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Sunday 30 November 2008

Assorted News...

A couple of bits of news, firstly about a stalwart of the Quiz League for many years and your correspondent's predecessor in the role of Secretary / Whatever, Peter Cole.

Peter has spent a fair bit of this year recovering from breaking both arms right at the start of the year. All is now going very well and Peter has just undergone another operation on his left arm to fix a broken plate and the prognosis is good. Peter has also decided to retire from full time work at the end of November, so in fact from today! Peter and Tina are both looking forward to trips round the country to renew old acquaintances, so get the kettle on!

Going, going...

After the games on Tuesday the 2nd of December we have one more round of League games (9th) before our Christmas break. I will actually be away from later this week as my family and I are off to New Zealand to spend Christmas with the more far flung elements of my said family.

I thus won’t be around next week for obvious reasons and nor will the News & Views. I will sort it all out when I get back just before the New Year. If you have any problems next week, please call John, Graham or Marshall.

We then start again on Tuesday the 6th of January. If I don’t see you before then, can I wish you and yours a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful 2009.

Cup & Plate Draw...


These games will be played on 27/01/2009.

Questions will be set by the George & Dragon and the Sutton Church House who will supply 3 Question Masters each.

The Harrington ‘B’, the Crown and the Cock Inn will assist with asking questions. These teams will provide 2 Question Masters each. Please decide beforehand who is going to turn out so we don’t have to call anyone on the night.

Questions for the Quarter Finals of the Cup and Plate will be set by 2 of the losing teams from the above games. A draw will be made after the above games have been played.

The Cup (25/11/2008)...

A great set of questions from the Ox-fford 'C' and the Church House Bollington facilitated a very pleasant evening. Thanks also to the Waters Green Rams for providing an emergency Question Master very late in the day - much appreciated.

The Principals won't be defending their Plate title this year as they made their way into Round 2 of the Cup with a comfortable win over the Sutton Church House. Last year's beaten Plate finalists the Knot Inn also won through to the last 16 of the Cup at the expense of the Crown.

The two closest games involved the Castle teams. The closest saw the New Castle just beat the Puss Artists 85-84 whilst the Castle came out on the wrong side of a 108-106 result against the Plough Taverners.

The draw for Round 2 of the Cup and Round 1 of the Plate is above...

Cup - Round 1 Results


Week 3...

Week 3 gave us a set of questions that suited some better than others. I think it is good to see a variety of topics on offer and you can't have enough questions on comics as far as I am concerned! The North West of England is a better informed place for more people now knowing who Norrin Radd is...

You can peruse all the questions via Nick's excellent blog from the link on the right.

News & Views - Week 3 (18/11/2008)




Monday 24 November 2008

Cup - Round 1

Champions League - small beer indeed compared to the mighty Macclesfield Quiz League Cup competition. The Dolphin reign supreme here having won for the last two years and they kick off their defence on Tuesday night.

Week 3 League results are to follow, here is the draw for this Tuesday the 25th of November...

Sunday 16 November 2008

Week 2...

Week 2 in the A League saw another mighty clash between 2 teams at the forefront of quizzing in South East Cheshire, namely the Dolphin Dragons and the Principals (fresh from their draw last week). The Dolphin Dragons won an excellent game 168 - 143 with former "Mastermind" Liz Horrocks and Robin Morrell both scoring 36 for the Dragons. Alan Levitt and Graham Bailey chipped in with excellent 33s for the Principals.

The Ox-fford 'C' got their season off to a flying start with a 160 - 142 win over the British Flag, Haydn Thompson top scoring with 39. Elsewhere, the Dolphin eased past the Castle with Peter McBride adding an impressive 42 to last week's 39, whilst the Ox-fford did the same against the New Castle.

The Ox-fford v New Castle game was subject to a last minute "change of venue" as the Castle's Landlord had put his back out and couldn't open. All hail the Nags Head in Waters Green for providing a room at the last minute, and thanks to the New Castle for still bringing down the end of game pasties and delicious gravy. Much appreciated...

In the B League, the Waters Green Phoenix continued their rise from the ashes by beating the Cock Inn 155 - 111, that stalwart of many a daft question Bob Langstaff top scoring with 36.

