RRC Quiz Night Auction Items Announced

The quiz night is less than 2 weeks away – Friday 15th March – hope you have your tickets!! Just to get you excited here is a list of current auction and silent auction items (still happy to receive more Items contact [email protected])

 
Can’t be there on the night and see something you like – get someone else to bid on your behalf – remember all proceeds go towards some shiny new boats!

Don’t forget your tickets!!! Tickets are available through Trybooking at https://www.trybooking.com/466963

 

RRC Quiz Night – Friday 15 March 2019 – Tickets available now!!!

The annual RRC Trivia Night is on Friday 15th March. This year we have a swinging 60’s theme. So its time to revamp your flares, dust off your go-go boots and re-arrange your flower necklace, cause the swinging Sixties are coming back to Richmond.
Our quizmaster from afar, Justin Thomas, will again be writing the questions to see who can take home the trophy this year.
Tickets are available through Trybooking at https://www.trybooking.com/466963
We are also looking for items to auction….these could be just about anything…wine, tools, accommodation (especially if you have a holiday house), tickets to concerts, shows or galleries, hampers, sporting goods, jewellery, paintings, ….. the list is endless.
The other thing that is always a winner is the donation of your time which could include things such as Coxing (everyone needs a coxwain), coaching, handyman, babysitting, gardening, painting or if you are a professional then perhaps you could offer you service of expertise for a period of time.
Please have a think and see what you can come up with. All donations will help raise money for the club and will be put towards upgrading our fleet and equipment.
If you have any items to donate or can help out with organising the night please contact Christine with questions or donations at fundraising@richmondrowing.com.au.

Don't forget your trivia night tickets – it's this Saturday!!!


Our annual RRC trivia night is this Saturday, starting at 7pm. The theme for this year’s quiz is Arabian Nights – so don’t forget your costume!
Click on this link for tickets through Trybooking. Prices are $25 per person or $225 for a table of 10.
The one and only Justin Thomas has prepared the quiz questions from the UK with help of Aline Dejaegher and Simon Crunden confirmed to MC the evening with Derek Begg as our auctioneer for the night.
It’s always a great night and you can bring along your friends, colleagues and family to enjoy each other’s company at the club. The event is BYO food, with drinks at bar prices. Prizes for winning team and best dressed, and don’t forget to decorate your table!

Quiz Night Auction Items – Help required!!!

With our annual Trivia Night approaching fast (24 March) we are again in need of your assistance.
We are looking for items to auction….these could be just about anything…wine, tools, accommodation (especially if you have a holiday house), tickets to concerts, shows or galleries, hampers, sporting goods, jewellery, paintings, prints, linen, electrical items…. so as you can see the list is endless.
The other thing that is always a winner is the donation of your time which could include things such as Coxing (everyone needs a coxwain), coaching, handyman, babysitting, gardening, painting or if you are a professional then perhaps you could offer you service of expertise for a period of time.
We have already had a wonderful donation of 2 designer wooden benches (walnut and rift oak). Name: Botanist Minimal Désigner: Dario Antonioni and a large coffee table that has a chrome frame and finished with a toughened black glass top. Thank you Laurent but we need more
Please have a think and see what you can come up with. All donations will help raise money for the club and will be put towards upgrading our fleet as part of our fleet renewal plan which includes smaller boats (pairs/doubles and singles).
Feel free to contact me at any time with questions or donations  fundraising@richmondrowing.com.au or 0419538048
Cheers and thanks again Chris

Trivia Night tickets on sale – 24 March 2018


Following our recent club events (Xmas BBQ and NYE) our fundraising total for the year is currently above $7,000. Thanks to your great work, we are well on our way to our goal for the purchase of a new shiny boat! Look out for upcoming communications on additions to the fleet.
With that in mind, the annual RRC trivia night is only a month away, starting at 7pm Sat 24th of March. The theme for this year’s quiz will be Arabian Nights – so get your Aladdin suits ready, hop on your magic carpet and get ready for an amazing night!
Tickets are strictly limited to 100, so get in early through Trybooking. Prices are $25 per person or $225 for a table of 10.
The one and only Justin Thomas will be writing the quiz questions from the other side of the world with help from Aline Dejaegher, Simon Crunden is back to MC the evening and Derek Begg will be on hand as our auctioneer for the night.
Don’t forget, as one of our major fundraising events we are looking for auction items, the more unusual the better. You can donate your time, your one off skill, that vintage zootie or the dozen bottles of wine you have been saving. Contact [email protected] with any items you can donate.
It’s always a great night and you can bring along your friends, colleagues and family to enjoy each other’s company at the club. The event is BYO food, with drinks at bar prices. Prizes for winning team and best dressed, and don’t forget to decorate your table!

