We had a good turnout and a strong performance both on court and through the night from many Wessex players on this year’s Jesters tour to Edinburgh. A 0445 Friday morning start ensured we were up in Edinburgh in time for our 1400 matches having had 2 breakfasts…. but no lunch! Andy, Ross, Mike, David, Luca, Dan and Harry drove up on a really beautiful crisp morning (at least it would have been beautiful had we been able to see out of the windscreen which was not being washed by the frozen screen wash!). Rory, Dominic, Cameron, Ewan and Robin all made their own way up…. and enjoyed checking in with us on Sunday evening when they were back home, feet up and we were still North of the Lakes!
There were the normal activities in Edinburgh with the weekend going in a blur…. Fives, curry, nightclub, fives, pub, fives, La Petite Folie, whiskey bar, pub, fives, Thai meal……. driving home and arriving 67 hours after we left and having spent most of those hours laughing!
65 players were up in Edinburgh this year and it was a masterpiece of organisation by two of our own - Dave Butler and Ben Hale. It was great catching up with previous members of the Wessex Fives Club- Duncan Neal, Ed Thompson, Shinan Zang, Steve Coffey, James Birch and hopefully some new ones including Rob Walton… plus another potential member who is eyeing up a house move to the Wessex area but has yet to tell his wife…. I am sworn to secrecy!
Amongst the matches, many of the Wessex players were involved in a lovey couple of hours playing in the Jeremy Ball Memorial Match…. played in the spirit that Jeremy would have loved…… or as Dave so eloquently put it- ‘playing shit fives and having a laugh’!
Other highlights included our limited edition ‘Jesters + Wessex’ tour tops which included the recurringly most popular way of improving the tour ever since Frank stood down as chief tour organiser! We were also once again looked after by Virginie and her team at La Petite Folie where we were treated to some tour firsts…. Fives related poetry and some novelty baseball caps…. and some tour traditions of speeches from Guy, JP, Alex and Hector.
The tour is a massive highlight for Scottish Fives, and with matches of all levels all being played in the Jesters spirit it is a weekend not to be missed.
