"Park and Ride" Treasure Hunt

Saturday 28th June 2003

at the Tattershall Castle,
London Embankment

and then the tube network and one of London's parks!

•       A game of strategy and speed
•      Can YOU beat the challenge?

Cost £5.00 per person
Advance cheques payable to “Hounslow Plus”

Entry is by team. 18 Plus members only
Prizes will be awarded to 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd placed teams

Finish time around 9:00pm. Please contact Ian for further details

National Treasure Hunt by John A Smith

Two "Fab Fours" (low price rail ticket for four) set off from Leeds railway station to London on Saturday June 28th. Jenny, Maureen, Andy and myself of Leeds 18 Plus and Janet, Rob,and James of Bradford Group with Halesowen's Phil. The journey took just over two hours and on arrival in London we met up with Steve, another Bradford member, but from Reading. Then it was across the road to MacDonalds for a bite to eat.

After our snack it was only a short tube journey to Embankment and the Tattershal Castle, a moored boat converted into a pub, where we met up with other participants, including the rest of Phil's team and organiser Ian Crawshaw. After the usual greetings and catching up we were given our Treasure Hunt questions and off we went.

The Treasure Hunt consisted of clues to various tube stations where we had to look for answers to clues which would give us the name of a park where further clues could be found.

We decided to concentrate on the clues that would lead us to the park which turned out to be Regents Park, where London Zoo is located. We went to the park with no time to spare and so ended up back at the Tattershal Castle about half an hour late. Halesowen were the winners with Leeds 15th and Bradford 8th.

After the awards we went for an Italian meal where we were served by a female Basil Fawlty, then back to the Tattershall Castle for a drink and on to ian's. Thanks to Ian for putting us up for the night and for putting on a great event.

On Sunday we were tourists, we had a walk along the Thames, a ride on the London Eye and on to Chinatown to look for a restaurant. After our meal it was back to Kings Cross station and home.

Extracts from Activate July / September 2003

Treasure Hunt: THE WINNER meets The Winners!

The marking was ultra strict eg. BT Tower was the answer & Post Office Tower/Telecom tower not accepted! Excellent afternoon & evening racing around London in glorious sunshine. We had 3 teams: Jean, Brian, John, Humay & Paul E in my team; Alison, Liz, Gary S & 2 extras in the next team to go out; finally Steve & Gary B (pinky & perky!) in the final pairing.

The first half hour was spent brainstorming on ship to answer clues and work out strategy/routes. Then each team split into two to cover underground trek to pick up clues (except team 3 who were too small already).

After a couple of hours most teams made it to Regents park for the best section by far. We had to cross & recross the park to answer questions & track down signs. Most people did but I directed strategy from an excellent cafe serving exceedingly good scones & cakes. Lots of teams met in the park & tried to trade answers but I cannot reveal the culprits! Finally we all raced back to the boat to beat the 4 hour deadline. Ian was very "tired & emotional" by this stage but still managed to correct all answers quickly.

We stayed on deck afterwards to swap stories - a few went clubbing later - some back so late that they were locked out of their house but that's another story!

Congratulations to Ian for organising the event.

Brian Graham (Hounslow Plus)

Thanks to all those who attended the "Park and Ride" Treasure Hunt, 79 participants (as well as 3 drinking companions) is a fantastic turnout and it was great to see the preparation pay off as everybody seemed to enjoy themselves. The winning team said their £150 prize bounty paid for their whole weekend, including transport from the Midlands! Plans are afoot for the National Treasure Hunt 2004 so look out for more in this and future issues.

Extracts from The Winner September 2003

National Treasure Hunt

As I was the only Southern Area Member who turned up to the National Treasure Hunt, I thought that I would write a few words about it.

The event was held on 28th June 2003, and I joined with a couple of members from Midlands area to form a team. There were about 16 teams and the teams varied in sizes from two to about six.

We set of all at different teams and had to travel to various underground stations to get the clues to take us to a certain park. We managed to get certain clues but used a mobile phone for other clues.

When we managed to find out what park we were supposed to be going to, we split up and two of us went to the park to try and find answer to the clues. We met up in at the end and arrived back of little late, so lost some points through that.

It would have been nice to see more Southern Area members there, particularly as we are on the border of where it took place, and people had travelled down from the Northern Area.

I would like to thank Ian Crawshaw for running the event and look forward to taking part in next year's event - hopefully with more Southern Area members taking part.

Story: Susan Jardine

Extract from Flying South August 2003