The latest running of the Oxfordshire Winter Quiz League got off to a cracking start last Thursday with its traditional curtain raiser; the ‘Round Britain’ Tabletop. Staged at a variety of venues across the county, it provides entrants with the opportunity to hone their skills prior to the league campaign which kicks off this week.

Whilst some good early season promise was shown by the North Oxford Conservative Club (Summertown), the Black’s Head (Bletchingdon), and the Crown (Church Enstone) in winning their respective legs, it was the one staged at the Black Swan (East Oxford) which provided the overall winners as Premier Section outfit, the Bell (Grove), edged a thriller over divisional rivals, the Ploughman’s Bunch! (Wolvercote), 145 -142, with those old warriors, the Seacourt Bridge (Botley), back in third (fourth overall) on 136.

Let’s hope the Bell, together with the Hatchet (Childrey) and the Plough (Wolvercote), can force other similar outcomes during the regular season and prevent the two way contest which the elite league tuned into last time around when Far From The Madding Crowd (Oxford City) finally prevailed on the final day after a protracted and titanic tussle with the Ploughman’s Bunch!

The Champions open up with a home tie against the Chequers (Chipping Norton) whilst the ‘Bunch!’ faces a tricky away visit to the Blue Boar, also of ‘Chippy’.

The North and East Divisions too have familiar looks concerning their line ups, but will the destination of their respective titles be replicated? Last year’s runners up, the Rock of Gibraltar, will be hoping a change of home turf will add the extra ingredient needed to overcome defending North champions, the Blue Boar, having moved back to their traditional stomping ground, the Bell (Lower Heyford). Meanwhile, can both the King’s Arms (Wheatley) and the Eight Bells (Long Crendon) begin this campaign as well as they finished the last in their attempts to wrest the Eastern title from the firm grasp of holders, the Green Dragon (Haddenham)?

The West Division welcomes long-time residents in the Oxford Division, the Royal Sun, to its ranks, and in my humble opinion this could prove the most competitive section of them all. The White Hart (Eynsham) and the Windrush Club (Witney) are bound to be in the mix, whilst the Black’s Head (Bletchingdon) continues to take enormous strides forward. Adding in a team with as distinguished a history as the Royal Sun, will add to an already high level of unpredictability.

Finally, to the Oxford Division, we are very pleased to add newcomers, Far From The Madding Crowd ‘B’, whom, I am informed, acquitted themselves admirably at the ‘Round Britain’.

I wish them every success except, of course, when they come up against my lot, the North Oxford Conservative Club (hopefully including a less peripatetic Coles this season). Let’s hope that all challengers can summon a better effort than last time around when the Green Road Club (Kidlington) ran away with the victor’s laurels. At least the skipper of the Black Swan thinks so as he ceaselessly ‘big’s up’ his side.