Please don't get me wrong (I think the Jesters is a great weekend, well organised, a lot of fun etc) but in many ways this kind of tournament is NOT what the game needs if it is to appeal to a younger and wider audience.

99% of the audience on finals night was made up of octogenarians. This seems to be synonomous with many clubs around the country - full of old/middle aged men (and basically no women, although Lambs is an exception here). To add to this, Squash is a game full of cliques - cliques ruled over by old/middle aged men to boot.

Take as an example the recent change of scoring system - in a desperate attempt to bring squash to the public Gawain Briars was essentially labelled as a prat by (if memory serves me right) people like Jonah Barrington (even though the pros think it's better) - someone who epitomizes the "old-man" attitude. People like him have a huge influence over the game. A worrying bit in your article Framboise is:

'And like me, don’t start him [Peter Chalk] on the new scoring…'

Maybe im reading too much into it (although you do go on to say he's a tradionalist) and he merely dislikes the format. BUT it certainly appears as though this attitude is projected beyond merely the scoring format. I've no idea whatsoever how the game could be made more available/popular, but I am positive that wallowing in the Jesters traditionalism is not the way to do it.

Perhaps a start would be to hold a Womens amateur championship (and loose the 'Jesters' tag - it does after all embody the whole Mens Club ideal)...

I agree with the idea of a womens amateur in conjunction with the mens in the same club on the same weekend - could only be healthy for all.
However the rest of it is a bit unfair.
The reason only 'octogenerians' are present is circumstantial. By this I presume you mean of retirement age. It's a Monday night. First day of week. Central London. Work in the morning. Kids to swimming class. Weekly Shopping. People have other things to do than go watch a lame final between two 'ahem' self proclaimed amatuers (who get paid).

Run it off on the sunday all day and you'd have a right crowd down at the finals - fair point about the womens though i'd be all over that. literally.

In relation to the comments about the Jesters and octogenerians, I feel that the comments made were nothing more then a blatent attempt to down-trodden the beauty that is the jesters. Guys that would normally go for the juguler at the thought of a double bounce, reduced to gentlemen by the pure majestic qualities and atmosphere of the touranament. To suggest changing this would end it, ever hear the saying "if it works don't fix it. It's worked for 25 years run by one of the true gentlemen of the game CHALKIE. Think of this, Women are timed with a 3rd party what are they one to one???????

agreed.
these are the rantings of a man who has never rolled one out of the nick.
tick tock up and down the wall. dullard.

Maybe Jesters in its current format has run its course and belongs in the past; it needs to be built upon to incorporate women and a bigger catchment area. I don't think this would detract from the atmosphere at all, it would merely heighten it. It has the potential to become very big for the amateur I feel, if only it could expand and appeal to a younger,wider audience (as i said in my original post).

Yes but the question is it an amature tournament in your opinion??????