50th Event 4 - Quiz Night

The fourth event in our year of celebration, a Quiz Night in support of Autism Bedfordshire and the Tibbs Dementia Foundation, kicked off on Friday 25^th February. This sell-out event saw quiz teams filter into Bedford Rugby Club’s marquee, excited to prove their knowledge and apprehensive as to what the ‘extra activities’ entailed.

With over 25 teams settled down and raring to go, Senior Buyer at SDC and organiser for this event Juliet Di Giampasquale stood up to welcome everyone and launch the quiz. David Heard, SDC’s regular Quiz Master and Project Director by day, took the microphone to begin the first round.

After 10 rapid fire questions on events occurring during 1972, the year of SDC’s formation, teams swapped papers and the answers were revealed to the delight or dismay of the quizzers. Whilst this was happening inside the marquee, outside in the cold, one member from each team had volunteered themselves to try and win extra points by taking on some fairground activities. Quizzers took on hook-a-duck, buzzwire, foot darts, hoopla, plinko, and rollerball. With up to 10 points to be earnt on each round, activities had to be completed quickly, to rush back and provide specialist knowledge on the questions being read inside.

Further rounds saw teams of colleagues, friends and families puzzle to think of answers for ‘Connections’ (it turns out the answers all started with either S, D or C), Bedfordshire Famous People, landmarks within 100 miles of SDC’s head office, and song lyrics – proving difficult for those that played their joker card.

The quiz paused for a well-earned food break, with picnic boxes provided by ThoroughBreads in Cambridge. During this time the picture rounds, which involved naming skyscrapers and bridges from across the world, were collected and marked by the team of SDC employees who volunteered to help at the event.

The raffle was also drawn, with those holding the right tickets winning a television, a spa day, a signed rugby shirt, hampers, and gift vouchers. The current scores were announced, and a few teams realised they needed to put their heads together for the upcoming rounds.

The second half of the evening kicked off with questions on film quotes, before testing employee’s knowledge with a round on Construction. The ‘Guess Who’ round saw teams match the Directors to their baby photos, which gave an unfair advantage to those teams with Directors on! Two final rounds comprised of last-ditch attempts to gain some extra points, before all sheets were handed in and scores were added up.

Francis Shiner took to the stage to thank the volunteers, Bedford Rugby Club, and bronze sponsors JP Stone and Acorn Ironmongery, before presenting Silver Sponsor Travis Perkins, and Gold Sponsor Munro Building Services with a Crystal Glass Award. SDC then presented a representative from each of the charities, Autism Bedfordshire, and the Tibbs Dementia Foundation, with a cheque for £5,000.

Then came the moment so many had been waiting for. Starting from the bottom, David announced the last place team, aptly titled ‘We’re only here for the booze’. Francis awarded a ‘Thinker’ statue, in hopes of providing them with some future knowledge for any other quizzes they dare to attempt.

Running through the rest of the scores, David announced the second and third place teams, who won a bottle of champagne each for their triumphs.

Next up, and with a drumroll, the winners were announced… SDC’s Accounting Department had taken first place! Led by Director Andrew Mitchell, the team took to the stage to collect their prize – use of SDC’s hospitality box at a Bedford Blues Game!