Quiz Night Fundraising Success

For those of you not on Facebook you may have missed this comprehensive write up of Saturdays great fundraising quiz night success and I didn’t want anyone to miss out, so find it copied below. Along with this chronical came the daily trivia teasers leading up to the event and all the behind the scenes efforts to make the night a triumph and I wanted to offer my personal thanks to everyone who contributed to keeping the annual RRC fundraiser a fun night not to be missed. Look out for news here on how the funds will be spent to directly benefit the members of the club.
“I lost my virginity again on Saturday night, hosting my first ever trivia night. And even before I got to the first question, we lost the answer sheets and the table round questions (quotable quotes). I swore, as I do in these situations, walked around the room a few times until Dave appeared with a ream of paper. Crisis averted.
It was a nervous start: rules were read and rehearsed jokes fell flat. The warm up served it purpose, pin pointing the location of the drinkers, and those not on facebook. It was a bit long winded and the punters were starting to get restless, they just wanted the trivia.
Round one, Arts and Entertainment. I was told the night before the questions were too easy. After only a few questions, it was obvious this may not be the case. However, by the middle of the round, most teams looked to be answering questions. I relaxed, and we started to hit the groove. That was until I read out the answers at the end of the round.
Question eight, the hecklers started; the team not on facebook (known herein as the minority) . Yes, I stuffed up, most first timers do. They questioned, I defended, they questioned back (with interest), I conceded, they offered to Google, I conceded again, they muttered words and shook heads. Question retracted. They were hear to play.
The highlight was the round was the karaoke. Three great renditions of Valarie, Throw your arms around me and Life on Mars. I was impressed, and so were the punters. Bonus points awarded to the brave.
We broke for the Auction. Derek kicked off the first round superbly, raising over $1K with the five items on offer. Things were looking up.
Round two, Melbourne. After a fairly even first round, teams would falter on their knowledge of Melbourne. If only they were tourists, trawling for background on the city they would soon visit, they would have nailed every question.
The minority skipped away with a solid round. Despite their lead, they continued to heckle and question. Yes, Archer did win the cup twice, but he won the first in 1861 not 1862. If I wanted the year the second Melbourne Cup was run, I would have asked for it.
I hand the keys over the Derek and head to the bar to buy a beer.
Derek took to the floor for round two of the auction. The prizes were bigger this round and so were the bids. The big one was the hall hire. It went for $950. The clubs jewel in the crown became the five bedroom weekender, and as the bids increased, the committee collectively smiled.
Round three, general ignorance. A not so flattering photo of Trump brought a chuckle among the crowd. Several drinks into the night, the crowd was starting to catch up with the lads at the back of the room.
The questions were bastards. The type that sit on the tip of the tongue but you can never spit them them out. What is Donald Trumps personal twitter handle? Where was the Titanic built? Right royal bastards.
The answers were read out, fists pumped and cries of anguish were heard as each way bets proved the difference between right and wrong. The elephant in the room arrived during this round on the back of the Grand Old Party. Two out of seven teams walked away with the bonus points.
The minority were at it again. Neptune is a gaseous planet not terrestrial, according to NASA, and I am guessing they know a bit about these sorts of things. And by the way, when the question asks for four planets, don’t list six to cover all options. Oh dear, the quiz master is having difficulty in adding up their scores correctly. I have always been bad with numbers.
Round three of the Auction and Derek is working the room raising more than he should on items lost on their owners. This is what the auction is all about. By the end of the round he will have raised over $4K for the club. A great nights work.
Round four, sporting glory. The final round starts with a slide of the Australian mens heavy weight four catching a massive crab mid race at Lucerne. We are all human after all.
It’s a fun round with most teams fairing well. However, some responses left me feeling that sporting knowledge is not on the agenda for some people. Perhaps they have given up, and their intention was to make me laugh. It certainly worked. There is no question that Gough Whitlem was a remarkable person, however, I am not sure he managed to kick the goal that put Australia into the 2006 World Cup.
The final answers are given, and for the first time of the night, the minority remain silent.
Dave runs the sit down game and we raise a bit more cash for the club. We complete the night by announcing the minority as the winners by a slender margin of two points. They come forth to claim their prize, winning the tiger and refusing to accept it’s birth certificate. It remains behind the bar.
It’s been a good night for the club. We have raised over $6K for new equipment which helps keep members in new boats and in the medals.
If the truth be told we were all virgins tonight. It’s was also Derek’s fist time as an auctioneer and Dave’s organising the event. Following on from the master Justin was going to be tough, but I think we did alright.
See you all next year.”
Simon Crunden

Living on the Edge….of our Fundraising Goal!