There were a lot of 36s around in the B League, Alasdair Reid and Mike Vickerstaff both had that score for their respective teams as the Puss Heads beat the Baths Hotel in a close contest 131 - 123.

Best B League score of the night was Brian Bogie's 42 for the Knot Inn who beat the George & Dragon 162 - 101. Mike Bennett was on good form for the G&D with 27.

Rick Davis scored 39 to top the B League Individual table but couldn't stop the Church House Bollington from losing to the Plough Taverners 120 - 140, David Williams scoring 30 for the Plough.

In the C League, the "Sutton Derby" was won by the Lamb Inn, who beat the Sutton Church House 124 - 105. Paul Griffiths (33) and Win Greenwood (27) top scored for each side.

The Albion beat the Chester Road Tavern 119 - 96 with Roberto Rodriguez scoring 27 for the Albion and Tony Moores doing likewise for the CRT. The Albion always seem to find players with interesting names...

The two Byrons, Bards and Laureates, are still looking for their first win, the Bards going down to the Harrington 'B' and the Laureates to the Waters Green Rams. Geoff Parkin tops the C League Individuals with another excellent 30 for the Harrington 'B' whilst mention must be made of Tracey Crellin's excellent 27 for the Rams.

Of the 12 games this week, 9 were won by teams who went “first first”, i.e. first in the Specialist Round, with 3 won by teams going the other way around.

News & Views - Week 2 (11/11/2008)




Monday 10 November 2008

Week 1...

And they're off...

A seamless start to the season occurred last Tuesday with every Question Master in place and all teams turned up. The quest for knowledge (and possibly a drink to go with it) goes on...

The A League saw a mighty early season clash between the Dolphin and the Principals, with the game finally ending in a draw at 151 apiece. Surely this should have been televised? If they can get away with showing Fulham v Newcastle...

Good scores were the order of the day from all players as you would expect in such a high scoring game, Peter McBride (39) & Alan Levitt (36) top scoring for each side.

The other games were less close with the Dolphin Dragons, Castle and Ox-fford registering early wins to get their campaigns off to a flyer.

Generally closer in the B League where the Puss Heads stand proudly atop the table after a 140 - 111 win over the Church House Bollington. Dave Pennington (33) led the way and that long time traveller (not time-traveller, although he does live Oldham-way where time is a bit behind) Andy Johnson also scored an excellent 30.

The closest game was at the Waters Green where the newly named Waters Green Phoenix just edged the Baths Hotel by 3 points. A solid team effort here in the absence of Captain Nick who is floating around the edge of Africa in a boat for a couple of weeks in a loin-girding exercise for updating his blog upon his return. Jon Thompson, Wendy Brown and Bob Langstaff all flew the flag with 21 each.

The Plough Taverners and the Cock Inn also won to complete the set for this first week.

In the C League we warmly welcome two new teams from the Lord Byron, namely the Byron Laureates and the Byron Bards. Both had tricky fixtures against teams with several hundred years (quite literally) of experience in this format and both were beaten by the Harrington 'B' and Sutton Church House respectively. Geoff Parkin (36) and Win Greenwood (30) did the trick for their respective teams as they so often do.

The newly relocated Prince of Wales, aka the Crown got off to a winning start in their new home by beating the Waters Green Rams 116 - 100. Kenny Davenport-Slater top scored with 21 in his first appearance since 2006-07, during which time he has also grown a new bit on his name.

Finally the Lamb Inn beat the Albion 131 - 106 with Marshall Barnard and Simon Rumsey chipping in 24 each.

Well done to the Knot Inn and the Chester Road Tavern who produced some entertaining questions with much less notice than every other team gets during the season. Of the 12 games this week, 5 were won by teams who went “first first”, i.e. first in the Specialist Round, with 6 won by teams going the other way around, plus 1 draw.

News & Views - Week 1 (04/11/2008)






It lives again!

Just when you thought you could give up memorising the length of the Nile in millimetres (just in case it is ever asked), Macclesfield Quiz League returns to save the winter months from a total lack of sporting entertainment.

For those who weren’t at the Finals Night in May or the AGM a couple of weeks ago, both Cup and Plate finals were excellent contests.

In the Cup, the Dolphin beat the Ox-fford ‘C’ by the score 114 – 98.


The Plate final was contested between the Principals and the Knot Inn, the Principals emerging victorious 105 – 81.