Quiz events held across Scotland in support of the SSPCA
PUBS and bars across Scotland put their best paw forward last month to raise money for Scotland’s animal welfare charity, the SSPCA.
The Great Scottish Pub Quiz was launched by The Scottish SPCA in association with SLTN in January and saw 70 pub quizzes take place in February – with a further nine events to have dates confirmed in March.
West End Bar in the Fife village of Pittenweem hosted its pub quiz on February 6 and raised £200 for the charity through team entry fees and a raffle.
Tim Findlay-Coulson, owner of West End Bar, which hosts regular quiz nights, said he wanted the event to be an educational experience for customers as well as enjoyable.
He said: “We wanted our quiz participants not just to raise money but to go away knowing more about the SSPCA than they did when they came in.
“We ran the quiz using the Scottish SPCA’s quiz pack and changed up some of the questions to have a more Scottish flavour, and then made the most of the SSPCA’s ‘animal’ questions.
“We’re a very dog-friendly pub – we have our own cockapoo, Maxwell, living with us above the pub, although he’s a little too mischievous to be a true ‘pub dog’ quite yet.
“So the quiz worked all ways – bringing people in on a cold February night, everyone had a great time, and we raised money for a great cause.”
Winstons bar in Corstorphine, Edinburgh, had plans in place to host a quiz night for a chest, heart and stroke charity but on learning of the Great Scottish Pub Quiz decided to split the night between the two organisations; the charitable evening held on February 13 raised £160 for each cause.
Iain Hewitt of Winstons said: “We have a lot of dog fans in the pub, as well as raising money for a local Guide Dogs training school as a couple of our customers work with them.”
The venue received a raft of donations from the local community to support the event.
Hewitt said: “[We received] mostly bottles of alcohol, chocolates and smelly stuff sets. There was also a cut and blow dry from a local hairdresser, some tickets to watch racing at Knockhill from one of our bar staff who does some racing up there and food vouchers to use in the pub.”
Sharon Comrie, animal rescue and rehoming superintendent at the SSPCA, said: “We are absolutely delighted by the response to our Great Scottish Pub Quiz campaign. 70 pubs took part from Shetland to the Scottish Borders. There was lots of fun and good natured competitive spirit.
“We’re also really grateful to SLTN for their support promoting the quiz – pubs the length and breadth of the country have taken part. The funds raised will allow us to raise the £44,000 we need every day to continue to rescue, rehabilitate and rehome animals across Scotland.”
