Wirral Quiz League

It with great sadness that we have to report the death of Dennis Collins of the Not Forthcoming Quiz Team.

Dennis was a stalwart of the Wirral Quiz League having played since the early 1980's with his first team The Admiral in Rock Ferry.

Dennis' teams (under their various names!) won 4 Division One titles over the years and recently Dennis was a member of the victorious Wirral team that won the Chester Challenge Cup.

For many years Dennis was the League's Results Secretary and also successfully ran the Riley Cup competition in tandem with the Liverpool Quiz League.

He will be sorely missed within the Wirral and Liverpool quiz community and our condolences go out to his family and friends.

His funeral will take place at 3.30pm on Monday 7th September at Landican Cemetery. His son and fellow team member David advises that a buffet will take place at The Basset Hound after the funeral and all are welcome to attend. Please email him on dtcollins@btinternet.com so that he has some ideas of numbers.

On 24th August, John Stitcher appeared on BBC 2's Only Connect as a member of The Athenians.

Remedy Productions are holding auditions for Fifteen to One in Liverpool on the 28^th of August. If anyone is looking for more information please email them at SeanMaguire@remedyproductions.tv or give them a call on 0141 428 3417.

The fixtures for September have been posted in the fixtures calendar, and on each team's page.

The full fixture list will be revealed at the Presentation Evening at the end of September when the league handbooks are distributed.

For the new season, Norman and the Noddies have renamed themselves "Not Forthcoming" and will play their matches on a Monday night at The Stork Hotel.

St Laurence's are now called "Nelson's Fifth Column" and will now play at The Heather Brow.

Irby Nomads have changed their venue to Thingwall Recreation Centre.

In the coming weeks, several players from the MQL will be appearing on TV.

On 20th July Liverpool University beat St Peter's, Oxford on University Challenge.  The Liverpool team includes Jack Bennett, who played several matches for Rainhill Victoria last season, and reached the last 6 in the Liverpool pairs competition.

In coming weeks Neil Macaskill , David Knapp, David Smith (all Warrington) and Jon Stitcher (Wirral) will be appearing on Only Connect on BBC2.  Neil will be appearing as a member of the Spaghetti Westerners on 27th July, David Smith as a member of The Railwaymen on 3rd Augusts, David Knapp as a member of The Bookworms team on 17th August, and Jon as a member of the Athenians team on 24th August.

If you know of any other people appearing on the TV, please let me know.

Ron Parry, who played for Taxes quiz team for over 25 years, has died recently at the age of 94. Ron was an ever present in the team until he moved away from the area and was considered to be the oldest player in the Wirral League. Condolences to his family and friends from all members of the Wirral League.

Dear fellow Wirral quizzers,

As many of you will know, we have experienced some difficulty in putting out a full team on a regular basis for a couple of years now – often having only three or even two players.

So, with much regret, we have decided that we can’t continue to compete next season.

John, Harry, Len and Joe (the long-term regulars going back to the Glass Barrel and before) would like to thank all our friends in the Wirral Quiz Leagues for many years (decades, even) of friendly rivalry, entertaining banter and welcoming hospitality.

Good luck to everyone next season.

Best wishes.

The Barbarians.

After a fine tournament, the last three round of which were played tonight at Aigburth People's Hall, Exiles of the Liverpool League beat Barbarians of the Wirral League in the final.

Barbarians reached the final by beating Kluggers 58-55 while playing short handed, one of their players travelling to the venue directly from Liverpool Airport after a flight from Spain and not quite making it on time!  In the semi final they beat Aigburth Swans 63-36, by this time having a full team.

Exiles progressed by beating Gladly Stoned 58-54, then beating Earles 61-25.

In the final, Exiles, the team consisting of John Curphey, Bryan Leach, Tony Coady and Clive Leach triumphed with a score of 57 to Barbarian's 48.  Barbarians' team consisted of Joe Davies, John Lively, Harry Merry and Len Davies.

Special mentions also go to Joe Raven of Earles, and Danny Grimes of Aigburth Swans who scored full houses in the quarter finals.

The MQL Finals Night was held at Aigburth People's Hall in Liverpool on Wednesday 14th May 2015.  The results of the competitions were as follows:

MQL Plate

Zetland of Southport and Formby League beat Bishop Eton of the Liverpool League 46-41 after a close fought match

Zetland (S&F)	Bishop Eton

MQL Challenge Cup

Rainhill Victoria of the Liverpool League beat Oxton Conservatives of the Wirral League 51-38.

Rainhill Victoria	Oxton Conservatives

MIMIR Final

In a hard fought contest, Pat Gibson of the Ormskirk League beat Ray Oakes, also of the Ormskirk League and Rod Moore and Brian Thompson of the Liverpool League.  The final scores were Pat Gibson 17, Ray Oakes 14, Rod Moore 11 and Brian Thompson 11.

Brian Thompson & Pat Gibson	Rod Moore & Ray Oakes

Billy Butler is looking for contestants for the Gamesroom which is played Monday-Friday 3.40pm during his show on Radio Merseyside.

If you would be up for playing you can email claire.minter@bbc.co.uk or contact them during the programme (2-4pm) on 0151 709 9333.