The Lambert Chapman Charity Quiz Night returns

After a year’s break as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lambert Chapman LLP Charity Quiz Night was held on Thursday 2 December at Braintree Golf Club where teams were competing to win the coveted trophy.  Our quiz has been held for a number of years and is organised and run by staff within the Practice with the Partners, as well as staff members, providing assistance to the bar, arranging the raffle and collecting/marking quiz papers throughout the evening.

The event was specifically planned to ensure that all necessary precautions were taken, particularly in light of the current climate, and we were pleased that we had 13 enthusiastic teams taking part. This year, we were raising funds for Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA), which is our Charity of the Year, and we were delighted that a team from MNDA took part in the quiz.

As usual, Quizmasters Mike Carabine and Richard Hamilton delivered eight rounds including Literature, Filmography, Science and Nature, What’s her Name, Music, Sport and TV Sitcoms, as well as a picture round in which teams had to identify English landmarks and locate their County setting on a map. There was also a Marathon Round where teams had to identify films from pictures of cars featured in them, album covers, World leaders, celebrity chefs and celebrities whose names had a link to Christmas. Of these the filmography was Tom Hanks films – thanks to our films expert Lee Sutton who provided the synopsis for each film – What’s her Name which worked down the 10 most popular girls names of 2020 and the music round named 3 members of a four piece band asking for the missing member.

The quiz was hotly contested and in earlier years our winners have got very close to the maximum of 140 points, but this year things were a little closer and we had early leaders in Holmes & Hills, who were able to field 2 teams providing internal competition, before Optimum IFA and Birkett Long LLP came through the field. But unlike earlier years Optimum Independent Financial Advisers Limited managed to hold on and secure their first victory with 128.5 points.

During the evening, there was a raffle featuring prizes donated by our clients and contacts, as well as Partners and members of staff.  We also ran a game of Heads & Tails in order to boost funds.

We are delighted to announce that after combining table sales, raffle ticket entries, cash collected on the night and a further donation made on behalf of the Partners at Lambert Chapman LLP – we raised £2,250 which will be making its way to the Colchester and NE Essex Branch on the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Our thanks go to the following staff and Partners for their involvement:

• Katie Gardner – organisation of the event, both before and during the evening;
• Mike Carabine and Richard Hamilton – questions and answers/hosting;
• Sarah Hamilton and Wendy Eveling – marking;
• Lucy Orrow, Mark Pearson, Soojin Austin – collection of quiz sheets, raffle tickets and bar service;
• The Partners – Nick Forsyth, Paul Short Graham McNeill and Craig Weavers – collection of quiz sheets, raffle tickets and bar service.

Despite spilling coffee over his suit and then cutting himself picking up the broken crockery, Managing Partner Nick Forsyth said, “There’s always a good feeling to take away from our annual charity quiz having seen our team deliver the event they have organised, but after a COVID induced year off, I was extremely proud of the quiz that was delivered this year; seeing a large gathering of teams enjoying the evening at an excellent venue and the teamwork delivered to cope with the increased COVID restrictions we had introduced. Everyone co-operated well and I felt that the night was a great success. My thanks go to Mike, Richard and particularly Katie for their work beforehand and to those helping on the evening.

We’ve used Braintree Golf Club because the room is superb, the parking large enough to cope and the food and welcome is always excellent. AJ and Lisa run the catering and put on a tasty meal for us at half time, after which we watched a personal video that Graham had recorded about living with Motor Neurone Disease.”

We would also like to thank the following people and organisations who gave prizes for the raffle:

• Art with Amy Louise
• Blackwater Sailing Club
• Braintree Golf Club
• Browns Luxury Hair (Braintree)
• Courtauld Memorial Hall, Colne Engaine
• Essex Cricket
• Hair Design by Avenues
• Katrina Louise Photography
• Kelly Turkey Farms Limited
• Pantaloons
• Unity (Sible Hedingham)
• Volspec Limited
• Lisa Greenwood, Paul Short, Katie Gardner, Wendy Eveling, Richard Hamilton, Mark Pearson, Cara Catley, Abby Salt, Joe Winter and the Tax team – all from Lambert Chapman LLP

The final results…

If you were unable to attend this year’s Quiz and would like to be invited next year, please contact katie.gardner@lambert-chapman.co.uk,  richard.hamilton@lambert-chapman.co.uk or mike.carabine@lambert-chapman.co.uk