The annual Autumn Event, this year a quiz, took place on Friday 3rd October from 7 pm for 7:30 pm at Chester Road Sports and Social Club, hosted by President Peter Vaughan.
President Peter Vaughan's took the form of a quiz, and followed the success of Keith Bowkett's similar event held last year. Competing were eight teams, each of six members. Once more, there was a good mix of Old Carolians plus their friends, and it has to be mentioned that a large measure of the success can be attributed to Keith and his wife Ollie, who had recruited 16 brains to the event. Indeed, Ollie Bowkett was perhaps the star of the occasion, as she helped to mark the answers with quizmaster Peter Frazier and his wife, Gill, while also finding time to organise the evening's raffle.
As with most quiz evenings, there were some interesting team names, such as 'Credit Bunch', 'Scrambled Egg Heads' and 'The East Stand'. The contest was keenly and closely fought throughout, but the eventual winner was 'Fish, Chips and Gravy', a team led by Valerie Crumpton. They sneaked home by a narrow margin from 'Credit Bunch', a team made up of three Presidents – Peter Vaughan, Colin Lloyd and David Slater, with Stephanie Lloyd, Paula Slater and the invaluable Roger Perrin. They went home to gorge themselves on boxes of chocolates. Last year's winners, and the bookies' favourites again this year, was a team from the Wyre Forest Pub Quiz League. After a thrilling competition, they finished in third place. It is perhaps no surprise that Valerie's team walked off with the first prize of six bottles of wine. She can boast of a quiz pedigree, which includes reaching the latter stages of The Weakest Link, and, perhaps more impressively, living to tell the tale after an encounter with Anne Robinson.
A splendid evening was had by all, and the usual controversies over disputed answers were quickly forgotten at half-time, when 45 portions of fish and chips were safely delivered. These were supplied by Catchem's End Fish Bar, and their head chef, George, Bewdley’s answer to Gordon Ramsay. A splendid establishment without doubt.
For those that enjoy a diet of quiz questions, try these brain-cell crunchers. These are not trick questions; they are straight questions with straight answers:
1) Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the winner until the contest ends.
2) Which famous North American landmark is constantly moving backwards?
3) Which fruit has its seeds on the outside?
4) Name 3 words in standard English which begin with the letters 'dw'.
5) Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked or in any other form except fresh.
The answers:
1) Boxing.
2) Niagara Falls, which is worn down by two and a half feet each year.
3) A strawberry.
4) Dwarf, dwelling and dwindle.
5) Lettuce.