Article to be published in the December 2019 Edition of Maldon Life

With the last quiz-night of 2019 being held on Saturday 16th November and with Kevin the Quizmaster less than healthy on the night there was all to play for. Would the Underachievers be able to repeat their September success or would they be deposed? Would Kevin get through the quiz unscathed? Indeed would anyone?

However before I start I must thank a few people for their help during the last 12 months.

First off comes Quizmaster Kevin, what a legend. We love the barracking and he sets great quizzes. Next comesTim, who sadly missed this months quiz but Thank-you to him for announcing the raffles most months and to Mike who occasionally locks up afterwards. My thanks also go to David and family who help out with raffle ticket sales or cover in my absence, Jim our fantastic Head caretaker who sets the tables out for us. Graham, Sue and Poppy who also help with raffle ticket sales when available. Thankyou also, to all of you who come along and support the Community Centre each quiz. Without you there wouldn’t be one. So have a great Xmas and hopefully we’ll see you in the New Year.

Here’s how it played out for the 8 teams involved.

Round 1 based on General Knowledge saw ‘The Ever hopefuls’ launch into an early lead by playing their joker and scoring 14 points out of a possible 20. Three others earned the same 7 points without jokers so it wasn’t the best start to the quiz ( but Underachievers only got 5. Oh dear, not a great start!)

Round 2 however saw a reverse in fortunes with an English Monarchs round, where you had to name 10 monarchs who were on the throne for over 30 years. ‘ Fuzzy Logic’ scored the maximum 10 along with ‘Everhopefuls’ and ‘Underachievers’ who by playing their joker ( and having Matt on their team) earned the maximum 20 points available putting them in 1st place.

Round 3 was all about City Nicknames and whilst this section was a little easier no team managed a 10 pointer, however some 6 teams earned 9 points including ‘Scrambled Eggs’, ‘Penultimately Number 9’, ‘Underachievers’, ‘5 go Quizzing’, ‘Everhopefuls’ and ‘Interlopers’. Resulting in first blood at marking going to the ‘Underachievers on 34 points, 2nd Place to ‘Everhopefuls’ on 33 points and 3rd place to ‘Penultimately Number 9 with 24 points.

Round 4 commenced with 5 questions on ABBA songs and 5 on Italy. I’m not sure of the connection but I did say Kevin wasn’t well! Haha… The lowest score achieved was an 8, the highest 9 points and four teams managed this. Penultimately Number 9’, ‘Underachievers’, ‘5 go Quizzing’, and ‘Everhopefuls’.

Round 5 saw 10 questions on European Countries and this time just three teams scored the maximum 10 points. ‘Scrambled Eggs’, ‘Underachievers’and ‘Everhopefuls’. No jokers played though.

Round 6 was making ten 4 letter words from a selection of letters and all had to contain the letter ‘M’ with each letter to be used once only. This was a resounding success with every team gaining the maximum 10 points. Well done everybody but especially well done to ‘Fuzzy Logic’ and ‘5 go Quizzing’ who played their jokers thus earning 20 points each.

Round 7 required us to name the 10 stations between Chelmsford and Liverpool Street and with just two teams scoring the maximum 10 points (‘5 go Quizzing and Everhopefuls’) the scoring positions were now as follows:-

First place and 72 points went to ‘Everhopefuls’, joint second place and just 1 point behind on 71 points were ‘Underachievers’ and ‘5 go quizzing’. Fourth place on 67 points went to Fuzzy Logic with 5th place to ‘Scrambled Eggs’ on 65 points. In 6th place were ‘Penultimately number 9’ on 60 points, 7th place ‘Interlopers’ with 55 points and 8th place ‘Funky Looking Donkeys on 50 points (and just three members in their team). The last three teams had still to play their jokers too!

Round 8 was all about Films and TV ( not my favourite by any means) but ‘Funky Looking Donkeys played their joker and a top score of 9 over the round, a total of 18 points earned for them. ‘Fuzzy Logic were the only team to score 8 with ‘Underachievers’ and ‘5 Go Quizzing’ earning 7 Pts. apiece.

Round 9 the penultimate round was on Literature, Charles Dickens and other classics. Groan……. But amazingly the lowest score was 7 over the ten questions. However the stars of the round were ‘Funky Looking Donkeys’ who remember, having just three members in their team scored an amazing 10 points. Impressive!

Finally we had Pot Luck, Round 10. Five teams scored 9 points( no one scored 10). Fuzzy Logic, Scrambled Eggs, Penultimately No 9, 5 go Quizzing and Interlopers meaning final scores were as follows:

1st Place and winners of the Wine went to ‘ 5 Go Quizzing’ on 95 points . Thank-you to them for donating a bottle of wine to January’s raffle. Very well done to them.

2nd Place ‘Ever Hopefuls’ on 94 points. Almost got there, just needed a stronger performance with their joker!

In joint 3rd Place were ‘Penultimately No 9’ and ‘Underachievers on 93 points. A sterling performance by both teams.

5th Place saw ‘Fuzzy Logic’ earn 91 points another strong performance by them.

6th Place saw ‘Scrambled Eggs’on 89 points

7th Place and 87 points were ‘Interlopers’

8th Place and Winners of the kitkats were ‘Funky Looking Donkeys just one point less on 86 points.

So 9 points separated the 1st and last teams. Nothing in it really. One of the closest quizzes in a long while.

This was followed by our xmas bumper raffle some 13 prizes courtesy of some kindly donated additional prizes. Thankyou to those kind individuals accordingly and well done to the lucky winners.

Now I can confirm the 2020 Quiz dates for your diary. These are as follows:-

Saturday January 25th, Saturday March 14th , Saturday May 9th , Saturday June 20th, September 19th, November 14th . All quizzes start promptly at 8pm.

Don’t forget also our Children’s Xmas Party with Papalarny the amazing Childrens Entertainer, taking place on Saturday 14th December between 10.30 - 1.30 pm. It’s always great fun and usually Santa visits from the North Pole if he’s not too busy.

Tickets remain at £6 a head this year and include an age appropriate gift. Children should be aged 4-11 years but under 4’s don’t have to miss out if there is an accompanying adult. If you’d like to book tickets for your child/children please call Lisa on 07814510154. Food, entertainment and a gift! All for just £6. Don’t delay book your tickets.

Finally, have a great Xmas and we hope to see you soon.