Location:London Transport Museum
Event: 'Overground Uncovered' Scavenger Hunt
Date: Saturday, 4th February 2011.

The day started at 11.00 at the Museum of Croydon, Katherine Street, where I was directed to the meet point by a very pleasant museum attendant. Unfortunately the meeting was taking place on the Mezzanine floor, the only access being by a spiral staircase... No good for me, so the attendant kindly informed the others that I was waiting downstairs where a young lady came down to run me through the event. I was teamed up with two guys, whose names now escape me, and James and Rowan, the children of one of the guys.

There were four teams and ours was named Team Hendy for some obscure reason. Each team was given a different zone out of four, to start from so there was no initial overlap but, after that, it was down to the teams to go where they wished. Our criteria were to solve the five questions in each zone and for each team member to take a photograph of the answer, plus photograph as many pubs and tram stops as possible. Each zone also had a photo clue that had to be included. As an additional challenge there had to be a team photo on an Overground train (the hunt being held on the launch of the completed London Overground network) and one of the team with a market trader.

Our first zone was at Norwood Junction, NE of Croydon, Surrey, listed as zone 4. Luckily my team mates came from that area so were pretty clued up on the area and knew that the 119 bus would take us straight to our first destination. Between them they had solved four of the clues, with one causing much scratching of heads. The first stop was for clue: 'Pieced together history of South Norwood'. This referred to a mosaic frieze under a railway bridge, and was very tricky to photograph. It had to be done panel by panel. Oh! For a wide angled lens!!! From there we headed to clue two: 'Jack Tar would be happy her' (sic!) being the Jolly Sailor pub. An easy clue. The next caused a fair amount of head scratching. 'Confused Sally has lent rooms for Dr. Livingstone's friend'. I could only think of Stanley Halls, but could not see the connection. We still took photos, just in case. (It actually proved correct!) We all missed the anagram 'Sally has lent'. ! From here it was a short walk to clue four, merrily clicking away at the respective pubs en route, and 'William and Eliza's golden wedding anniversary present', it being the freshly painted Clock tower, according to my companions. Just across the way was clue five, and a typical 'Two Ronnies' (for those into British television comedy) clue: 'Somewhere you can probably buy fork handles or four candles', being Emertons, the ironmongers. Back to the station and I suddenly realised we'd missed the photo clue. Luckily James noticed we'd taken a photo of the Portmanor pub, and part of the façade was the photo clue. Phew. It was taken by default but still counted.

Time to take the Overground back to West Croydon. Typical. It was one of those platforms with a large step up, so it was a case of me boarding on my knees. How embarrassing! Now we needed the team photo. No-one was prepared to hand their camera to a stranger (It was that sort of area! It would vanish quicker than the photo could be taken!) so little 11 year old Rowan did a capable job snapping four photos on four different cameras within two minutes!

Once at West Croydon, it was up the slope of the station and a set of steps to exit the station. I had had serious concerns about managing to stay with the team, but they were very forgiving and caring, checking regularly to see that I was coping . Rowan particularly. A very mature and pleasant 11-year-old!

Now onto the next zone, West Croydon. Again we'd solved three clues.I was pleased I was able to solve one as it was an area I have visited many times for a regular band gig in the Old Town. The first was pretty easy, being a distinctive landmark. The clue? 'Lookout (sic!) for two tall Scandinavians in the West. This referred to the two chimneys that remained from Croydon Power Station, now an integral part of the Ikea superstore, with the crowns being painted in the Ikea brand colours. An excellent, cheap advertisement. Another pub photo opportunity and an altercation! Not between the team, but a member of the public who just happened to walk into the shot I was taking and demanded it be deleted. And he was on the other side of the street!!! I couldn't even detect him! I deleted him and he walked away, only to walk straight into a shot taken by a team member, Full Face!!! . Retribution! Next was clue 2: 'Religious building but not Marks and Spencer. This referred to St. Michael's Church (more accurately St. Michael's and All Saints, with St. James) and possibly the best artistic mass photo shoot of the day. After this there was debate about clue three: 'Famous horse race in this road?'. My automatic answer was 'Aintree Road' but there wasn't one so, after a quick scan of the A-Z (I knew there was a reason for bringing it) I deduced it was Derby Road, which was down the side of the Pub where I had the altercation!!! And I missed it. ! Back we trudged for the shot!

