A Quiz evening
One of the fund raising events which I really enjoyed when I was a schoolteacher, back in the UK, was the annual Quiz Evening organized by the Parents’ Association.
The school hall would be crowded out as people amassed around their tables in teams of eight or ten.
On the table would be:
- a list of the ten or so rounds, with titles like: The London Underground; Broadway Musicals; Who am I?; Famous Battles;
- sheets on which we would have to write the answers for the ten or so rounds, and also
- the questions for the Marathon round: write the names of the countries of South and Central America on a map; identify some “dingbats”; or a selection of flags of the world … and that sort of thing.
- a large playing card – the team’s Joker, which they could use to double their score on any round of their choice. The titles of some of the rounds were quite cryptic, and so you had to be very careful in choosing exactly when to play your joker … what looked like an obvious choice might cost many points.
The Master of Ceremonies would take the microphone and carefully read out the questions for each round … usually twice, but occasionally he would be forced to read one question over and over again … because people were too busy arguing over a previous answer and didn’t hear the next question. Or maybe the sound system would play up, with feedback screeches … and for some reason the sound system always seemed to play up when it came to the Music round and no-one could hear the snatch of music being played.
Sometimes, passions rose and tempers flew … but it was generally a good natured event – and all in a good cause, raising money to help the school buy some of the little luxuries not provided for in the ordinary school budget. The biggest arguments seemed to come when someone disputed an answer … For example: in answer to the question “Which city is known as “The Windy City”?” … then someone from America will almost certainly answer Chicago, but to someone from New Zealand, Wellington would be obvious answer … ), or when a question was complicated and there were half points awarded. Sometimes, half a point could make a difference between coming first or second.
Ten rounds of ten questions, with twenty five more points available from the Marathon, and the bonus from using the Joker, meant that something like 135 points were available for a perfect score. I don’t remember anyone ever achieving a perfect score … but sometimes a team got pretty close. Teams of both parents and pupils would enjoy beating the staff tables.
Usually, the rounds were marked immediately and points awarded … and a large scoreboard updated so that everyone could keep tabs on their position. As the evening wore on the competition between certain tables would grow more intense, and some teams, deciding that they weren’t doing that well, decided to relax and have fun offering “humourous” alternative answers.
On the table there would also be place settings … and during an interval when you could concentrate on the Marathon round, a meal would be served … there would be tea, coffee and Cola, but as there was no license for selling alcohol most people brought with them wine or beer to drink with the meal, and that all helped to make the evening flow.
Quiz evenings became quite popular and some pubs organized events in the middle of the week on what would, otherwise, have been quiet nights. Competition would be quite fierce and people were known to ‘cheat’ by ‘phoning a friend’ to get an answer, or using their blackberry to ‘google’ a question.
When I came here and began working with a number of organizations, like KATO, (the Kyrgyz Association of Tour Operators), I tried to interest them in similar events … I found them fun and most people in Britain seemed to enjoy them … but I was met with a distinct lack of interest. I suppose it was just one of those ‘cultural differences’ that emerge from time to time.
Anyway, a week ago I met a friend in a local bar and was surprised to see an advert for an upcoming event being held in aid of the Alpine Fund … a Quiz Evening.
The Alpine Fund is a small, locally based, non-profit, non-governmental, secular organization that uses the incredible mountain resources of Kyrgyzstan to help the country’s most vulnerable youth challenge themselves for future success.
Their programs offer a chance to children and young adults from orphanages and the street to escape the confines of their daily surroundings and meet challengesin a mountain environment, (through hikes, climbs, education programs, individual mentoring, and college scholarships)..
The fund was founded in the year 2000, by the American climber, Garth Willis, employs a couple of local staff, but also a number of interns and volunteers from around the world who help in their programs.
For more information, see: http://www.alpinefund.org/
I was a bit anxious at first, because the ex-pat community here is fairly mixed: Americans and Australians outnumbering the Brits and I didn’t fancy rounds on topics like the history of baseball, but I needn’t have worried. Most of the rounds were mixed general knowledge – a geography question, one on current affairs, another on world history and the like. There was one round on Central Asia and another on Mountains, (well it was all in aid the Alpine Fund!), and, of course, there was the ubiquitous Music Round … I gave up trying to identify the base player performing during a particular piece.
It was a fairly raucous evening, but very enjoyable … and I look forward to the next one …
Bishkek