I know a number of you have been eager to know how much was raised by the quiz night a few weeks ago. Well the cash has been counted and debts are being called in and we’re pleased to announce that the quiz night has raised a whopping $8.9K for the club.  Well done to everybody who was involved in making the night so successful and lots of fun by all accounts!
 
That brings us ever closer to our total for this year which we are looking to put toward the purchase of a new stern coxed racing 4+ / 4x+. So far our fundraising total sits around the $17.5K mark with some key events, bar openings and other donations still to be included – so we’re well on the way to achieving what was set out at the start of the year.
 
Don’t forget to buy your tickets and purchase lots of drinks  /  have a great time celebrating the successes of 2015/16 season at Presentation night on 28th May.
Also we still need volunteers for the Bunnings Sausage Sizzle being held on Sunday 5th June – Please contact Shern Timmins on [email protected]  if you can help!
 
Lastly as we approach the end of financial year if anybody would like to make a donation to the club through our fundraising partnership with the Australian Sports Foundation, donations to our equipment fund are tax deductible and can be done simply via https://asf.org.au/project/rrc-fleet-renewal-appeal/
 
Thanks and look forward to telling you all the good news about how much we’ve raised this year at the AGM in July!
 
Cat B
Print

A new tiger on an old stage

Preparation of the quiz this year took on a new twist, we needed a new trophy. To answer the multiple inquiries (some from overseas) Wiki the wombat had mistakenly been given to a toddler and only the most ruthless of rowers (who I won’t name) advocated snatching him back. So I toured various shops to be confronted by an array of soft toys that you would only give to children if you wanted to scare them or to girlfriends that you were secretly hoping they’d would break it off. But there he was, as white as the Siberian snow that white tigers aren’t actually found on (they come from India), Richie the Tiger.
While I was doing this Cat and Shern were doing the real work, Cat getting the auction items together, Shern organising the attendees. Four days prior to the event Shern came up with one of the most relevant questions ever asked in connection with an RRC quiz “Has anyone stocked the bar?” And no auction is complete without a brochure, Lindsey is to be thanked for that. The artistic talent of Ainsley not only produced our publicity poster but two excellent auction items
On the day of the quiz I was greeted at RRC by some of our male rowers (could a collective noun be a “Rip”?) ready to help with the set up. Melbourne RC generously agreed to lend us their tables but it takes a little muscle to move them. Katalin helped with the decorations before starting her duties at the bar, she had already had a moderating influence on the quiz questions. For those wondering why the quizzes have got a little easier in recent years…mystery solved.
And so it began, with 98 people attending, from a wide cross section of age groups and club longevity. The first round was well negotiated by all teams with some earning a bonus point for getting all questions right, while Stef and Kathy made sure the bar wasn’t overwhelmed by the early rush. This was followed by Simon taking the microphone (a technological leap for him) and taking us through the auction as he has done for many years now. The second round on “All things American” proved to be a good round for teams to play their joker, the “General Knowledge” less so, but this brought us to the “Sit down” game and several revelations. At least one rower admitted to admiring themselves in the mirror while wearing a zootie, several had used the internet to ‘check-the-ex’ and there was a small sympathy vote for a couple of our members for who I cruelly inserted the statement “Sit down if you think x is hot.”
Dissent was limited to one person who was infuriated by my non acceptance of “Kresh” instead of “Crash” for a collective of Rhinos, apparently something was lost in translation within that team. I have rarely seen such anger in someone I’m not related too, but I found it funny. In the final round Michael G performed two songs “Spicks and Specks” style using the American constitution for the words. His rendition of “Big Yellow Taxi” was guessed by most teams but his cover of “Titanium” won’t be going platinum. The “Pulp Fiction script” was read by Ally and Sarah R who did a good impression of two gangsters from south central…Dublin? JL and Sarah H read ‘Thelma and Louise, putting in a good southern drawl. When approached about the role Sarah stated “I’m not much of an actress!” she has since been followed by paparazzi and linked to Ryan Reynolds.
Carolyn took out the prize of best dressed American, coming as the walking juxtaposition that is heiress and former terrorist Patty Heart, but in the final analysis the big prize went to a crew that came home by at least a boat length. It was nice to see a team containing long standing supporters of the event such, Sally, Karen, Edith, Leonie and Michelle finally winning, perhaps they will defend their title under the name “The STEM femmes”? I am certainly glad that they didn’t allocate Richie to Edith’s children or Michelle’s dog.
Next year will be the tenth year I’ve been involved in this night and consequently the theme will be “Retro”. I continue to be involved in this event because I honestly think it shows the club at its best; I‘ve only been able to mention a small number of the people that attended, helped out and donated auction prizes. Whether I’ve mentioned you or not, please accept my thanks. I look forward to seeing you all (and Richie) next year.
Justin
Quiz winners