| BB National Quiz 2009 |
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Round 1 - November 2008
On Saturday, 29th November the quiz team accompanied by Robs Welch and Walker made the trip to the headquarters of the 7th Southport Company for Round One of this year’s quiz. The team comprised the same strong group as last year; Chris Burrows, James Walker, Jonathan Allpress and me plus newly-chosen reserve Dominic Mellor.
Our competition consisted of teams from Southport, Ormskirk and Liverpool: whom we had already faced in previous years. The specialist rounds this year were “Capital Cities of Europe”, “UEFA Finals; Austria/Switzerland 2008” and Bible extract, Genesis 37/41/42.
For the first few rounds it looked as though we may only scrape third place, and with only the top two teams going through this would be disappointing reflecting on how far we got in last year’s competition. But, in the later rounds (and after refreshments including pizza, soup and scones) we improved and gained the second place overall, our ticket to the second round.
The next round will be held after Christmas, details including location are yet to be confirmed.
I, on behalf of the whole team, would like to thank Rob Welch and Rob Walker for accompanying (and driving) us to the competition. It should be noted that, in playing along, they actually did better than the team… I hope we continue our success in the second round next year.
Round 2 - January 2009
The round two event at Nottingtham was by far the hardest round of the quiz the team had encountered so far. The rounds, many similar to the first in November, consisted of much harder, more detailed questions regarding specific, exact answers. Had it not have been for our resisdent Eurovision expert James Walker, our score would have been far lower, though it was still not strong enough to secure a place.
But as our score was the highest amongst the runners-up in the competition, we got our place int he semi-finals, but only just...
Round 3 (Semi-Final) - February 2009
We travelled to Carlisle for the third round, onboard a comfortable rented mini-bus. Admittingly, many among us doubted our likelihood of winning this round, especially as we faced old competition 35th Liverpool, whom we have never defeated before.
However, as the quiz progressed, we swapped first and second place with 2nd Sutton-in-Ashfield and our confidence grew, as we quietly started to consider the possibility that this could be our year. Thanks to strong rounds in Dingbats (thanks to Chris), Eurovision (thanks to James) and the Bible (thanks to the whole team) we won the semi-final round a clear point ahead of second placed team 2nd Sutton-in-Ashfield, and 8.5 points ahead of old rivals 35th Liverpool.
Our win secured our first-ever National final place and made us one of the top two teams in England and Wales. As team captain I am incredibly proud of the team, as were Rob Welch and Rob Walker who watched, with shocked faces, as our revision and efforts clearly paid off in our accumulation of points.
On behalf of the entire team, I'd like to thank both Robs for transporting us to and from both rounds, and the team looks forward in earnest to the National Final Hemel Hempstead on April 18th. Watch this space...
Phil Wright
Quiz Team Captain