It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

It’s been a tough year for tenants and landlords alike, so Inside Housing invited some in the north west to a Christmas party for some well-earned festive fun and games. Lydia Stockdale and Jess McCabe kept score

After a tough year for the sector, Inside Housing decided it was time to have a bit of festive fun. So we headed to Liverpool to play some old-fashioned Christmas games with some north west-based housing professionals and tenants.

Hosted by South Liverpool Homes in an empty office that will soon become the 3,600-home landlord’s ‘lettings hub’, teams from across the region get into the Christmas spirit, giving up their lunchtimes to dress as Father Christmases and elves and go head-to-head in games of charades, Pictionary and ‘guess the cracker joke punchline’.

This year has been a busy one for our teams, and they certainly deserve to let their hair down and meet colleagues from other landlords across their region.

First to arrive from St Helens, Merseyside, is the Helena Partnerships team. They’re decked out with Christmas hats, reindeer antlers, sparkly tiaras and jingle bells.

The team from Wythenshawe Community Housing Group, in Manchester, is next to walk through the door wearing an array of Christmas jumpers with matching accessories. For luck, Fred Bates, one of the 14,000-home social landlord’s tenant committee members, has brought along a mascot - a dancing penguin.

Mouths fall open when the home team from South Liverpool Homes makes its entrance, and the others take in their impressive costumes. Neighbourhood engagement officer Kris Karawski, for example, is wearing a giant Christmas pudding outfit. Wythenshawe’s Simon Melloy, a senior housing manager for community safety, makes his way across the room to introduce himself; he’s wearing a Christmas pudding jumper, so it seems only right.

Councillor Hetty Wood, assistant cabinet member for housing, is the first of Liverpool Council’s team members to arrive. She’s wearing a more understated grey dress with a holly necklace and looks a bit bewildered by everyone else’s kit.

A few minutes later, her teammates, including Inside Housing columnist Ann O’Byrne, cabinet member for housing at Liverpool Council and assistant mayor, arrive with full Father Christmas outfits to change into. While Hetty and the rest of the final team don red felt trousers and jackets, the other contestants tuck into chocolates and mince pies.

Let the games begin
Once everyone’s ready, it’s time for the games to begin. Wythenshawe Community Housing Group volunteers to go first in charades, and wellbeing assistant Lewis Crowther, easily the most competitive person in the room, picks a clue out of the hat.

It’s a film with two words, and Lewis begins by miming shooting. ‘Rifle?”Gun?’ ‘War?’ guess his teammates. That’s it, they’ve got it - now for the second word. Lewis starts galloping. ‘War Horse’, calls out Irene Lawrance, another of Wythenshawe’s tenant committee members. It’s the right answer.

Irene pulls ‘Ghostbusters’ from the hat. After some confusion over whether it’s one word or two, she hides behind the scoreboard and jumps out while pulling scary faces. ‘King Kong’, ‘Mummy’, ‘Dracula’, guess her teammates. Irene tries jumping out again, but the others are still none-the-wiser. This continues for around two minutes, and the team has just five minutes in total. It’s time to pass and move on to the next charade.

Now it’s Fred’s turn. He acts out ‘The Wizard of Oz’ with ease. Thirty seconds left on the clock and Lewis is eager for another go. His clue is a film with four words. All he has to do is point to his back and his quick-thinking teammates are on it: ‘Back to the future’, they yell, just before the buzzer goes and it’s Helena Partnerships’ turn to take the stage.

First up is community engagement officer Tanya McGibbon. She gets a TV show with four words. The first word is ‘the’; the second word is something huge, Tanya gestures using her arms. Her teammates are on her wavelength: ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ they shout.

Helena Youth Voice member Yasmin Billinge is up next. She quickly acts out ‘Jaws’, which the others guess in a matter of seconds.

Allison Lewis, project officer for young people, who is dressed as an elf, picks a more difficult clue from the hat. It’s a TV show with two words. The first word is ‘the’, the second word is something that appears to surround Allison. She points up and down, left and right, and then begins acting out typing and using a mouse. After some initial guesses, her teammates fall silent. Suddenly resident involvement coordinator Joanne McMahon twigs: ‘The Office!’

Joanne pretends to be a vampire and her team guesses ‘Twilight’ immediately. Then Tanya acts out Oliver Twist by spinning around in a circle, which the rest get nearly as quickly.

Team Helena Partnerships is on a roll. There’s a slight stumble when Yasmin passes on ‘Lord of the Rings’, but then elf Allison comes to the rescue bagging a final point for her team by acting out TV show ‘Scrubs’ with moments to spare.

