Image above: Getting past the starting checkpoint we got our first clue. [Saturday 23 July] | [View all photos]
Last Saturday, a group of us took part in Search Party, organised by Create London for the which got us walking around Shoreditch for 3.5 hours solving a series of 8 clues to discover the final party location.
With the event kicking off after lunch, IT Girl and I were enjoying a relaxed brunch at Luxe in Spitalfields when Winnie texted everyone to remind them to wear red. So even before the actual treasure hunt began I had to search for something red to buy and ended up scoring this very red t-shirt from Barbour which, luckily, discounted by a third. Phew!
Hooking up with everyone else at the initial meeting point we didn’t get off to a very good start by failing to distinguish between tap, filtered, and mineral water! However, we answered the next question correctly and got our first clue to walk along the canal and look for something in large type (i.e. text). Which to our amusement turned out to be literally large TYPE graffitied onto the canalside! There the “guard” made us hum ballroom dancing music whilst Evonne and Clement had to waltz before we got our second clue.
The saint in Nuttal Street turned out to be St. Leonard’s hospital. As for the security … well, that was another “guard” who made everyone participate in some games before finally letting us in. The next clue was more of a an instruction to go to Pearson Street so again we pored over the maps to figure out where to go.
There we found the fourth clue which involved working out a specific address with some highly unnecessary mental arithmetic for the number and Dingbats for the name. Hilariously we needn’t have gone to all that effort as when we walked around the corner to get to Kingsland Road there was a massive queue of people waiting at the second checkpoint!
Finally it was our turn at the doorway and again another challenge by the “guard” for us to sing to him – led by the our indomitable voice of our team leader – Clement. Inside, as part the checkpoint, we kinda got tarted up for the party before we were handed our next clue which took us to the Physic Garden of the Geffrey Museum. There Winnie had to answer three questions on plants and on our second attempt we scored the fifth clue and took a quick time out for a group photo.
By this time we were getting somewhat peckish and the girls were sorely tempted to stop and eat as we walked through pho central towards the bells of Shoreditch. We pressed on and stumbled up on what “Syds on wheels” meant on the clue where we all got free tea and biscuits. There we met the next “guard” who asked us to compose a little ditty for her as to why we should continue. At Clements suggestion we ad-libbed our own lyrics to the classic poem “roses are red” whilst Mats twirled Stephanie (dressed in red) and I twirled IT Girl (dressed in violet).
That produced the sixth clue that took us to a working launderette which told us to go to Arnold’s Circus and the third checkpoint. A bit confused at first we worked out that we had to find Arnold who wouldn’t give us the next clue until we had won enough circus games. After unsuccessful attempts at the potato race by Evonne, Kelvin, and See Yun, it was Kelvin who had the genius suggestion that we should all enter the race so the team couldn’t lose.
That and Stephanie’s hiddent talent at hula-hooping gave us the seventh clue which we worked out to be an apron on Folgate Street. And there it was hanging in the window of a pub with instructions on where to go next. With only one more clue and one more checkpoint to go now, the end was in sight.
The final clue turned out to be a life drawing exercise of two actresses dressed up in Wild West outfits holding a rifle. Not having been lost so far it was at this point we got lost on our way to the final checkpoint by literally going to the police station outside Liverpool Street! But with a combination of judicious Google Maps and basically following other red-attired folks we found ourselves packed in a narrow alley where our team leads did a basic dancing challenge to clear the fourth and final checkpoint.
With all the checkpoints cleared, and each one giving part of the location of the party, we could finally work out where it was and as the sign said at the top: seek and ye shall find. Hurrah – we had done it!
Looking back on it now, I thought that some parts of the event didn’t scale very well as there was quite a bit of waiting around and sometimes it was just easier to follow everyone else than really work out what to do next. That all said and done I did enjoy it and I would do it again. It was free, some of the challenges were hilarious, it was interesting seeing a different side of East London that I hadn’t seen before, and it was a good laugh spending the day with friends. My thanks to Winnie for doing all the organisation!
