Mostly a good week . . . but. . .

I said in my last post that its been a busy quiz week.Its been mostly a good week. I say mostly rather than totally, because of a discussion I had with a good quiz friend during the last few days. Really and truly he’s one of a group who make up the unsung heroes of quizzing throughout the length and breadth of the country. By this I mean that he’s pretty much kept a quiz going in his watering hole of choice for a long time, 27 years by a conservative estimate, for no remuneration at all except for a couple of pints every time he produces the quiz himself, and he’s feeling pretty cheesed off with it at the moment. With some good reason he’s unhappy about the fact that he, along with a small group of other setters, has maintained the quiz, making sure that there is always a quiz every week that the club is open. Attendances have been falling for some time, and in his last quiz we were down to 4 teams. Alright, its happened before. Not often, though. However as he explained it to me there are teams who have asked him if he’s doing it in the coming week, only to make a point of not turning up when he does so.

Its such a shame. In the decade and a half that I’ve been going to the quiz in question my friend has maintained a standard of excellence which you’d find hard to match anywhere. If anyone misses a turn to make the quiz, he always steps in, however short the notice. Answer sheets etc. he produces himself – the club give him no help whatsoever on this score. It must seem a thankless task. I remember ten years or so ago he described it to me as a labour of love, and I guess that it’s a labour you can fall out of love with. With the result that he is seriously considering giving up the quiz.It’s a huge shame, and I desperately hope that he might reconsider. Even if the quiz does manage to keep going – and I’ll be honest , that is by no means a given – I’ll really miss his quizzes. I think people will realise just how good they were once he doesn’t do them any more.