AMCHAM Show a success

The prestigious Havelock Trophy was donated by the Havelock Golf Club to the Royal Colombo Golf Club in a show of appreciation of a longstanding friendship between the members of the two clubs. Havelocks lost their property to the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, popularly known as the BMICH just before the Non-aligned Conference in 1976. Annually the contest for this trophy was conducted by the RCGC with the award ceremony and party well patronised and merrily celebrated, studded with fine speeches by the seniors of both clubs. Those were the days.

Just recently the contest concluded with that man again, Doc Priya Samarasinghe, dovetailing superbly with a smart, classy player, Sheron Fernando. The two of them, shot by shot, moved smartly and miserly to collect a massive score of 44 points, embrace the handsome trophy and not only have their names recorded on the special panel, but also take good looking replicas home to add to their cabinets of trophies. They celebrated in no small measure and they richly deserved those fixed broad smiles they carried throughout the elastic afternoon at the 19th hole.

Coming behind was elegant left hander Michael Sproule, who had Mrs. Y. Inoue as his partner, who as a 22 handicapper, played well within her capacity. Sproule quite unruffled was steady and well balanced, and the two of them were unfortunate to miss out ~ beaten by just one point. Gerard Amerasinghe and Saulat Said settled for 43 points and so did the little master, Mithun Perera and bouncy Mandri Jayakody. 40 pairs competed in a great spirit of friendliness and the verandah was loaded with lively fun filled people through the lunch period.

Disaster
J.J.Ambani and K.B. Ambanpola, normally quite neat and compact, got quite untidy and messed around merrily and so did Bernard Tan and Indy Perayerawar. The four of them battled for a wooden ladle. It was a great fun filled event and enjoyed by all.

AMCHAM
The American Chamber, popularly known as Amcham, spread their lavishness to prop up charities once again. This time the man behind the scenes was the irrepressible Jerry Huxtable, Managing Director of Suntel. The popular tournament was exceptionally successful, great participation, joyous gatherings at the party and a rewarding collection for charities.

Lalith Ramanayake, a strikingly, attractive player preserved his handicap and moved into a superbly calculated round to emerge winner of the ‘A’ Classic and embrace the handsome Suntel trophy.

The other win worth mention was when popular personality Anil Hirdramani walked up to collect his award of a return air ticket to New York and a Motorola camera phone. Knowing the delightful man as I do, it was no surprise to learn that he had graciously accepted the trophy and gave back the air ticket and the camera phone for auction and more proceeds. He richly deserved the massive applause that followed. Beaming all evening and delighted with the success of his effort, Jerry Huxtable, came proud when he volunteered that Suntel was committed to the upliftment of the deserving less privileged. A massive contribution was made to Navodya Special Education Centre, and with that Huxtable tossed his scotch with glee promising that he would always be around to help those deserving. Huxtable hit the top of the popularity poll that evening at the Royal Colombo.