Latest News

Venues re Finals' Nights 2024 - ANNOUNCEMENT   The venues for the FTQL Finals' events for 2024 are as follows.  The Handicap Cup Final evening along with the traditional fun Pairs Competition (set by Dave Bill), will take place this coming Monday, 13 May 2024, at the Featherstone Hotel, Station Lane, Featherstone. Pontefract. WF7 6EW.  The start time will be 7.45pm with the first half of the Pairs and will also feature the Handicap Cup Final, Carleton Grangers vs Olde Tavern Allsorts, followed by the second half of the Pairs. refreshments will be provided and there will be a raffle also (donated raffle prizes will be appreciated).  See you there.   The main Finals' Night will take place at the Olde Tavern, Knottingley Road, Pontefract. WF8 2JL, commencing 7.45pm.  The evening will feature Plate Knockout Final first, Carleton Grangers vs the King's Arms then Knockout Cup Final, Kippax Legionnaires vs Lofthouse Lions.  Refreshements provided, there will be a raffle (donated prizes appreciated), presentations and the evening will be graced by jolly good friend of the Five Towns Quiz League, Mr Mark Labbett of ITV's show The Chase.  Again, see you there.

FINALS' NIGHTS 2024   ANNOUNCEMENTS

BREAKING NEWS.  RESIGNATION OF SIMON CURTIS, LEAGUE SECRETARY After 33 years of being League Secretary and having initially founded the Five Towns Quiz League in 1991 with the help of Harry Beevers, Simon Curtis has announced his resignation from the Secretary post and the Committee of the Five Towns Quiz League.  Please click on the attached MS Word document to read his letter of resignation. Letter of resignation

"A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum..." Official Announcement regarding the FTQL internet forum. Click here. New Forum to join.

Announcement re the FTQL Discussion Forum

You will notice that this Forum logo is a new one.  This is because I thought a new logo would be a good idea as we discovered a strange thing about the existing Forum, which was that, in short, the Forum provider, myfastforum.org appears to have gone defunct, gone out of business, disappeared off the internet, whatever.  Maybe it's because internet forums aren't that much of a thing these days, what with the rise of Facebook etc, but whatever, I think there are some in our social organisation who will want to keep using a forum. So...that being the case, in order to cater for the people who do still want to use an internet Forum for the FTQL, I have created a new one, with a different free Forum provider, one that is still in business and you will need to re-register there on this link below.  I can't inform everyb body who was registered on the old Forum individually, because I don't know who they were, having lost the information completely, so sorry about that. https://fivetownsquizleague.freeforums.net Unfortunately, this does mean that all previous content is lost, as I said, myfastforum seems completely non-existent, so it is what it is and hopefully we can get everybody registered who wants to use it and can move forward from there.  As before, Neil Aspland will be the main Admin on the new Forum and will be, for instance, be posting the weekly comments from scoresheets on there as he has been doing for a few years now. there.

Knockout Cup draw now in!   The Knockout Cup draw was made at the mid-season meeting at the Olde Tavern in Pontefract and you can click below to find out who you will be playing in the Round One ties to be played on Monday 15 January 2024. Click here for Knockout Cup Round One draw...

ANNOUNCEMENT It is now confirmed that the mid-season meeting, scheduled for next Monday, 11 December 2023, will take place on that date and at the Olde Tavern, 34 South Baileygate, Pontefract. WF8 2JL commencing at 8.30pm, in the back room where the quiz matches usually take place.  The Olde Tavern have kindly offered to put on some sandwiches for us and it would be nice if every team could send at least one representative, but that's not the rule, everybody is welcome. Olde Tavern, Monday 11.12.23, 8.30pm.  Hope to see you there.

ANNOUNCEMENT Some of you will have noticed an envelope with a new style barcoded stamp on in your questions in the last matches. This because as a lucky one-off the League has come into some very cheap second-class stamps, easily enough for the rest of the season and so we have decided that as both Neil and Simon prefer the physical sheets to photographs, we will use them on the envelopes to allow you to return them to us. There will never be an envelope with Neil's or Debby's question packs - that's The Other Team and Olde Tavern Allsorts - (as they are who the scoresheets are destined for and take them home from their matches anyway), but most other question packs will contain a stamped envelope, so all you have to do is post it. Please do not think it's a free stamp, if you happen for instance to drop the sheet at Neil and Debby's house, please drop it there in the stamped envelope, so that it can be returned to me and reused, as it is worth 75p at full price. Thank you - Simon.

Chaser guests for a second time in the FTQL. For the second time in his life and ours for that matter, we had a special guest, literally, tonight, as leading ITV Chaser Mark "the Beast" Labbett, guested in a league match in the FTQL when he turned out in the Upton Bees vs Lofthouse Lions game at short notice to fill in for an unavailable regular. Mark has guested once before in the FTQL, about five years back when appeared for the Golden Lion Dudes on the way back from a PA in Hull I think it was, but tonight, still living in Rotherham, he was available for the short journey to Upton to sub for Evan Lynch.

