New Members First Attendance...

A NIGHT AT THE NAVENBY QUIZ

By Drew, Nettleham

As a fairly new member of the Austin Seven Owners Club, I approached last week’s quiz night in Navenby with my usual quiet enthusiasm. My partner Mo—who can find excitement in a trip to the recycling centre—was positively buzzing. We were joined by our friends Nigel and Jo. If you don't know them, Nigel is an extremely talented engineer whose approach to diplomacy is best described as “optional”, while Jo—retired community nurse and proud resistor of modern technology—keeps him in line with the grace and precision of a seasoned professional.

The Fun Starts Early

Before we’d even arrived, the evening took a turn for the entertaining. Nigel was driving—and giving Jo’s trusty car “the whip”—when he encountered a Kia Picanto in front of us. Being Nigel, patience was never going to be part of the evening’s strategy, so we overtook with gusto and left the poor Picanto in our dust.

Only as we shot past did I notice the occupants… Paddy and Ande from the club, clearly on the way to the same quiz night. The hare and the tortoise may be a fable, but in Nettleham and Navenby, it’s a lived experience.

Sure enough, as we pulled into the car park, there were Paddy and Ande getting out of their Kia, having arrived at precisely the same time—with far more dignity than we had.

Inside the Hall

One of the joys of the Austin Seven Club is that, despite most members being over 60 (with some proudly flying the flag well into their 80s), they show up rain or shine, full of humour and warmth. As newcomers, we’ve always been made to feel welcome—though on this particular evening, we were greeted by an unexpected twist.

The Quizmaster was not an octogenarian with a clipboard and a fondness for pre-war carburettors. No. He was a lad in his twenties, armed with modern technology and apparently on a mission to confuse, confound, and challenge his elders.

The result was a delightful mixture of bafflement, confidence, and sheer guesswork.

The Questions

Our team, proudly named Nettleham Chummies, tackled five rounds spanning general knowledge, music, and the sort of logic puzzles that make you question your own sanity. At one point, we were asked to identify popular songs from a three-second clip—an unfair advantage for Mo and Nigel, who remember song lyrics after hearing them once in 1997, but a minor form of psychological warfare for the rest of us.

Then came the trickiest round of all: “answers that aren’t the answers the Quizmaster predicted.” Name a mobile phone brand, he said. Avoid the brand he'd already chosen, he said.

We confidently wrote Nokia.

Naturally, he had predicted Nokia.

Of course he had.

Victory… (Possibly)

Despite our setbacks—and perhaps because the other teams were equally puzzled—we were announced as the winners. Our prize: a generous gallon of Austin Seven oil (a genuinely useful item), a box of chocolates, and best of all, a trophy. My first trophy, in fact. It may have been a quiz, but to me it felt suspiciously like winning Le Mans.

However, shortly afterwards, the Quizmaster discovered he had counted the scores wrong. There was some quiet shuffling of papers, a discreet correction, and the wooden spoon passed to another team… yet our win was not revoked.

But did we win through skill? Luck? Pity? Or the simple fact that no one wanted to admit the outcome had changed?

We’ll never truly know. And honestly—we don’t mind. The laughter and the company made the evening unforgettable.

A Great Night Out

All told, it was a brilliant night—warm, good-humoured, and full of the kind of camaraderie that makes the Austin Seven community so special. As new members from Nettleham, we felt right at home, and we’re already looking forward to the next gathering.