it was a dark and stormy night with trees blowing over but that didn’t stop 48 Hillingdon Ramblers coming for the annual quiz evening. The hall was warm and bright and we mingled and chatted before 45 quizzers had assembled and we had sorted ourselves into tables of 6. Our quiz setter and joint question master with Jenny was Rob Jones-Owen. Barbara was in the kitchen overseeing the catering arrangements. As usual there was a Marathon round that kept us pondering throughout the evening. Half way through, the pizzas arrived and we stopped the quiz after round 5 to enjoy our supper which was accompanied by a generous selection of salads that Barbara had produced. “It all must be eaten” was the instruction so there was no hesitation for many of us to go back for second helpings especially as the icy blasts outside encouraged us to stoke our internal boilers! With supper behind us the quiz restarted and another 3 more rounds of questions. Our knowledge of the London Underground map was put to the test again this year. But a photographic memory of the map would have helped with questions like “How many stations between Plaistow and Upminster inclusively.” At least the answer was multiple choice. For those now curious the answer was 12.

Once over, the scores were all totted up and the results given in reverse order. Table 8 was the clear winner and consisted many of the winners from last years quiz. Richard and Alison, Charles and Elizabeth and Denise and Alan went to receive their prizes. Spare pizzas were offered out to take home and tables and chairs were quickly put away before we braved the dark night and dodged falling foliage to get back home. Thank you to Rob and Jenny, Barbara and Steven for giving us an enjoyable evening.

Report by Simon Thornhill