On Saturday 26 April 2025 over 80 enthusiastic quizzers packed into Chalgrave Memorial Hall for our legendary CSC Quiz Night. The atmosphere crackled with excitement as our host, John Parker, made his grand entrance, dazzling in a gold-sequin jacket that, let’s just say, was more suited to his younger – and slightly slimmer – self!
To keep things fair, we again awarded bonus points based on team size: the smaller your team, the more bonus points you were awarded at the start, with the biggest teams starting with minus points! Eleven teams, armed with witty names and (mostly) bright minds, embarked on six quiz rounds plus two table challenges to vie for the title of Chalgrave Quiz Champions.
By the halfway point Gone Down Swigging had taken the lead closely followed by The Lightweights and The No Eye Deers. Several chasing teams had yet to play their Jokers (double points for the round) so it was still all to play for as we paused for the half time interval.
Phil ‘Worrier-in-Chief’ Parry breathed a huge sigh of relief when the fish and chip van finally rolled up. Fresh, piping-hot food disappeared in record time, proving once again that nothing fuels trivia like good comfort food. Meanwhile, our two picture round table challenges – Heroes & Heroines and Villains & Villainesses – were collected and whisked away for secret marking, the scores kept under wraps to crank up the suspense for the final positions reveal.
After the interval it was time for CSC’s unique quiz themed take on the classic Heads or Tails game, True or False. Participants had to guess the answer to an obscure random question by placing hands on their head (true) or bottom (false). After just three rounds, only three contenders remained standing from the original 70+ who started. The next question was The A5 is longer than the A6 – Self-confessed roads anorak, Nev Andrews, confidently placed his hands on his head, Eddie wavered (for some considerable time it has to be said) before eventually opting for true, and Gary Ward boldly chose false. Drum roll… it was revealed to be false, the A6 being 12 miles longer than the A5 – making Gary Ward the triumphant winner of the cash prize.
The quiz resumed with a Sounds round, always a popular category, with music, movies and other sound clips testing everyone’s ears. Who Dares Gins nailed a perfect 12/12, and having played their joker, bagged, a whopping 24 points.
The final round, Double or Nothing had teams risking points for glory. Teams could earn double points for all correct answers but would lose ALL points for the round if any answer was wrong! Passing on a question didn’t count as a wrong answer, but some teams were looking to make up ground and had to go all out to score points. The round ended with some loud groans and cursing as five teams got the dreaded wah wah wah trombone fanfare and nil poi for the round.
Quiz rounds completed and final scores tallied (including the table round scores), it was time to reveal the results in reverse order.
The battle to avoid last place saw some close rivalry between Deceptively Dumb (young, clever, but baffled by anything pre-2000), We Live in Hope (more invested in Prosecco than answers), and the Baldy Bikers (who messed up their joker round). In the end it was the follically challenged bikers that took the (dis)honour and claimed the wooden spoon award.
The scores continued to be revealed, with a loud cheer from Signs of the Times, who seemed very chuffed with their respectable 5th place finish. At the summit, it was a nail-biter between Gone Down Swigging and Who Dares Gins, but the gin-loving quizzers clinched victory by five points, proving that a well-played Joker can make all the difference.
Huge congrats to our winners, runners-up, and every single team regardless of where they finished, for a fantastic night of fun, banter, questionable excuses, and glorious trivia. Whether you aced it or just enjoyed the chips, we hope you had a fabulous evening — see you next time!
Although the CSC committee (John, Simon, Kev, Debbie, Millie, Phil, Paul, and Mike) put in a lot of hard work to organise and run events like this, it would not be possible without the unwavering help and support from others that enable us to make the event such a success on the night. We are very grateful to the following people (in no particular order) for all their help: Fiona, Lesley, Su, Mandy, Vicky, Gabe, Libby, and Sarah, as well as those that stayed behind to help clear up and put away all the tables and chairs.