Now it’s the turn of South Liverpool Homes, and Kris the Christmas pudding is first. She acts out a ticking clock. Debbie O’Hare, neighbourhood engagement manager, doesn’t need any more clues. ‘A Clockwork Orange,’ she shouts.

Debbie now has to act out a film with four words. She pretends to sword fight while covering one eye. It takes a while, but her teammates correctly guess ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’.

‘Can I get a bonus point for that one, because it was dead hard?’ she asks.

There are no bonus points in this game, and team South Liverpool Homes doesn’t need them anyway. Scrutiny panel member Corin Rees, who is dressed as the snow queen, successfully acts out ‘Rain man’. Then Kim Kenny, corporate services administrator - who is today known as ‘Mrs Christmas’ - does ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, by raising a finger to her lips.

Now it’s Kris’s turn again. She picks a clue that is both a book and a film. It’s got four words and she begins by acting out the first, miming telling someone off. ‘Master?’ ‘Official?’ ‘Manager?’ guess the others.

Kris moves onto the fourth word. She flaps her arms frantically. ‘Bird?’ ‘Wings?’ shout out her teammates. Kris is going red in the face due to the heat inside her Christmas pudding costume, and looks as though she’s ready to pass on this one, but Debbie gets in there first. ‘Lord of the Flies!’ she declares.

Elf Debbie tries to sneak in one more point before her team’s five minutes are up, but she’s barely begun acting out ‘Knight Rider’ before the buzzer sounds.

Last but not least, it’s Liverpool Council’s turn. Heather Jago, development manager, goes first. We get the feeling she’s played this game before as she strikes a ‘Spiderman’ pose, and the rest of her team get the right answer.

‘Come on Steve, don’t let me down. No pressure,’ shouts Ann as Steve Power, assistant director of housing, picks his clue. But he doesn’t need any encouragement, he’s in the zone, successfully acting out ‘Fight Club’ within a couple of seconds.

It’s Hetty’s turn now, and her acting skills mean the rest of the team quickly guess ‘Little Women’.

Looking at the scoreboard, Wythenshawe’s Fred realises that with half its time left, Liverpool Council is already beating his team’s score. ‘We’re getting walloped here,’ he says to Simon.

With just 20 seconds left on the clock, Steve has to act out ‘Rocky’. ‘Oh hurry up, hurry up’, shouts Ann, who has now overtaken Lewis as the most competitive player in the room.

Again, Steve’s on it. His boxing is so convincing the rest of his team guess right first time. He’s so quick that Hetty can squeeze in another go. Luckily she picks out an easy clue, and in one simple movement, acts out ‘Superman’, landing her team yet another point before its time is up.

Can you tell what it is yet?
Over some sandwiches, the teams mingle and talk strategy in preparation for Christmas-themed Pictionary. Wythenshawe Community Housing Group is coming last, with three points to Liverpool Council’s seven. Lewis, Simon, Fred and Irene agree they don’t want to go first this time - it’s the local authority’s turn to get things started.

Ann and co are fine with this. Once everyone’s fuelled up with sandwiches and more chocolate (this is the Christmas games after all), the team gathers around Heather’s feet as she prepares to start drawing.

‘I find this a bit intimidating,’ she says, looking down at her colleagues. But she doesn’t let it get to her, drawing ‘the baby Jesus’ with ease.

Ann’s up next. She draws a squashed-looking bird - but it’s OK, the rest of her team know it’s a Robin.

It’s Hetty’s turn and she begins by drawing a circle. ‘Christmas pudding?’ asks Steve.

‘Yes?’ answers South Liverpool’s Kris who is sitting directly behind him. After the laughter has died down, Hetty gets on with her drawing, and it becomes clear the circular thing is an egg in an egg cup. ‘Egg nog,’ her team guesses correctly.

It’s Steve’s go, but it’s a tough one: ‘nativity’. The team’s three minutes are almost up, and there just isn’t enough time to portray the whole nativity scene.

Now it’s South Liverpool Homes’ turn to take position in front of the flip chart. Again, neighbourhood engagement officer Kris goes first. She draws somebody with spikey hair. ‘It’s Jack Frost,’ calls out Jay Carr, who’s at South Liverpool Homes on work experience, and is a bonus member of today’s team.

‘What’s that?’ asks Kim, pointing to the hair do in the picture. ‘It’s his crown of ice,’ explains Kris.

Debbie’s clue is ‘roasted chestnuts’. She only gets as far as drawing a row of circles before her team guesses correctly. ‘I know my food,’ shrugs the Christmas pudding.

