A quiz in aid of the newly-established Hambledon Ukraine Appeal raised a remarkable £539.50, thanks to the generosity of a packed pub-full of contestants from the village and beyond.
Hosted by quiz-master Andy Hinde and music-master Jon Petersen, the event was a sell-out. The pub dished out curry and a free drink for a knock-down price and donated two bottles of champagne to the winning team. This enabled the entrance fee, together with generous cash and card donations, to go entirely to the Hambledon Ukraine Appeal.
This was only set up on Monday, with a JustGiving page and cash donations points at the village shop, nursery school and pub, together with a card reader at the shop.
This initiative, which grew out of a desire to have a community-focused response to the refugee crisis, hit the ground running. Within four hours of publicising the appeal on this village website and local social media, the JustGiving page had raised £1,000 and has continued to grow ever since. It had reached more than £2,000 before the quiz and other monies had been added.
These will be moved across to the JustGiving account, together with money raised by card donations at the shop, and then sent on to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. The DEC is made up of 15 internationally-recognised UK charities which specialise in humanitarian aid and disaster relief.
If you would like to donate to this appeal, please do so using the link button on the right of this article.
Despite the desperate plight of the refugees and the seriousness of the need to help, the quiz was conducted in a wonderful community spirit. Andy had constructed several fiendish themed rounds of general knowledge questions and Jon played music from across the decades. The inclusion of Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline inevitably led to an outbreak of singing, with seated quizzers rising to their feet, and some even standing on their tables, arms in the air.
Everyone was a winner, just by taking part and giving so generously, but the actual champions on the night were team Volodymyr Quizlensky, made up of Robin McKeith and Anne-Charlotte (AC) Buffet, their neighbour Ben and Tony and Ali Scott-Bishop. They received the two bottles of champagne but gave one to the runners-up, a team hosted by Deeg Gorrod.
Our photo at the top of this article shows a packed dining area given over to contestants, and those above are of music-master Jon Petersen, a team at the bar with quiz-master Andy Hinde in the background, and the hard-worked bar staff led by manager Mikey Coleman.Thanks to them and to Nick Ash and his team in the kitchen.
And we finish off below with a photo that should surely be captioned Eggheads.
