Thame quiz format inspires first quiz ever by Romanian ‘twin’ Sinaia

A group of three women from Sinaia, Thame’s twin town, have organised a quiz inspired by the format of Thame’s TAL popular event.

Sinaia’s Spring Quiz winning team

Mariana Cojoc Wisernig, Irina Avramescu and Felicia Mirza, who had visited Thame, recruited nine ad hoc teams, which competed on different themes of general culture: history and the city’s personalities, literature and music. The competitors were of all ages.

The quiz took place at Sinaia’s “Carmen Sylva” Cultural Centre which has just celebrated 10 years since its opening. The centre takes its name from Queen Elisabeth of Romania (1843-1916), wife of King Carol the First. She wrote poems and childrens’ stories under the pen name of Carmen Sylva. Her favourite residence was Peles Castle in Sinaia.

The winning team was “Sinaia 365″ who included Vlad Oprea, the town’s mayor, and his colleagues Gheorghe Badaran, Anca Hogea and Corina Ghimbaş.

When reading the news on Facebook about the Sinaia Quiz, Sue Boyle, who has conducted quizzes for TAL and many other Thame local organisations over the years, said: “I am delighted to read this post! So proud my quiz format has made its way to Sinaia’ we loved you Sinaians, being with us for the TAL quiz.”

Mariana Cojoc-Wisernig, Sinaia’s quiz organiser, said: “During our beautiful visit in Thame to our friends, in October 2017, I was very impressed by the way the local organisers succeeded to attract a large number of people, of all ages, to entertaining and instructive activities. I came home with the strong desire to repeat the experience of the TAL Quiz in Thame, with my townspeople and with a lot of excitement because such an experience is completely new in my town.”

Mariana added: “I decided to organise, with the help of the other ASPE members, a Quiz for each season. The first Quiz was the Spring Quiz, with questions about the town we live in. Since we had no idea about the number of people joining in our event, we decided on four members in each team. I was surprised when we had to bring more tables and chairs and when the hall seemed too small.

“With each step, I learned something new, I got feedback, and I will have to consider the suggestions when organizing our next Quiz in the summer.”

Mariana concluded: “We would like to thank our Thame friends for offering us the opportunity to bring something new to Sinaia’s cultural life.”

Cecilia Francu, one of the participants, said: “I enjoyed the first set of questions about Sinaia. I think all teams did well in this section. During the last section “Music”, well, I got lost. But I enjoyed it. It was relaxing and entertaining. We socialised, talked over a cup of coffee and had a piece of cake. I can’t wait for the summer Quiz.”

Thame and Sinaia have been officially twinned since September, 2012. The Twinning Charter can be viewed inside Thame Town Council’s Information Centre. For more information about Thame and Sinaia twinning, visit www.facebook.com/thamesinaia