It’s Corin’s go now. She draws some bells, and the rest of her team guess ‘bells?’ ‘Sleigh bells?’ In the spirit of Christmas, the Helena Partnerships team decides to help the competition by jingling the bells that adorn their outfits. It’s the hint members of the South Liverpool team need, ‘Jingle bells!’ they shout.

They’re in the swing of it now, and go on to score three more points in as many seconds for ‘Christmas star’, ‘sleigh’ and ‘Christmas pudding’.

Corin’s last clue is far tougher though. She begins by drawing a crown, but the few seconds she has left just aren’t enough for to draw ‘the Queen’s Christmas broadcast’.

Helena Partnerships’ team takes position. Tanya begins by drawing something that looks like holly, but turns out to be mistletoe.

Now it’s Yasmin’s turn and she draws what looks like a train. The rest of her team stand up and gather around her, eager to see what she’s doing. The train was meant to symbolise ‘toys’, but after several incorrect guesses, the team decides to pass and move on.

Allison quickly sketches a cylinder shape, which Joanne correctly guesses is a yule log. She then draws a candle, grabbing another point for her team. Tanya draws a manger, and Yasmin, gold.

With a couple of seconds left on the clock, Allison doesn’t have time to draw holly, so she rings Tanya’s previous attempt at mistletoe, but the buzzer goes before her teammates can shout out the answer.

Wythenshawe Community Housing Group’s team now has some catching up to do. Fred, who is aptly wearing a reindeer hat, draws a reindeer. ‘Reindeer…Rudolf?’ shouts Lewis, guessing correctly.

‘Come on, quick,’ urges Simon, as Lewis picks his clue from the hat.

Lewis draws three wise men, and uses initials for ‘gold, frankincense and myrrh’. Using prompts like initials is not technically allowed, but the other teams don’t object when his teammates guess correctly.

It’s Simon’s turn to sketch ‘pantomime’, which Fred gets right. He then draws a line across the pad - it’s enough for Lewis to get ‘tinsel’.

Irene has a go. She begins by drawing a circle with a point on top, ‘Father Christmas’, shouts Lewis.

This team is on fire now, bagging points for ‘lights’ and ‘advent calender’ before Fred, so keen for Wythenshawe to catch up with the others, nearly trips over the board as he lurches forward to reach for a clue. He draws something flat and round, ‘turkey?’ the others guess. Fred needs to add more details, but it’s too late, the buzzer sounds before he gets the chance. ‘What is it?’ ask the others. ‘A mince pie’ answers Fred, looking deflated.

You must be joking
The score going into the Christmas cracker punchline round is now 10 to Wythenshawe, South Liverpool and Liverpool Council, and 11 to Helena Partnerships.

As we prepare to pull the crackers, someone decides to turn the Christmas music down - this is serious stuff. Inside Housing’s Jess McCabe will read out the joke, and the first person to guess the punchline wins a point for their team.

‘What do you call a multi-storey pig pen?’ asks Jess. ‘A sty scraper,’ shouts Helena Partnerships’ Tanya, bagging a point.

‘What do you call someone who’s afraid of Santa?’

There are some puzzled looks - nobody knows. ‘Claustrophobic,’ answers Jess, and everyone groans.

‘I think it’s time to go,’ sighs Liverpool Council’s Ann, who quickly changes her mind when Hetty guesses the punchline to ‘What did the Alien say to the garden?’ (Take me to your weeder.)

She then gets the punchline to ‘What do you call an orange parrot?’ (A carrot) and Liverpool Council marches into the lead.

‘What do you call a vampire crossed with a snowman,’ asks Jess. ‘Frostbite’ shouts Lewis, bringing Wythenshawe swiftly back into the game.

‘What do you get if you eat all the Christmas decorations?’ ‘Tinselitis,’ answers South Liverpool’s Kim.

After several correct answers and even more passes, the other teams catch up and everyone is on equal points. The room is silent as Jess reads out the decider. ‘Come on guys,’ barks Lewis at his Wythenshawe teammates.

‘What music do ghosts dance to?’ asks Jess. ‘Soul music,’ shouts Ann, without missing a beat.

And that’s it, it’s all over. Liverpool Council is declared the winner of the Christmas games. The other teams take defeat graciously, but swear they’ll be back next year, even more determined to win.

And it’s clear that the aim of the games has been met when Liverpool Council’s Heather, who has until now been costume-less, pulls on a Santa hat to pose for photos. ‘I do feel more Christmassy now,’ she says. ‘It must be all the Pictionary.’