Last Friday (15th October) we arrived at Sandown Park to attend Trivia With Tarrant – a quiz night hosted by Chris Tarrant plus charity auction in aid of the Princess Alice Hospice. Sadly, there were no “Ring A Friend”, “Ask The Audience” or “50:50” options... Mobile phones, laptops AND personal computers were banned from the Solario Suite. Stripped of our assets, our team of 10 had to succeed on our combined brain power alone. Apparently that’s what it was like back in the 70’s! So the very first question we had to ponder that evening was... Was it going to be enough?!
It turned out that the questions were set by a local group of solicitors. Although there wasn’t a round on the finer points of civil law, the questions were tough! But to be fair, the solicitors from Mundays were very efficient at marking our answer sheets and keeping score throughout the evening so that halfway through the quiz and just before the gourmet dinner, we were very pleased to learn that our table was 5th out of 20... But the "Birds Eye View" round soon saw the eventual winners breaking away. They must have swotted up on their Google maps of famous world landmarks the night before!
This year a total of £7,500 was generated from ticket sales, the auction, hospice lottery sales and the selling of jokers and quiz clues throughout the evening. Chris Tarrant is Vice President of The Princess Alice Hospice which provides free palliative care to those with terminal illnesses and support for their families, within the south west London and Surrey area. He became involved after a chance encounter with an old buddy on tv…
“I’d been aware of the hospice for several years as I live just a few hundred yards away. But it was only when Neil Fox, my old mate from Capital Radio, came onto a celebrity edition of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' with Simon Cowell, playing for their chosen charity which was the Princess Alice Hospice, that I really sat up and took notice,” he explains. “Neil told me about the sad death of his own father at the hospice but also talked in glowing terms about the wonderful care that not only his father, but also his whole family had received from the staff during those last few sad weeks.” As he found out more about the hospice, Chris felt obliged to get involved.
Over 100,000 people volunteer in local hospices in the UK. Without them it would be impossible for hospices to continue the essential work that they do. If you want to get involved or attend other fund-raising events organized by the fantastic team at Princess Alice Hospice, ring (01372) 468 811 or visit their website www.pah.org.uk for more details.
There was a great atmosphere last Friday so I’m sure I can vouch for many participants that it was a fun and enjoyable evening all round for a very worthwhile cause!
