Trivia Queen abdicates
Tireless school fundraiser
Trivia nights have gained immense popularity in Australia in recent times, after being a staple of British pub culture since the 1970s.
The idea was to get people into pubs on quieter nights. Popularity grew and grew over the next few years from just 30 teams to 10,000 playing each week. Like everything else it reached our shores and is now in just about every town and city in Australia, including the Douglas Shire. The topics generally include history, geography, science, nature, entertainment, music and general knowledge. Mark Donehue, a Lecturer in Education at Deakin University, runs a trivia company called TRIVIA with an EDGE.
Mark believes the social aspect of trivia nights seems to be the driving factor behind many people’s participation “Working together, coming up with a great team name, having a good time and enjoying the company of your friends” he said. The biggest enemy of that is the mobile phone and Google.
Raises money
It’s also a great fund raiser for schools and sporting clubs. Which brings us to the Wonga Beach State School Trivia Night 2022. I’ve been honoured to be the Quiz Master at the school function for the past two years under the guidance of the ‘Queen of Trivia’ herself, Veronica Reynolds. Veronica is the wife of well-known cane farmer Clint Reynolds. While Clint is a gun at what he does, he wisely left the trivia side to his better half and what a job she’s done, organising the big night and the trivia questions that go with it. For years she’s been coming up with brain teasers that even The Chasers would have problems with “Of all the years I’ve done this I reckon a question at this year’s trivia night caught out most people,” said Veronica.
Yes, it certainly did. “Who is the world’s longest reigning monarch” That’s easy Queen Elizabeth II right? Wrong! The correct answer is Louis XIV of France. Yes, he remains the longest reigning monarch with a 72 year and 110-day reign from 1643 until 1715. He became King at 4 years and 8 months of age. Our Queen’s reign was 70 years and 214 days and was the longest of any British Monarch and the longest verified reign of any female monarch in history.
She was also much older when she took over at age 25. The question fooled most people on the night which put a big smile on Veronica’s face. But the trivia night regulars won’t see that smile any longer because this Queen is abdicating. Veronica was a teacher at Wonga Beach State School back in 2001 and has been involved with the P&C for 22 years, not to mention her tireless work on the trivia night, but now her daughter Kaydee is leaving for High School so she’s a parent without a child going to the school. Kaydee and brother Deklen assist Mum on the big night each year, so it’s always been a family affair, with hubby Clint roped in (without a struggle) to be barman and chief cook and bottle-washer.
Veronica leaves with the knowledge she’s helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for the school through a variety of P&C events. This year’s trivia night tallied up $3800 with an ongoing Christmas raffle bringing that up to $4000 generated from the event. Many local businesses like Marano’s Fuel, Lure Restaurant, Rattle and Hum and Mossman Ice Bait and Tackle, gave something to be auctioned off on the night. For Veronica it was bittersweet as she left her baby “I know every dollar raised goes towards laptops, computers, excursions and things like that, plus each class gets $500 and that’s money the parents don’t have to fork out, so I leave knowing we’ve done something special for Wonga Beach State School” she said. Veronica also ran the Mother’s Day and Father’s Day stalls each year “I have trained up my replacement so that will be handed over for 2023” she said.
Winners are grinners
This year’s Trivia Champions were the ‘Woolies Winners’ made up of mostly Mossman Woolworth’s staff. Wayne Christensen, Matt and Angela Blyth and Jimmy Perham now have the bragging rights until 2023. From Newsport Veronica, a big thank you for helping your community in such a positive way and good luck for the future.