Preparations began early for our final Members’ Evening of 2023!

With events beginning at 8pm, most of us on the Committee were there at 7pm where there were tables to arrange, prizes to display and nibbles to distribute!

Crisps, Peanuts and Mince Pies were placed on each table where, beforehand, our President, Paul Johnson, was invited to test them, (in the name of quality control! 😉) – It was our festive event, after all! 😋

As they say: “In a packed programme tonight…” – and it certainly was!!!! 👍😀

With everything prepared, Paul introduced our festive-themed evening, welcoming everyone and explaining tonight’s ‘order of play’.

Raffle Tickets were also on offer with the perfect prize partnership of Wine and Chocolate on offer for the lucky winners.

As Paul explained: not content with a single game of Bingo, we had THREE! – the lilac, yellow and red rounds. With cash prizes too!

And if you weren’t a Bingo fan, then how about a Quiz..? No, how about two Quizzes..! Err, no, even better – THREE brain-teasers including one hosted by our very own Bailiff to the Lord of the Manor, Frank York – again with prizes for the victors.

Phew! 😃

The evening also saw the Society firmly enter the 21st century with the first appearance of our own portable card payment machine setup earlier in the week by Paul Cottell (RFS Treasurer) and Steve Palmer (RFS Web & Social Media). At last! the RFS now accepts cash or card payments! 😁

Eyes Down!

At just after 8pm, when the evening began, we may not quite have had a ‘full house’ (see what we did there!) but Members were hoping to enjoy a few of their own! 🤔

With Frank temporarily swapping roles from Bailiff to Bingo Caller, the first of our three Bingo rounds started. Within five minutes, we had a winning line. After 10 minutes, we then heard the familiar call of “House!”. With tickets checked, Steve distributed the bounty of £10 and £5 to the lucky winners.

At this point, Frank interrupted proceedings with the first of his ‘Spot’ questions…

“If the Rowell Fair had a Halberd for every Monarch, how many would we have?”

Luckily, our Bailiff was in a generous mood and accepted the nearest answer – and our first ‘spot’ prize was awarded. The answer, if you’re wondering, is 35 (excluding Oliver and Richard Cromwell).

The second – yellow ticket – round of Bingo followed, and in a similar fashion to the earlier lilac ticket, we had two winners in very quick succession.

Frank was back with his second question…

“During my time in the Army, how many countries did I visit?”

Much head-scratching all around, where Frank, once again, accepted the nearest answer – he’s travelled to 23!

The Quizzes

IN a temporary break from the Bingo, Paul and Steve distributed the two Quizzes. They were very different in style involving the whole table as a team – the “Chocolate/Sweeties Quiz” team quiz and the spoken quiz (with Paul, as MC) the more traditional “Pub General Knowledge”. But first, we needed some team names and with everyone’s imagination working overtime, the following groups were ready for battle (in the friendliest of ways, of course!) 😁

“Chocolatiers”
“The Three Rowellians”
“Bowlers”
“The Wrights”
“The Three Amigos”
“Pal”

As things turned-out, based on the scores, tonight proved that our guests were experts with chocolate – easily answering all the questions when the time came.

The General Knowledge Quiz, consisting of 20 questions, proved a little tougher including questions such as:-

“How many people in a volleyball team” and “What are three consecutive strikes in ten-pin bowling called?”

(“6” and “turkey”, if you’re wondering!) 🙄

The evening was flying-by as Frank posed his third question of the evening…

“How many different zoos and aquariums had he visited so far during his retirement?”

None of us were even close! Best guess was 43… the answer turned out to be an impressive 75!

Back to the Bingo

Our third and final round of Bingo was on the red slip, where, once more, ‘Line’ and ‘House’ were completed in quick succession. Steve distributed the spoils leaving Frank to temporarily leave his role as ‘Caller’ and pose his final ‘Spot’ question of the evening…

“How many different species of bird have I observed during my time as a bird-watcher?”

Again, an impressive number followed – 196!!

With all the quizzes now completed, Steve collated the scores and announced the winners for the evening, with our President congratulating the winners.

1st Prize: “Pal” – 39 points
2nd prize: “The Wrights” – 37 points
3rd Prize: “Chocolatiers” – 36 points

As the clock struck 10pm, prizes of £20, £15 and £10 were shared with our winners. All that was left now was to call the Raffle. It demonstrated man and machine in perfect harmony as Frank called the numbers for the final time.

…and finally!

As the last of the 11 raffle prizes were awarded, Paul, our President, summarised the evening where everyone agreed that despite the low(ish) turnout, it had been a very enjoyable evening.

Everyone was reminded of the Save the Date sheet on their tables listing the key events for the Society in 2024, including the AGM in February, and later, the 820th Anniversary of the Rowell Fair in late May (that also coincides with a Bank Holiday).

(For future dates of the Rowell Fair, why not take a look at our dedicated web-page HERE).

The evening concluded with our President thanking everyone for their support this year and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and happy new year.

🎅
Merry Christmas from the
Rowell Fair Society