double-round the scores and cumulative scores were drawn up by helpers, thus increasing the tension as we could see who was leading and who might be last. The winners had chocolates and wine and the losing team wooden spoons.
Refreshments were provided half-way through – tea, sandwiches and cakes on beautiful old china for which Lin Newton had been scouring the charity shops. Top ups appeared as if by magic and everything cleared quickly away. What a super team of commitee members and other helpers Maggie had gathered around her for all aspects of the afternoon. They worked so well together.
This was Maggie’s first event as social secretary and I look forward to many more. Thank you Maggie and keep up the good work.
Jackie Huntingford