Monarch’s Bar – Delta Chelsea Hotel, Wednesday November 23, 2004
The rainy weather may have been fitting for an Irish event but did little to dampen the spirits as the crowds gathered in the Delta Chelsea Hotel for the inaugural table quiz hosted by the Ireland Canada Chamber of Commerce. Young and old, Canadian and Irish, combined brain power and wit as a capacity crowd of over thirty teams battled it out for the prestigious title of ‘Brains of the Community’ and the perpetual trophy proudly sponsored by Waterford Wedgwood Canada Inc.
The evening kicked off with welcoming remarks from Chamber President Mr. Ken Tracey who unveiled the Chamber’s theme for the coming year – Involved. Connected. Connecting. – and encouraged all those present to get involved during what is undoubtedly going to be a fun filled year. Indeed if the Quiz Night is anything to go by, the Chamber is set to swell in numbers as it actively extends its reach to the Irish community and beyond. Our generous host for the evening, Mr. Jay Jhingran of the Delta Chelsea offered a spot prize of a weekend’s accommodation, which was won hands down by Helen Collins, with Neil Mooney also picking up a prize of $1,000 advertising sponsored by Mr. Eamon Cummins of Jigsaw Advertising.
Proceedings got underway as emcee for the night, Mr. Michael Monaghan, threw out eight rounds of general knowledge questions that although having a certain Irish-Canadian flavour, definitely left a few folks scratching their heads! The tension mounted as the evening rolled on, and more-than-a couple of chicken-wings and pints later, there was little separating the frontrunners. The evening ran very smoothly thanks to the great organizational skills of Cormac Monaghan and the charming efficiency of his wife Karen and our dear friend Eithne Heffernan. Score-master, Dr. Anita Sands, was also there keeping a watchful eye on the tallies – and ‘twas a good job she stayed sober as only a few points separated the top four teams at the end of the night! In the end the victors were ‘Leaky Gaskets’ captained by Angela O’Muiri representing Dublin Auto. The three teams tying for second place were the ‘Boys in Green’ representing Mississauga Ireland Supporters Club (Captain Larry O’Sullivan), ‘Sawdoctors’ representing Reuters (Captain Majella Coleman) and ‘The Ultrasonics’, representing Queensway Physiotherapy (Captain Shane Duff). All in all, the night was a tremendous success with many vowing to be back with a vengeance next year!
The Chamber would like to gratefully acknowledge our sponsors for the evening, Waterford Wedgwood Canada Inc., Cambridge Golf & Country Club, The Irish Embassy Bar & Grill, PJ O’Brien’s, Hot House Café, The Ireland Fund of Canada, Jigsaw Advertising, Delta Chelsea and Marketingisland. As always, the event was expertly captured through the creative lens of William Smith (Smitty). Most importantly though, we wish to thank our members, their friends, colleagues and families for coming out and supporting this event and for making it such a rip-roaring success. We’re already looking forward to next year!