THE first Talk of the Town/MyPond Hotel quiz night in aid of the Port Alfred Soup Kitchen that took place at the hotel last Thursday evening, was an unqualified success, managing to raise a massive R10500 for this worthy cause.
Quizmaster Jon Houzet did an excellent job, compiling six challenging sections, comprising 10 questions each – plus a bonus question worth two points.
Sections included books and literature, music clips, sport, movie clips, famous faces and “daffynitions” (for those good with words). The conference room at MyPond Hotel was filled to capacity, with a total of 26 teams of four players each (plus one team of five, who played just for fun) taking part in the often tricky, but always entertaining trivia evening.
There was also a raffle which assisted greatly in raising the total for the evening to over the R10 000 mark. The prizes for the top two teams were meal vouchers from MyPond and Stenden South Africa hoodies – both sets of prizes amounting to R1 200 each.
“The unprecedented support from the community made the evening a total success,” said Houzet, whose extensive general knowledge had teams wracking their brains. “And it was great to see some new faces making a name for themselves, as opposed to the regulars we have seen at the Lions’ quiz nights,” he added. “And some people who could not attend this quiz night have said they will definitely make the next, so it could be even bigger next time,” he said.
The winners on the evening were The Buco Brainiacs, with a score of 46 points. In second place, based on a count-out (as both teams managed to score 39 points), were the Gs and Cs and in third place were The Old and the New. Four teams scored 37 points and another count-out was required as only the top five teams received prizes.
“Due to the overwhelming success of the evening we are considering running the next quiz sometime toward the end of the year,” soup kitchen fundraiser and event coordinator, Ivy Gulliford, said.
Vice-chairwoman of the Soup Kitchen, Debra Harris, agreed that the evening was an unmitigated success. To all the participants, Harris gave a reassurance that the next quiz evening would be another successful venture. “You were all great,” she said.
