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Quiz Night for Hastings, Sierra Leone – £1800 raised

By Jonathan Broughton (March 2013)

On March 5th 2013, St Paul’s School hosted the annual Quiz Night to raise funds for Hastings in Sierra Leone. The money raised by the event goes towards building projects, such as extensions to a health clinic and the necessary equipment needed for it to be successfully operated, and the forging of educational partnerships that will deepen the understanding of the life, culture and learning possibilities of the two towns.

The sold out event attracted people from Hastings, St Leonards and beyond. Twenty eight teams of six people per team, competed for the honour of first place.
Jeremy Birch, leader of the Council, chaired the proceedings. Everyone brought along their own refreshments and the quizzing commenced to the contented sounds of mild indulgence.

Ten rounds and ten questions per round with subjects such as Clothing, The Welsh, The USA, Food and Drink and General Knowledge gave everyone the chance to shine at their favourite topic. As with all quizzes everyone knows a little about a lot of subjects, but no one came to blows and if you didn’t know the answer to a particular question, then it was good to learn.

On each table a bare map of the British Isles, with a list of towns and cities down one side, tested our knowledge of the exact whereabouts of these locations. Place a dot and the city’s corresponding number where you think it is situated. Harder than it looks, especially with those difficult ‘middle of the country’ places. How far north is Manchester? I’ve never heard of Coleraine, but it sounds Irish. Put it on the west coast and serve them right for being unknown. It’s not on the west coast, it’s fifty miles north west of Belfast.

A large screen behind Mr Birch flashed up the questions and later the answers. Before we began, each team played their Joker on the questions they hoped they might do well at and this doubled that round’s scores. A running total of overall team placements also flashed up on the big screen and kept everyone’s hopes up of doing better in forthcoming rounds.

With the interval came the drawing of raffle tickets and the handing out of prizes. One member on my team won a Gift Voucher to spend at ESK in Eastbourne. One lucky winner won two hundred and fifty pounds to go towards new carpeting. Two auctions, one for a beautifully hand-crafted plate and the other for the weeks’ use of a beach hut in Bexhill, both raised close to fifty pounds.

The well organised and smooth running evening concluded with the winners being announced. First place went to Runners and Runners Up and my team, We Are Six, came third. Even better, the evening raised eighteen hundred pounds: a lot of money that will generate many opportunities in Hastings, Sierra Leone.

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