It was the Lifeline fundraising quiz and I had managed to get some colleagues and friends together and support Ans with a quiz team to help pay for the phone lines. Lifeline is a very worthy cause because it provides free support for foreigner
s in Shanghai when they need emotional support.
I was so successful in getting people to join the team that, in the end we had enough for two teams. I decided to leave my colleagues to their own team and join my old friends, two Dutch and one South African.
We were then joined by two strangers called Ned from New York and Yan from Canada. In contrast my colleagues numbered four, two Samaons, one Chinese and one British. They hadn’t attracted any floating quiz members to help them. 
As the questions came, we started realising that, by chance we had a magic mix of nationalities, occupations and ages and we were in the top 5 after the first half. It seemed that for most of the questions, at least one person in the group was sure of the answer. Glancing over at my colleagues they didn’t seem so upbeat.
In fact by the time the final round came to an end, they were putting their coats on and heading for the door. It wasn’t long after that when their team was announced as the one with the least points and in their absence I had to go up and collect the stress balls. And just as we were about to give up and go home too, much to the utter surprise of all of us, we were announced as the overall winners. I then had to go back onto the stage. 
I have never won a quiz before so I was jubilant. We got a voucher for a restaurant which I immediately lost but more importantly I got a glass medal which I hung around my neck the following day to work.
I was pleased to see so many people at the quiz, not just because we won but because it means that the charity coffers will have got a really big boost. Well done to all who volunteer for Lifeline Shanghai, a very worthy cause worth your donations of time and money.