RAPE CRISIS NORTH EAST HOST TABLE QUIZ
On Friday night I headed for the Lisdoo where a special fundraising quiz was taking place for Rape Crisis North East and a huge crowd had turned out specially for the occasion.
I was only in the door when I caught up with Carmel Borges-Pinto from Blackrock whom, along with David and Cassandra Pinto were the main organisers of the fund raiser on this, it’s second occasion being run.
Along with helping run the evening daughter Cassandra was also part of the dance troupe Phoenix Rising who were going to be performing during the interval in the quiz.
Making my way in I headed for the top table where I got talking to the adjudicators who included Kay McGee from Blackrock, Shirley Murphy from Castle Heights, Aoife and Jennifer Lawless from Bay Estate who told me the man with all the questions on the night was Jason McGee and he was ready to test the grey matter with some excellent teasers.
I then headed into the crowds and at the first table I met the Daly’s from Hackballscross and they included Micheal, Michelle, Sine, Cathal and Caoimhe who assured me they were going to be the eventual winners and were “in it to win it!”
Not too far away I got a word with Elaine, Patrick and Nathan Hearty from Park Avenue whose team was called ‘ two cokes and a G&T’. They couldn’t wait for the night to get going and were looking forward to seeing daughter Sarah who was going to be performing with Phoenix Rising too.
After this I headed over for a chat with Oreena Lawless from Greenwood Drive who was with Glen and Cameron Duffy also from Greenwood Drive who told me that Oreena works with Carmel and were looking forward to the quiz because they are all highly competitive.
Next, I got talking to Emmett Woods from Rathoath who was with Savanna Thornton from Clan Cullen Park and they were having a great laugh with David Pinto from Blackrock who were looking forward to a major win by the end of the night.
Not too far away I caught up with Nicola Gonnelly from Clan Cullen Park who was with Darren White from Bay Estate Gerard Gonnelly and Cindy Thornton both from Clan Cullen Park who were quietly confident of winning, or coming very close.
After this I got talking to my friends Regina and Bruno Nicholson from Glenwood who were waiting for the arrival of their son Conor and his main squeeze Dearbhla Lenihan from Togher. They told me that Conor was the sports expert on the team and were sure they were going to be in the prizes.
Making my way through the crowds I then caught up with Margaret Moloney from Lennonstown Manor who was there with the crack quiz team of James, Lucy and Matthew who were ready to go into battle and told me that their dad would have all the answers, seeing that Michael was correcting all the team’s efforts, then yes, he certainly would!
Not too far away I met up with Breda English and mum Margaret both from Forkhill who were with the ‘ blow-in to the family’, Niamh White from Jonesboro and assured me they were “strong enough to win it as a trio.”
At an adjacent table I then met up with the Rape Crisis Centre manager Grace McArdle who was having a laugh with some of her co-workers and they included Pauline McCabe from Ashling Park, Laura McKeown from Bachelors Walk, Lada Abdrakhmanova originally from Kazakhstan now living on Newry Road and Agnieszka Slotwinska originally from Poland but now living in Ath Lethan who certainly weren’t there to make up the numbers and were definitely going to win.
After this I headed over for a word with Sarah and Helen Gray both from Willow Grove who were with Florence Ward from Blackrock and Sharon Ward from Meadow View and the ladies admitted they were all the ‘ brains of the room’ but say they couldn’t wait to see Helen’s granddaughter Sorcha who was in action with Phoenix Rises later on.
Heading for another table I Catherine MacGuinness and Mona Daly
met up with Martina McEvoy from Bay Estate who also works in the centre and she was with husband Pat and John Toal from Hughes Park who told me not to forget to give the hugely popular Game Night taking place in Byrnes Pub in Hill Street on Saturday 9th, it’s always a brilliant night.
Finally, before the quiz commenced I met up with a group with somewhat of an advantage, they included Brendan
McGuinness and Anita Rogan from Ashling Par, Peter Brady and Alan Rogan both from Muirhevnamor who were with DJ Goosey McDonnell from Toberona who has been known to host the odd table quiz himself,
usually on a Monday night in the Spirit Store, although he did admit, he has always got the best questions, but alas but not too many of the correct answers!