Super Charity season-opening quiz night at the Feather-stone Hotel raises a record amount for chosen charity! At the traditional event, the charity quiz night, which was held at the Featherstone Hotel, a record amount of £120 was raised for the three charities chosen by those attending on the night, which were the Prince of Wales Hospice, MND (Motor Neurone Disease) and Macmillan Nurses.   The quiz was set and delivered by League Chair Dave Bill and a splendid evening of questioning entertainment ensued.  Refreshments were kindly provided by the Featherstone Hotel, for which we are grateful and the opportunity was taken to make a special presentation to the licensee of the pub, Mr Peter Green, in recognition of his unwavering support of the Five Towns Quiz League over 28 years, since 1995.  This award will henceforth be known as the Committee Special Award and will be presented occasionally and periodically and now and again, for outstanding contribution to the life and well-being of the quiz league (not for quizzing ability).

URGENT POST-2022 FINALS' NIGHT ANNOUNCEMENT RE COVID19. CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

ANNOUNCEMENT - PLEASE NOTE THAT THE MID-SEASON MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE NEXT MONDAY EVENING, MONDAY 9.12.19 AT THE FEATHERSTONE HOTEL (TOP HOUSE) AND THE MAIN ITEM OF BUSINESS FOR THE EVENING WILL BE THE ROUND ONE DRAW FOR THE KNOCKOUT CUP TIES, TO BE PLAYED FIRST GAMES IN THE NEW YEAR. MID-SEASON MEETING - VENUE: FEATHERSTONE HOTEL, START TIME: 8.30PM.  THE CUP DRAW WILL ALSO BE BROADCAST ON FACEBOOK LIVE AT SOME TIME BETWEEN 8.30PM AND THE END OF THE MEETING.

ANNOUNCEMENT RE CLOSURE OF THE RAFA VULCAN CLUB AND SPECIFICALLY THE FUTURE VENUE OF THE VULCAN BOMBERS Due to the closure of the RAFA Vulcan Club in Pontefract, the Vulcan Bombers have decided to move venues and will from this point forward play their home games at the Carleton Grange Club, Carleton Road, Pontefract. WF8 3JF.  This is also where they intend to play their home fixtures from next season.   If you require any further information please ring Bombers Captain Mick Edwards on 01977 704211 or League Secretary Simon Curtis on 07539 073320.   Please see further down this News page for the earlier announcement re the Vulcan Mosquitoes.

ANNOUNCEMENT RE RAFA VULCAN CLUB AND SPECIFICALLY VULCAN MOSQUITOES Due to the uncertainty that you may have heard about regarding the future of the RAFA Vulcan Club in Pontefract, the Vulcan Mosquitoes have decided to move venues and will from this point forward play their home games at the Upton Arms, home of Flanagan's Army.  In weeks where both teams are at home, unless Vulcan Mosquitoes (who will continue to be known as Vulcan Mosquitoes until the end of the season) arrange otherwise, there is an upstairs room at the Upton Arms which will be used for the second match.  If you require any further information please ring Mosquitoes Captain Stuart Topps on 01302 300906 or League Secretary Simon Curtis on 07539 073320.

You can watch the show by going to ITV Hub through Google

NEWS ITEM MID-SEASON MEETING - The Five Towns Quiz League mid-season meeting will take place at the Rock Inn, Rock Hill, Glasshoughton, Castleford, next Monday 11 December 2017 commencing at 8pm.  The meeting will be held downstairs (so no stairs to climb!) and as usual at this meeting, there will be no set agenda and everything and anything is up for discussion.  It would be appreciated if every team could endeavour to send at least one representative to the meeting.  THE KNOCKOUT CUP ROUND ONE DRAW WILL TAKE PLACE AT THIS MEETING.

Dudes have a quiz superstar guest player! On Monday 13.11.17, our very own Golden Lion Dudes had a superstar guest player, in the form of none other than resident chaser from ITV's quiz show the Chase, Mark 'the Beast' Labbett! Mark took his place on the Dudes' side of the table courtesy of his acquaintance with the Dudes' regular player Dave Bill, who is a director of well-known nationwide quiz-setting company Redtooth Quiz and his presence clearly didn't do the Dudes any harm, as they ran out 88-61 winners against their closest rivals Railwaymen.  Mark sat at individual place number 3 in the team, getting both correct and apparently only got one (team) question wrong in the whole Dudes' side of the quiz.  Mark Labbett pictured here with Dude and wife Liz.

The funeral of Harry Beevers, co-founder of the Five Towns Quiz League in 1991, took place today Thursday 11 February 2016, at the Trinity Methodist Church in Castleford and Pontefract Crematorium.    The service was led by the minister at Trinity, Andrew Checkly and he paid tribute to Harry with several anecdotes from his time knowing Harry and his family.  This was followed by an address from Harry's younger brother Cliff and his wife, who although not Harry's twin (a few years younger), still bears remarkable resemblance to Harry Beevers and then Simon Curtis, Secretary of the Five Towns Quiz League since its foundation in 1991 was called up to give a similar tribute to Harry with his memories of Harry and how they came to found the Five Towns Quiz League together in 1991.  The text of Simon's eulogy can be found by clicking the link below.   The Committee of the Five Towns Quiz League brought a wreath to the funeral, which can be seen on the photographs herein and it was also nice to see a good turnout of quiz people from both the FTQL and Harry's Wakefield quiz league friends from over the years. Click here for the text of FTQL Secretary Simon Curtis' eulogy for Harry Beevers, given to his funeral today 11.2.16.