Merseyside Quiz Leagues

Brian was a loyal member of the MQL.  Although he rarely played, he was a regular QP and assisted with administration in both Warrington QL and MQL.  He was a regular attender of Council meetings and continued to support the Leagues as he had his late wife Elaine in her quizzing and during her Presidency of the MQL.  Brian was a serving Vice-President of the MQL at the time of his death in 2024.

Frank’s 16 years as Chairman was the longest tenure to date and during which the Leagues celebrated both Golden and Diamond Jubilees.  His chairmanship also saw the introduction of the second attempt format in matches across all MQL competitions.  Frank was always in favour of this rule change as he felt that it made for a less intimidating atmosphere and encouraged all players to have a go.  Taking a keen interest in the President’s Shield competition, Frank also instituted the Presidential Challenge end of season tournament, in order to retain involvement when the number of matches began to decline.  Latterly he steered the Leagues through the difficult early stages of the pandemic, where his calm and careful leadership was, as always, much valued.

Described by a close friend as a ‘can do’ type of person, Frank never allowed his blindness to prevent him from becoming involved in a whole range of activities from playing cricket to chairing the governing bodies of several establishments.  Frank spent his life meeting and overcoming challenges and his dedication to the MQL will be long remembered.

From the early 1970s, Norman was the Ormskirk League. For almost 40 years he got their leagues started every season, produced the fixture lists, did all the work needed to get questions to every game every week, took in the score sheets and processed and published the results, sorted out the few problems or protests, and kept everything running smoothly. For most of that time he was the Treasurer as well as Secretary and handled all the money very efficiently.
Norman served MQL as President from 1981 to 1984 then Deputy Chairman from 2006 to 2009.
He was very popular. He was good fun to play against, and nobody remembers ever saying or hearing a bad word about him; few could claim that. Norman died at the end of the 2008-2009 season just after the last game. He’d been ill for some time but carried on playing right to the end. He will be sadly missed.

Treasurer 1970-1972, Assistant General Secretary 1969-1972

Assistant General Secretary 1977-1978

General Secretary 1968-1973, First Assistant General Secretary 1959-1968

Treasurer 1959-1966

Deputy Chairman 1974-1981

First General Secretary 1959-1968. Assistant General Secretary 1968-1969

President 1993-1996.  Life President of Liverpool QL

First Chairman of MQL in 1959

Chairman 1967-1970

General Secretary 1973-1975, Assistant General Secretary 1975-1976, President 1976-1978

President 1978-1981

Chairman 1959-1965, First President 1965-1969

Chairman 1965-1967, President 1969-1970

Treasurer 1966-1970, Chairman 1970-1974, President 1974-1976

Jim Prendergast replaced Jack Lovatt as General Secretary in 1975, serving for seven years before heading out to work in Saudi Arabia. 
Jim represented the MQL in regard to BBC Radio Merseyside's 'Heads You Win' broadcast quizzes, organising the questions and refereeing the matches, alongside the station's own question master, Bob Azurdia.

Allan Urion, from the Northern League, became Chairman of the MQL in 1974, bringing a dynamic (but sometimes abrasive!) approach to the next decade of MQL development.  With his vision, enthusiasm and good humour Allan oversaw a doubling in the size of the MQL.  In 1973-74 there were 132 teams registered in the MQL; when his chairmanship ended in Season 1983-84, 266 teams had
registered.  During his chairmanship the "passing-over‟ of questions came in, as did his own pet project, the Mimir Individual competition (for which he wrote most of the questions in the early years).  Allan was keen to enhance the corporate image of the MQL and introduced the ravens logo.  He was President of the MQL from 1984-87.

Always featured with his pipe in hand, Bert Dutton was a quiet, genial, methodical man.  He became Treasurer in 1973, a post he filled with distinction for almost thirty years.