Date: Saturday 18th August 2018
Venue: Royal Bath Hotel, Bath Road, Bournemouth BH1 2EW
Admission: £12 by PayPal (cold drinks on arrival; not including lunch)
Doors open: 10:00
Start time: 11:00 (or sooner if everyone has arrived!)
Lunch break: 13:30
Presented by: Sean Fletcher and Jeff Clayton
Format: Classroom, big screen graphics
Games to be played: 6 + Grand Final
Finishes by: 18:00
Wheelchair accessible?: Yes
This tournament will take place at Royal Bath Hotel, ideally located within walking distance of Bournemouth rail & coach station, seafront and town centre.
How to play
This tournament is played in classroom format — in pairs, facing our big screen graphics.
Everybody in the room will get the chance to pick selections of letters and numbers during the day.
Format: Heats
Everybody will be drawn randomly into groups of four, at or just before 11:00, to play three heats matches in the first part of the day.
Games 1, 2 and 3 are all 15-round matches, as per the current television format (10L 4N 1C) so the objective here is to get as many points as you can, to qualify as high as you can for the Divisions.
And if you want to keep your brain busy between matches, Sean will be preparing a free celebrity-themed crossword for you to tackle!
Format: Finals
At the end of the three heats, everyone is put into rank order by the number of wins, total points scored and +/- points difference. We then create divisions of eight for the quarter-finals onwards.
The winner from each heats group will go into Division A automatically. How many divisions there are will depend on how many people sign up, so spread the word! We can take 32 entrants and that means we could have up to four divisions in the second part of the day:
Game 4: 9-round quarter-final (6L 2N 1C),
Game 5: 9-round semi-final, and
Game 6: 14-round final (8L 4N 2C).
Is this a knockout competition? What if I lose early doors??
We use Swiss format rules, so even if you get beaten along the way, you will get to play right until the end of the day and vie for position in the final table.
The quarter-final and semi-final matches are shorter than the heats, so seize your chance to get ahead of your opponent with that risky word or a harder numbers selection!
The final is longer again but with a broader mix of letters, numbers and conundrums to round the day off.
The two finalists in Group A will sit out Game 6, to play the tournament’s showpiece Grand Final at 17:00 — an exhibition match in front of a captive audience. So if you don’t make the top two, why not recharge your glass, sit back and enjoy the show!
When does it start?
Doors open at 10:00 with free tea/coffee available on arrival, for an 11:00 kick-off. We will break for lunch around 13:30, and conclude with the prizegiving by 18:00.
How much does it cost?
Admission costs just £12pp — this includes tea/coffee on arrival, but does not include lunch. The hotel offers its own lunch menu, and there is a choice of bars, coffee shops and sandwich shops in nearby Lansdowne (5-10 minute walk).
You can secure your place now!
– By PayPal (jeff@focalcountdown.co.uk – please ensure that you select the “family/friends” option, otherwise a transfer fee is deducted and the full amount payable will not come through.
– By phone (07595 690 249);
– By cheque (address available on request).
We have capacity for 32 contestants, and spectators are also welcome.
How do I get there?
Hotel Celebrity is in a prime central location, between the rail and coach stations, seafront and town centre, and near to the popular Lansdowne with a range of bars, clubs and restaurants.
– If you’re travelling by train, get off at Bournemouth station and the hotel is a 15 minute walk from the forecourt. Bournemouth is served directly from London Waterloo, Basingstoke, Southampton, Reading, Oxford, Birmingham and Manchester.
– Bournemouth coach station is next to the railway station, with National Express routes from London Victoria (035, hourly), Heathrow and Gatwick Airports (205/6), the Midlands and the North.
– We would recommend arriving into Bournemouth no later than 10:30am.
– If you want a local bus connection instead of the walk, MoreBus and Yellow Buses both operate high frequency routes through the railway station towards the town centre. You can catch any bus from stand 5 on the forecourt – ask the driver for “Top of Bath Hill”.
– If you’re coming by car, there is parking at the front of the hotel (which is free if you are staying over) and there is chargeable parking along Gervis Road.
Where to stay:
If you want to stay at Hotel Celebrity, we recommend calling to enquire about booking direct (01202 316 316) – quote “Sean Fletcher event on 18th August”.
Hotel Celebrity’s rates are Bed & Breakfast — you’ll also get 10% off bar prices, and a free drink with an evening meal.
There are lots of other places to stay around central Bournemouth. The ones below are just some of those available within up to half an hour’s walk:
– Orchid Hotel, just across the road from Hotel Celebrity.
– Heathlands Hotel, in nearby Grove Road.
– Yenton Hotel, a short walk along Gervis Road.
– Hallmark Hotel, East Cliff – (there are also two other Hallmarks in Bournemouth).
– Travelodge, Christchurch Road.
– Hampton by Hilton, Landmarc.
– No fewer than three Premier Inns at Bournemouth Central (nearest), Bournemouth East (a short walk along Christchurch Road) and Bournemouth West Cliff (a little further, past the pier and towards Westbourne).
You can also consider your options on the various hotel comparison websites and apps.
If you need any help with planning your journey or your stay, you can email jeff@focalcountdown.co.uk. An indication of whether you would be interested in the Saturday evening meal or the Sunday morning excursion would also be useful.
We look forward to seeing you in Bournemouth this summer!
Confirmed attendees (18):
Eccles the Dog Mark Murray
Fiona Bruce Catriona Cappleman
Father Dougal Dave Ryan
Miranda Hart Suzy Turner
Martin Thomas
Gregg Wallace Rob Foster
Rowan Atkinson Thomas Cappleman
James Bond Robin McKay
Screech Tim Down
Chris Tarrant David Hilton
Toby McDonald
Damon Hill Toby Pereira
Mike Brown
Pingu Jonathan Wynn
Steve Carell Fred Whibley
James Burley
Ed Rossiter
Tom Chafer-Cook