Page 13 - Police World Edition 4, 2013

13
Article
Police World Vol 58 No.4 2013
Contestants enjoying a meal and
well earned drink at the finish post
Treasure Hunt
Six teams from Cambridgeshire branch took a challenge to try and
be the first to find the treasure. Nigel Wilson reveals what took
place on the day.
This was the second event of this
type that the branch had organised.
The first was such a successful and
enjoyable day that members asked for
another. Not one to disappoint I set about
plotting again.
I had timed and measured the course and
calculated it should take around the two
and a half hour mark, with a total
distance of 29.4 miles.
The hunt format was simple. Get a car
with at least two people in it and give
them a number of clues - some cryptic, some
anagram and some pictorial. Solve the clues,
and if correct, the answers lead to a variety
of locations. Extra bonus points
could be earned for correctly identifying the
locations, signs and logos etc.
The winners were determined not only from
the team with the most correct answers, but
also on the time taken to complete the
course - combined with the number of miles
driven. Only when all this had been
calculated were the winners decided.
This years’s event started at Thorpe Wood
police station on, thankfully, a warm and
sunny morning. I set the teams off at regular
intervals on a route that took them to the
edge of Peterborough city centre and then to
the outlying villages. In addition to having
fun, teams also discovered things like what a
wash dyke was used for many years ago and
the location of a spring which reputedly once
had an ancient sword found in it.
The teams then continued en route to the
grand 16th century Burghley House. This
location gave the perfect opportunity for the
judges, my wife Mandy and I, to check on
their progress. More importantly it allowed us
to check that the teams were still following
the correct route and were not lost in the
wilds of Cambridgeshire or some adjoining
county.
Towards the finish the route took the teams
on a quick visit to Stamford, past the house
lived in at one time by Sir Malcolm Sargent
an English conductor, organist and
composer.
By now, Mandy and I were waiting in the
garden of a local inn for the first to arrive. We
waited, and waited, and waited some more.
In fact it got to the point where I did actually
start to worry that everyone was lost! But
then, one by one, the teams arrived - all
looking rather weary.
In the words of someone more famous than
I, ‘I counted them all out and I counted them
all back.’
Everyone enjoyed a meal in the sunshine
while I worked out the results.
The winning team was ‘Clutching at Straws’
comprising branch Treasurer, Steve
Palmer and his wife Lynn.
So in true car racing style, the
presentation of the bottle of champagne
was made to them by Dominic Flynn,
holding manager of The Fitzwilliam Arms.
Dominic kindly donated the prize and
arranged a reception for us all on a very
busy Sunday.
Nigel Wilson, Cambridgeshire branch Chair
The winning team, ‘Clutching at Straws’, being presented
with their prize by Holding Manager Dominic Flynn
“I counted them all out and I
counted them all back.”
on four wheels