Brunton Shield

Every year several players from the Sunderland Quiz League and quizzers from across Scotland gather to contest the Brunton Shield. You may remember last year I was a small part of the winning team at this event and enjoyed it so much that there was no question about returning this year. I made something of a short-break of the trip to Edinburgh (more of which later) and the event was again held at The Grange Cricket Venue.

There were around 12 teams competing I believe with 9 from Scotland and 3 from the North East. We drew ourselves into random teams and kicked off the quiz. The first part of the quiz is a set of a 100 questions which the team work on together. This year the questions were very tough indeed but as always, very enjoyable. They were set by Dave Taylor who you may have seen on last years Only Connect. Covering a broad range of subjects we managed to turn a poor start round and after storming through the second half ended up with a score we were happy with. It was not quite enough to make the final this year however.

The final teams are decided by the highest scoring Sunderland Team against the highest Scottish team. 12 questions are asked to each side with a mixture of individual and team questions. It was a tough set and produced a very close final game but the Sunderland side managed to retain the trophy for the north east.

Perhaps more importantly the barman informed us he would keep the bar open until 1am and we spent the rest of the night in a great venue with very good company.

Again the Brunton Shield has proven to be one of the highlights of the year so far quizzing wise. I may be able to get a copy of the questions, and I will okay it with Dave but may post a few up as there some absolute corkers.