From here we jumped to a different zone, the Old Town. This is the area where I had the gigs, so I felt confident on scoring well. I recognised the first clue, 'School's out for Summer for the Archbishop of Canterbury'. I knew that all former Archbishops of Canterbury were buried in Croydon, having previously come under the See of Southwark. Thankfully we spotted the Old Palace, now a school! Close by was Croydon Parish Hall, and the clue we missed. 'Rush, rich chap – don't be late!'. Another anagram. Parish Church? And our gigs are in that Church hall!!! Now to walk back into the centre of town and another one that stumped us! 'You can walkabout here and find fruity chicken at the bottom of the road'. Fruity Chicken? Walkabout was an Australian watering hole, (pub) now closed down, and there is a KFC across the road. On the off-chance we took a photo of the two in the same shot, with the fruit and veg stall in front of KFC... and that was the right photo. Result! At the same time we managed to get Rowan to grab a quick photo of the team standing by a market trader, as we were running out of time. We had to be back by 14.30 and it was 13.45! A quick side turning and another photo clue, being a night-club and onwards. Now I was tiring and we had to climb the main hill in the centre of Croydon. Halfway up were two clues. The first? 'A present to the poor on holiday Sunday'. I'm pleased I got this, being the Whitgift Alms houses. The next was a pictorial clue, identified as the frontage to W.H.Smith's and a modern take on armorial arms. By now I really hurt. I suggested to the team that, as a crafty cheat, they took one of my spare memory cards to get the next clue: 'Store of plays', this being the Warehouse Theatre. I knew I would slow them down going up the hill and they had to return to me to continue the hunt so off they set while I slowly continued up the hill getting a bonus tram stop en route. The other clue I could get from where I was, being 'Architect made a stack of cash'. Again one of the team had heard of No. 1 Croydon being called the 'threepenny bit' tower, due to its offset octagonal build structure and it was viewable up the road. By the time they had finished I had reached the top of the hill. En route back to the museum we were able to take in 'Milky Bar kid works here'. Another tick for me, being the Nestlé U.K. headquarters aka Nestlé Tower. A little further on and a brief sortie back into the old town and the clue 'No dragon would enter here', being St. George's walk, and on to our penultimate clue: Façade for entertaining view, being the Vue cinema. The last solved clue was outside the museum itself, and 'A high old time'. This referred to the Clock-tower on the Town Hall, and the venue we started from.

We failed to work out two clues. 'A busy abode for pilgrims' was the Mecca bingo, and 'Mozart plays on the grass for fun here', being the Fairfield Halls, with a program of music by Mozart. We also missed, due to lack of time, a photo clue, A.M.House, with an Art Deco statue outside.

We returned to the museum at 14.40, 10 minutes late, but weren't penalised as they only had one answer sheet, and were still working through the shots other teams had taken. They also trusted everyone that they had worked as a team (so much for panicking about the 'cheat'), choosing just one camera as proof of solving the clues. We had done well on the pub side of the hunt but not as well as the other teams. The results were very close, and we managed a credible third.

It had been good fun, tiring but painful towards the end. The plus side was that it gave me an insight as to how well I will manage in Copenhagen on the next Elephant Parade in June. The indications are that I will need a number of short coffee breaks during the Parade, but I did keep up. Just! And I'd definitely recommend a photo scavenger hunt to anyone who enjoys a walk around an unknown area, and enjoys photography. Bring on the next one. Just no time limits?

The photos can be seen in my online photo album.

MazinMadFiddler

21.02.11 Front Page

Back Issue Page