Orrell & District Quiz League

Paul Prior of UCC Blues appeared in the fourth semi-final of this year's competition on Monday 11th June.  You can listen to his performance by clicking on the link below:

Brain of Britain Semifinal Four

Paul Prior of UCC Blues appeared in the fifth episode of Brain of Britain, broadcast on Radio 4 on Monday 26th March. 

You can listen to find out how he got on by clicking on the link below

Brain of Britain Heat 5

All ten teams have signed up for the new season, which will start on Tuesday 3rd April 2018.

Running Horses Colts have changed venues and names - they will now be playing at the Talbot Ale House, Duke St, St Helens and will therefore be changing their name to The Talbot Colts.

The new season's fixtrures can be found in the fixture calendar, and also on each team's individual page.

Pat Gibson of Millstone (and other stuff like Eggheads, Mastermind, Who Wants to be a Millionaire etc) recently won the European Quiz Championship to complete a career Grand Slam, having previously won The British and World titles.

At the competition held in Zagreb, Croatia, Pat beat several hundred other quizzers from all around Europe to take the Individual title, while also winning the pairs title with friend and fellow Egghead Kevin Ashman, and joining Kevin, Olav Bjortomt and Ian Bayley in the England team to win the European Team Championship.

There is an article on te Wigan Today website giving a nice writeup.

The order of the matches held at last night's Finals Night at The Delph Tavern was swapped due to a member of the Robin Hood team being stuck in traffic on the M6.  It was agreed by all teams to play the Cup Final first, with the Plate final to follow.

In the Cup Final Bryn PLC (Handicap 20) played UCC Blues (1) in a set by Carl Rennox.  UCC immediately started pegging back the 19 point handicap difference, reducing it to 7 points by the end of the third round.  At this point, Bry showed their mettle, winning the next two rounds and drawing round 6, taking the points difference back up to 16.  UCC Blues then staged a fightback, but it proved to be too late, with Bryn PLC finishing as winners with a score of 47-42.  Allan Pugh was Bryn's highest scorer with 13 points, with Chris Quinn scoring 17 for UCC.

After the delayed arrival of Gary Grant, the Plate Final got underway with Robin Hood having a 1 point handicap over the Millstone.  The match was nip and tuck for the first half, with a score of 22-22 at the changeover, but Millstone then pulled away to finish the match with a score of 51-37.  Pat Gibson scored a stupendous 29 points for Millstone, with Gary Grant and Sue Perks both scoring 10 for Robin Hood.

After a lot of confusion and running around caused by the failure of Royal Mail to deliver the question sets on time, the semi-finals of the Cup and Plate competitions were held on 5th September.

In the Plate, Robin Hood overturned a 15 point handicap to beat RH Colts and Millstone clawed back a 12 point handicap to beat Bryn Labour Club.

In the Cup, Bryn PLC beat Britannia with a score that meant that they would have won if both teams had been playing off scratch, and UCC Blues beat The Masons.

The finals will take place at The Delph Tavern on 12th Septermber, with the Plate final commencing at 8.30pm sharp.  The Cup final will follow later.

An new version of the scoresheet for the league has been designed to keep everything on one side of a sheet of paper.  This can be found here on the download page:

To allow quizzes to be assessed you should send a scan or photograph of the sheet to the results compiler - results@odquiz.org.uk or by mobile to 07904 923091.

After an exciting run in in which four teams were in with a chance of winning the title until just before the end of the season, UCC Blues just pipped Robin Hood to the top spot on the final night of the league season.  Prior to the matches, UCC were two points ahead of Robin Hood, but with an inferior points difference.  This meant that if UCC Blues lost to the Masons, Robin Hood could take the title on points difference by beating Millstone.

UCC Blues did their best to make this happen, throwing away an 11 point lead to lose to Masons by 2 points, but Robin Hood did not manage to pull off a win, despite being ahead of Millstone for much of the match.  This meant that Millstone finished second, with Masons in third and Robin Hood in fourth, with only two points seperating the top four teams.