In 2009, the week before we were due to travel to the KLQ Final, Cockermouth was flooded to a depth of up to 8' in the town centre causing devastating damage and disruption in the area. Despite this we managed to get to the competition and were greeted with cheers and applause, indicating the national awareness the disaster had caused.
In November 2010 winter arrived in a rush the week before we were due to go to Oxford. I hurriedly abandoned our plans to use the minibus and looked up train times instead. With a couple of changes at Manchester and Birmingham I reckoned that we could just make it with an hour to spare to get across the city to Oxford Town Hall and collect our thoughts before the quiz began. However, the best laid plans often go awry and ours certainly did. The extra snow which had continued to fall didn't help and, after a start so early it felt as if we had left home the night before, we reached Penrith station to be met with re-directed trains, cancellations, trains terminating before their destination - and more falling snow.
What do you do when your train is delayed? Read, of course! This was approx 7.20am...
At this point it would be an excellent idea to thank publicly the two parents, Alistair's and Sol's Mums, who ensured that we reached the station, accompanied us on our cross country expedition, worried with me whether we'd ever get there (never mind home again), supported me and the team and shared our exciting day. Without them it's possible that we wouldn't have made the journey at all (and at the time I think we all wondered why we were even attempting it!) and wouldn't now be on our way to New Zealand.
View from the train as dawn appeared
The journey, and indeed the whole day, passed in a haze, the details of which I don't want to recall but I do remember it was almost surreal. We caught connecting trains with seconds to spare and dashed across platforms when trains arrived unexpectedly in the wrong place. I sent frantic texts to Jacky Atkinson, organiser of the event, letting her know our progress and when we finally arrived in Oxford we frog-marched the team across the city and arrived with literally a minute to spare. No time to be nervous - the show had begun!
Off with coats, sit down, take a deep breath... our team right of centre in blue polo shirts
The weather had got the better of a couple of teams but all the same there were 13 schools represented who all, in my opinion, deserved a medal for battling the elements. Also present were local dignitaries and a cluster (series? shelf-full? what's the collective noun for writers?) of well-known authors who had turned out to support the teams. It was exciting enough for the book lovers in the teams to meet such names as Charlie Higson, Gillian Cross, Marie-Louise Jensen, Fiona Dunbar and many others - but equally exciting for the adults. Their encouragement was appreciated and reciprocated: after all, these were some of the authors' best critics and supporters.
Imogen with one of her favourite authors, Fiona Dunbar
The quiz itself passed in a blur of questions, buzzers and answers to some pretty hard questions but every team gave of its best and the tension mounted as time passed. Much needed refreshments were enjoyed at half time and the students were able to meet and talk to the authors about their favourite things: books!
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