Macclesfield Quiz League - News & Views...

Monday, 21 October 2013

Thursday, 3 October 2013

New Season 2013-14

It is that time of year again - Season 33 of the Macclesfield Quiz League looms!

At the AGM on Tuesday we had a nail-biting Plate Final which ended in an 81-79 win for the Plough Taverners over the Park Taverners. Congratulations to both teams for an exciting contest and particularly to the Plough for securing their first trophy for many years – since their previous incarnation as Macc Cricket Club, I think.

The game was question mastered by Paul Morrissey and I would like to thank him along with the Lamb Inn and the Nags Head who provided the questions – special thanks to Paul Griffiths, Chris Butler and Billy Stubbs.

The AGM had slightly more business than usual to determine but a good debate was had by all present and the below two changes were decided upon ultimately:-

Our first subscription increase in 5 years was agreed, thus subscriptions will rise to £50 per team for this year. Looking back through our records, we have only raised the subs twice in the last 14 years (up to £30 in 1999 and then to £40 in 2008) so hopefully the new level will be with us for some time to come.
A small change to the Specialist Question categories was agreed which will be explained fully in the new 2013/14 Rules, but in essence we will have six “fixed” Specialist rounds instead of five from now on. Geography, History, Science and Sport will remain but the Arts and Entertainment round will effectively be split into two rounds to be called Art and Culture and Entertainment. This will leave two rounds to the discretion of the question setters rather than three. The new 2013/14 Rules will have full guidance as to what the new categories of questions should contain.

I am currently working on the fixtures which will be complete by next Tuesday the 8^th of October.

You can pay the subs and collect all the fixtures / rules / documentation etc from the Weaver, Thornton Square between 6.30pm and 8pm on Tuesday the 8^th of October 2013. I will be there along with Marshall Barnard who will issue the usual receipts etc.

The first game will be the following week on Tuesday the 15^th of October.

Question Setters – Weeks 1 and 2

The following teams have volunteered for question setting in the first two weeks of the season – many thanks to them:-

Week 1 questions – i.e. the 15^th of October will be done in their entirety by the Ox-fford.

Week 2 (22^nd of October) questions will be set by the Harrington ‘B’ (Specialist) and the Waters Green Rams (General Knowledge).

Week 3 (29^th of October) will see an A League team setting all the questions again, I will let that team know who they are ASAP.

All will be done by Tuesday and I will email everything out after that.

And Finally - Rob Parkin’s Berlin Marathon effort

Some of you have already sponsored the Harrington Academicals’ Rob Parkin who ran the Berlin Marathon last weekend – an event notable for a new Marathon World Record time set by winner Wilson Kipsang in 2 hrs 3 mins 23 secs (it will be a question soon, you can be sure of that!)

Rob achieved his target of going round in well under 4 hours which deserves our collective hats being taken off to him and some sponsorship going in his direction if you haven’t done such a thing already. Rob ran to raise money for East Cheshire Hospice once again and has a Justgiving page at the below link…

http://www.justgiving.com/Rob-Parkin

See you next week if not before…

Thursday, 18 April 2013

Last Round Up...

Many thanks to all who attended the Finals Night on Tuesday. The Weaver did us proud before it undergoes whatever changes it is seemingly due to undergo!

There was an excellent turn-out and photos are posted below all things being equal.

The result of the Cup Final saw the Ox-fford beat the Harrington Academicals by 113 – 68. Congratulations to all concerned.

Thanks must go to Rick Davis and Paul Griffiths for asking the questions and scoring respectively. Thanks also to Keith Pointon of the Waters Green Rams and Peter McBride from the Dolphin for question preparation. An excellent effort by all concerned.

The final trophy of this year will be settled at the start of next season as usual. The Plate Final will be:-

Plough Taverners v Park Taverners

This game will be played at the AGM before the start of next season, date and place to be confirmed. The Nags Head and the Lamb Inn will assemble questions for this game from those not used for the Cup Final.

An excellent season saw the Lamb Inn win the C League with the Wharf also promoted in finishing second. John Hargreaves won the C League Individual title for the second time, adding to his win in 2008/09.

In the B League – the most tightly contested League of all this season – the Waters Green Phoenix emerged triumphant at the top of the tree with the Knot Know-Alls finishing second. Both will play in the A League next time around.

Keith Pointon bagged the B League Individual title for the second year running (having won the C League equivalent the year before that).

The Ox-fford 'C' were deserving A League Champions losing only two games all season and they remain the team to beat after a great season of strong all-round performances.

The Ox-fford won the Cars and Vans 4U Ltd Question Setters Trophy for their General Knowledge questions from way back in Week 5.

If I don’t see you before we start again, have a great summer and see you in the autumn when we will do it all again...

Regards,

MW