FOCAL was back in West Yorkshire on Saturday 13th July as James Robinson and Callum Todd welcomed 32 entrants to the Lightcliffe Golf Club, just outside Halifax.
This was a Bristol-format event using big screen graphics, ably driven by Callum whilst James compered the room. Similar to their previous events in Huddersfield, this tournament began with a World Cup-style random draw, putting contestants into pools of six (with some crossovers) to play five 9-round heats matches.
For the lunch break, James had put together a Millionaire-style quiz consisting of 15 general knowledge questions with multiple choice answers. Everyone was invited to take part, and tick answer A B C D against numbers 1-15 as each question was read out. The first question was worth 1 point, the second worth 2, and so on, as the subjects became increasingly difficult, leading to a maximum possible score of 120. The overall winner with a score of 97 was Joyce Phillips, who received a very generous prize from Philip Garbe, the Men’s Captain at the club, of a round of golf for four people!
Moving into the afternoon, everyone was divided into groups of eight for the Finals stage, when the contest switched to 15-round matches for the quarters and semis. Additionally, the hosts had prepared conundrums of varying difficulty, which played out in three waves at the end of each match — firstly for groups C and D, then group B, then group A.
The eighth and final match was a 14-rounder of olde (eight letters games, four numbers games and two conundrums). In the 3rd place play-off, Kirk Bevins overcame James Haughton in a tightly fought match. The Grand Final between Jack Worsley and Tim Down played out as the exhibition showpiece at the end of the afternoon, and Jack won 105-74.
There were prizes for the winners, runners-up and 3rd place finishers in each group. So, even if the morning heats presented some tough draws, there was still something well worth aiming for in the three finals’ matches.
After the event, our hosts had arranged a group booking for 20 nearby at The Sun Country Inn, which offered up a welcome selection of dinners, desserts and refreshing drinks. Clean plates and empty glasses all round!
Our thanks to James and Callum for another thoroughly enjoyable event in West Yorkshire, and also to Philip Garbe for his hospitality and generosity at the golf club.
Updated FOCAL league standings to follow in the next post.
JC
4/8/19
