Organiser’s Report for the Mortimer Ramble

March 18 2005

The organisers hope that everyone who participated in the Mortimer Ramble had an enjoyable evening and congratulate the 17 teams that took part on the high scoring rate achieved.  The winners-Moonlighters- found 77% of the clues and the top 10 teams all had a hit rate of greater than 63%.  In general the cryptic clues seemed to be harder with 4 (of 16 total) not solved by any team, whereas only one pictorial clue (out of 84) was undiscovered.  Of the pictorial clues, there were six found by all teams.

The photographic pictorial clue has, in our view, come of age and could be used by other ramble organisers to replace the old line drawings, which involved much skill and were very labour intensive.

 The turnout on what was a very pleasant and warm evening was lower than might have been anticipated.  It was noted that several teams were under-strength and that five teams that had registered interest did not turn up on the evening. It is for consideration that a team size of 4 might be a more appropriate number for future rambles. There would, of course, have to be a corresponding reduction in the number of clue sheets. This reduction might have the effect of encouraging more teams to organise rambles.

The total route of 7 miles turned out to be a challenge for some teams for an evening walk and a 6 mile maximum might have been a more appropriate length and allowed for a little more ‘pub time’. We were very pleased with the overall co-operation of the Landlord of the ‘Horse and Groom’, who produced special meals for us, which we thought were suitable for the evening.  Accordingly we hope that ramblers will always take advantage of this facility.

Our thanks go to the Ramble Society secretary for his help and encouragement throughout the organisation of this event.

Semper sperantes