The 2019 edition of the BC Jesters summer Doubles Calcutta was held at the Vancouver Lawn Tennis and Badminton Club on Friday, June 14, 2019

The teams:

16 participants were purchased with bids as low as $150 and as high as $350. Teams were created and a points handicap system was used to level the playing field.  An incredible number of games ended 15-14 and more amazingly, both semi-finals and the final all ended 2-1 with a 15-14 score in the 3^rd and deciding game!  Kudos to Morgan Latremouille for organizing this event – finding the 16 players, finding 2 more to replace last minute withdrawals, establishing the points handicaps and making sure the event starts on time and finishes before midnight is a huge challenge.  Not only was Morgan up to the task, but he somehow managed to win for a 2^nd year in a row (no doubt because of his partner, Madeline Sava).  Perhaps we need to re-assess letting Morgan set the handicaps😊!Thanks to all the Jesters who played and also to those who bet on the players.  This year nearly $4000 was raised for Squash BC’s Building the Future Fund with the tax receipt for the owners of the winning team going to the all-female conglomerate, C’s Company! 

Cathy Brown and Andrew Lynn
Ruth Castellino and Mark Robinson
Karen Levine and Robert Pacey
Brian Covernton and Lynn Broman
Carolyn Russell and Kelly Latremouille
Madeleine Sava and Morgan Latremouille
Justin Todd and Russell Smith
Laura Ramsey and Thomas Brinkman

Golf Tournament Saturday saw beautiful sunshine and 20 keen golfers descend on University Golf Course to test their skills and, if you were in my foursome, have a few beverages!  When the dust settled, Michael Jackson walked away with the big trophy for Net Champion with an amazing 65!  Andrew Lynn managed to defend his title as Low Gross champ with a modest 77 much to the chagrin of the others. 

KP winners were Karen Levine, Ruth Castellino and Morgan Latremouille (is there anything this guy doesn’t win?) and the Long Drive winners were Ruth Castellino and Geraint Khan.  There was a repeat champion for the honour of Most Honest Golfer but he shall remain nameless to maintain his dignity!  Many thanks to those who donated prizes, to Tim Bale for booking the tee times and most importantly, to Ruth Castellino for organizing this event (she did win two prizes so don’t feel too bad for her!).

Après-golf Dinner Perhaps the highlight of the weekend was the dinner at Russell and Gillian Smith’s place.  Close to 60 people wined, dined and socialized in what will be our final hurrah at the Smith’s place.  I don’t think we broke anything this year (Barclay was well-behaved) and it was great to see so many Jesters and their guests.  Thanks to Hugh and Sandra Woolley for the wonderful dinner, John and Debbie Hungerford for the tasty dessert, Doug MacDougall for the wine/beer and Paul Stevenson for the non-alcoholic drinks.   There are no words to describe how generous Russell and Gillian have been to our group, hosting numerous Jesters functions at their house – thank you both so much!

Bonus photos courtesy of Natasha Doucas: