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All to play for in two separate tournaments! Who will be our 2025 FOCAL champion?

Date: Saturday 29th November 2025
Venue: Novotel Milton Keynes, Saxon St, Leyburn Ct, Heelands, Milton Keynes, MK13 7RA (map)
Admission: £12 (preferably by PayPal to https://paypal.me/GArmstrong97/12; alternative payment methods available on request)
Doors open: 10am, for 11am start
Organised by: George Armstrong
Presented by: George Armstrong & Adam Beach
Games to be played: 7, plus the FOCAL Grand Final. All games will be 9 rounders
Finishes by: 6pm
Wheelchair accessible: Yes

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Another year, another end-of-season showdown at the Novotel in Milton Keynes.

Format:
As in previous years, the top 8 seeds in our FOCAL League Table at the end of the year will face off in a round robin to earn a place in the 2025 FOCAL Grand Final. Meanwhile, everyone else is welcome to sign up and take part in our Milton Keynes Open event, where the champion will be whoever tops the standings after 7 games.

Our 2024 FOCAL champion was Jack Hurst, becoming the only person to win 3 FOCAL Seasons (actually the only person to win more than 1!), with Callum Todd picking up the win in the MK Open.

Doors open at 10am for an 11am start, to play seven 9-round games of Countdown, before the top two performers in the Finals play a 9-round final to decide the overall winner for 2025.

This event uses a classroom-style format, with big screen graphics. This means everyone plays along to the same letters rounds, and everyone will get a turn at picking consonants and vowels for the room at some point.

For the numbers games, you’ll get to pick which combination of large and small numbers you want, in turn in your pairs, from our specially designed five-line display.

For the conundrum, these will be revealed on the screen for everyone in much the same way as on the TV show. We will explain at the start of the day how each part of the contest runs, and give everyone a practice game consisting of a letters game, a numbers game and a conundrum just before the first match.

Lunch & breaks:

We will stop for lunch after the second or third match — lunch is not provided but there are plenty of amenities nearby, including a Tesco Express, a Costa Coffee, and a McDonalds as well as the hotel’s restaurant.

Please note that any refreshments purchased outside of the hotel are not to be consumed in the public areas of the hotel; only within our private conference suite.

There will be another short break during the afternoon and, if you don’t make the Grand Final, a chance to recharge your glass just before our showpiece gets underway.

How to book:
The entry fee is just £12. To secure your place, send your entry fee to George Armstrong, FOCAL Chair, by PayPal (alternative payment methods available on request).

Transport:
The event venue is less than 2 miles away from Milton Keynes Central station.

There are 120 car parking spaces at the hotel available on a first come, first served basis. Car parking is free but you must register your car at reception if parking on site.

Staying over?
If you don’t manage to bag a room at the Novotel, there are many low-cost hotel options available in central Milton Keynes, all within a couple of miles of the event venue.

Any questions?
Please feel free to email us at hello@focalcountdown.com

We look forward to seeing you in Milton Keynes in November!

Attending or organising a FOCAL event is subject to the FOCAL Code of Conduct.

Confirmed attendees (8 Finals and 37 Open):

Finals:

Tom Carey
MSR
Thomas Cappleman
Tim Hebbes
Matthew Brockwell
Adam Latchford
Dylan Taylor
Dan Byrom

Open:

Fiona Titcombe
Phil Stanton
Adrian Fletcher
Graeme Cole
James Robinson
Richard Priest
Bradley Horrocks
Eddy Byrne
Darren Godfrey
Jase Cullen
Ian Wray
John Clarke
Chris Marshall
Toby Pereira
Gabriel Thallon
Elizabeth Beer
Coral Heath
Rowland Reeves
Dave Ryan
Suzy Turner
Tom Stevenson
Ali Stevenson
Paul Talmey
Sandie Simonis
Brendan Whitehurst
Joe Henry
Annie Gallagher
Sam Prouse
Mike Springett
Ashwin Abinashi
Samuel Stock
Rob Foster
Stewart Gordon
Thomas Finn
Amar Chotai
Ross King
Ronan Higginson

I'm proud to announce that this year's FOCAL Finals/Open will be sponsored by Crest IT

Crest IT offer a flexible range of IT Support packages to suit your business needs.

This can include access to full-time dedicated onsite IT support, ongoing monthly packages with unlimited telephone help, or pay as you need in blocks or by the hour. A free IT system audit is available to all businesses.

Quite simply Crest IT provides hassle-free IT solutions and on-going management services to support your organisation, whilst your concentrate on your day-to-day business.

For individuals, Crest IT offer competitively priced new and refurbished hardware solutions. New hardware can provide you with the most up to date hardware on the market. Refurbished hardware can be bought at fraction of the cost of new, resulting in the potential for higher-spec and better-quality hardware being available.

Other solutions offered include cyber security, data backup service, managed cloud services, Microsoft Office 365 purchase and support, disaster recovery services and system penetration testing. Courses are also available to become Cyber Essentials certified, which will bring higher awareness to the possibility of cyber-attacks.

Crest have recently hit 100 Google reviews of 5 stars, showing very high customer satisfaction.

To find out more, please visit their website at www.crest-it.co.uk or email David.lees@crest-it.co.uk

Do we get a discount?

We'll be getting some custom pens and notepads on the day. Comparing to last year, the venue price has gone up, and well as just about everything else in life, so the extra money coming in has stopped either the entry fee going up, or the quality of the event going down (whichever way you choose to view it).

Trisect

There's a poll up on the FB page for the post event meal - Asian food and private karaoke at Legend One, or curry at The Grange. If you could vote if you're planning on coming along so we can more accurately make bookings. https://www.facebook.com/share/19yiK9TzLk/

I'm planning to do Rushmere parkrun for my R - it's a 20 min drive from the event venue

Bradley Horrocks wrote: ↑Wed Oct 29, 2025 11:43 am I'm planning to do Rushmere parkrun for my R - it's a 20 min drive from the event venue

Think Maus has got his eye on Jubilee Bedford!

Fiona T wrote: ↑Wed Oct 29, 2025 11:47 am

Bradley Horrocks wrote: ↑Wed Oct 29, 2025 11:43 am I'm planning to do Rushmere parkrun for my R - it's a 20 min drive from the event venue

Think Maus has got his eye on Jubilee Bedford!

Ah, well I do need to get a J too!

I'm probably going to do Linford Wood. I've booked the breakfast at the hotel and need to be back for it.

Maus and I tentatively planning trip to Bletchley Park on Sunday after MK if anyone fancies it - you'll need transport though - my car is full!