Calling time on quizzes after 20 years and £37,700 raised for Thurso RNLI

After amassing £37,700 for the RNLI, Yvonne tallied up the totals on her last RNLI quiz evening earlier this month.

Yvonne held the first one in October 1999 to run in conjunction with a cheese and wine night and was told it would never last. Since then Yvonne, with the help of Thurso RNLI branch committee members, has arranged quiz nights in a number of locations in the town, also running a popular raffle during the break with all proceeds going to the RNLI.

The quiz nights, which were held every second Thursday evening between October and April each year, were the highlight of the week for many.

Up to 15 different teams have taken part each quiz night and Yvonne, with the help of 10 different Pub quiz books, has set the questions and reckons that the same question has never been asked twice. Over the 20 years, 19,200 questions have been asked.

Her husband and the newly appointed Chair of Thurso RNLI Branch Committee, Pierre Bale, has supported Yvonne as the question master at almost every quiz.

Yvonne thanked all the venues, teams and volunteers for helping make the quiz nights such a success and said Thursday nights in the winter would never be the same.

Talking of this momentous fundraising effort, Thurso RNLI volunteer coxswain Dougie Munro said: 'We are absolutely delighted that Yvonne and Pierre have raised such a huge amount for the RNLI. We know how much work they have put into the quiz nights over the last 20 years. This is a great example of a long running fundraiser and it goes a long way to allow our charity to continue the work that we do.'

The month of May sees the annual RNLI Mayday fundraising push where the charity calls upon the support to raise funds for kit.

As part of this years fundraising Thurso RNLI are holding two events next weekend, a Coffee Morning on Friday 26th and a Car Wash on Sunday 28th April.

Talking of the importance for fundraising to a charity like the RNLI, Dougie said: Thurso RNLI launched 16 times aiding 17 persons last year and we could only do that with the help and support of people like Yvonne who help us continue to station a lifeboat on the Pentland firth and be that asset ready to save lives at sea’.

As a thank you the winning team presented Yvonne and Pierre with some gifts. RNLI representatives, Volunteer coxswain Dougie Munro and Full time Mechanic Andy Pearson, presented the quiz teams with their prizes.

Notes to editors

Lifeboats launched 1185 times across Scotland in 2018.

Thurso RNLI launched 16 times, aiding 17 people