'The Final Countdown'

Date: Wednesday 3 March 2010

Weekday afternoons on Channel Four hold few attractions other than the daily dose of 'Countdown' where competitors try their best, and often very successfully, to create long words out of random letters, and create balanced equations out of random numbers.

For many a year, Lesley Humphreys, our resident librarian has run a similar event, and today was the opportunity for the pupils to knock the staff team off its log-held pedestal. Six teams took part, and the final prize was shared between the girls - Misses Summerfield, McNie, Pemberton, and Richards, and the boys - Messrs Stone, McMaster, and Kemp. In their sudden death play-off neither side could find a valid word from the given letters. They could have discovered 'assigns' or 'assizes', but....

The staff challenge fell foul of the girls' team who sneaked home with a 6 - 5 win in the one decided leg. Messrs Knight and Dagley, and Mrs Mander retired shamefaced to the 'dictionary corner', and comfort in Cadbury's cream eggs!

The other teams consisted of Vile, Pape, and Jensen - happier with frisbee or bat in hand; Connor, Deeble, and Keliris - flummoxed by the absence of a numbers' round; and, Callaway, Baker and Williams.

This could have been the 'final countdown'. Whoever is in charge of the library in a year's time will surely be under pressure to revive what is a good way to spend the long lunchtime break. But not too often - Once a year is fine!