Orrell & District Quiz League

Due to the situation we find ourselves in, the committee have decided, after due consideration, that we will have to abandon all the fixtures, competitions and presentation evening this year. It is unfortunate, but the safety of our members is uppermost in our minds and some venues may not be able to accommodate teams as they will not have the room for the correct social distancing.

In view of this I would ask you to inform your team members and the landlords at your venues of our decision, so that no one will be expecting us for the rest of the season.

Any money paid into the league will carry over to next year, when we hope all the teams will be able to play again.

I will be in touch again if there are any changes and to advise you about the AGM and next season, in the meantime stay safe.

Gladys Lemin

Secretary

Babs Hennessy of Bryn Labour Club appeared on North West news today, talking about a forgotten war hero, Mary O'Shaughnessy of Ashton-in-Makerfield, who worked with the French resistance helping Allied airmen escape during WW2, and survived a German concentration camp.

Some details of Mary's life can be found here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/52/a2082052.shtml, and you can watch the piece here (from about 6 minutes in): https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000hlx2/north-west-today-lunchtime-news-20042020

In the light of the Prime Minister's statement late this afternoon, that people should avoid social gatherings in pubs etc, it is with regret that we must postpone all matches for the foreseeable future. Should the situation improve we would consider playing the second half fixtures and that then would constitute the league season. When and if that happens it would be impossible to speculate. Please stay safe - your health is more important to us than a quiz!

In view of the ever increasing numbers of people affected by Coronavirus and Covid 19 in the UK the Committee has been exchanging e-mails on the subject.

We have prepared the following statement.

• While not recommending no handshaking, the Management Committee respect the right of individuals to choose not to shake hands during the outbreak and ask everyone else to do the same.
• To reduce the pressure on teams to play we will suspend General Rule 6 governing the number of postponements until such time as the epidemic is seen to have passed.
• There is no rush to rearrange fixtures and if necessary the cup competitions will be postponed/abandoned, and the time allocated for them used for rearranged fixtures with the league purchasing spare quizzes if necessary. 

We realise that this is a slightly pessimistic view but we thought that it was best to act sooner rather than later. 

Some games in the Merseyside Quiz League have ended without handshakes, following prior agreement between the teams, and this has not caused any animosity.

Best wishes 

Paul

Once again it is almost time for the start of a new season and I know Mike has sent you the Proposed fixture list (also published in the calendar), dependant on the number of teams joining the league this year.

Below is a list of dates proposed for the coming season:-

Management Committee Meetings

26^th January,  1^st March,   3^rd May,   7^th June,   2^nd August,   6^th September,  1^st November &   6^th December

Registration Meeting

 9^th February. You can download a copy of the registration form here: Please bring it with you to the registration meeting on the 9th of February. The fee for registration will be £30 as usual.

 Payment Meetings for Delegates followed by Management Committee Meetings.

 2^nd Payment   -   5^th April

3^rd  Payment   -   5^th July

4^th  Payment   -   4^th October

The season will start on the 17^th of March with the free week on the 18^th of August.

The Knockout starts on the 25^th of August with the finals on the 22^nd of September.

The date of the Presentation and Pairs  evening is to be decided.

Bryn Aces (formerly Bryn PLC) are looking for players for the coming season. Anyone wanting to join a very friendly team please contact Keith Eyre whose e-mail is :-

keitheyre936@gmail.com

Following last night's AGM, a new team was elected to join the league. They are called 'Tontine' and will play their home games at the Delph Tavern.

Bryn PLC have chosen to change their name to Bryn Aces.

This end of season event took place at St. James Social Club. Trophies were presented to Millstone (League Winners), Robin Hood (Runners up), UVC Blues (Cup winners), Delph (Cup runners up), Britannia (Plate winners) and Merrymen (Plate runners up). The Ted Owen trophy was won by Bryn PLC.

In the pairs competition 13 pairs entered and after 40 written questions these were reduced to six for the 15-1 type eliminator, the scores ranging from 14 to 26. The six qualifiers were Ian Barlow (Millstone) & Kevin Clarke (Bryn PLC), Paul Coffey (Talbot) & Keith Eyre (Bryn PLC), James McGregor (Talbot) & Cath Simpson (Millstone), Steve Feller (Merrymen) & Tony Robinson (Bryn Labour), Robin Fane (Britannia) & Mike Simpson (Millstone) and Mike Leech (Millstone) & Mike Unsworth (Robin Hood).

 After several rounds of questions the six pairs were reduced to three namely:- Paul Coffey & Keith Eyre, Steve Feller & Tony Robinson and Mike Leech & Mike Unsworth for the final round where each pair had their three lives restored. Again several rounds of question were needed before Paul & Keith were eliminated. Then in a tense exchange of questions with both teams reduced to one life each, Steve & Tony were finally eliminated leaving Mike Leech and Mike Unsworth the eventual winners.

Many thanks must go to Paul McAteer for an interesting and challenging set of questions delivered with his usual clarity and good humour. Also to Jess McAteer for an equally challenging table quiz (won by Millstone) and production of certificates. Many thanks must also go to Gladys Lemin and Graham Wilcock for the engraving of trophies and organisation of the venue.

This end of season event will take place at St. James Catholic Club, St James' Rd, Orrell, Wigan WN5 7AA on Friday 8th November. The Pairs competition will start at 8.30 sharp and is open to anyone who has played in the league this season. As last year the questions will be set by Paul McAteer. The presentation of trophies will follow the Pairs Competition. Please come along to what should be an enjoyable evening.