The event -- jointly run for most of its history by Phil Charlton and Ian Tarr, and now solely by Ian (although Dave Pym played his part in founding the competition) -- was staged at Lesters Club (hence the name of the competition) in Worrall Road, Clifton, Bristol, as were three further tournaments. But sadly the club was closed, prior to demolition, and new venues were sought and found: The Revue Club, Q's Snooker Club, Vales Club, the Avon County Social Club, and currently the Bristol County Sports Club, where we first arrived in June 1997.
Over the years the event has subtly changed. The Rolls-Royce factor was always prevalent in the early years, with current and former RR players winning every one of the first 26 tournaments.
Bizarrely the pendulum then swung in totally the opposite direction, when the next seven events were all won by "outsiders", until Charlie Hetherington restored RR and EDS pride by winning Lesters XXXIV, the first tournament where "outsiders" actually outnumbered the RR/EDS contingent.
From day one, the tournament has always been a straight knock-out event, with all matches prior to the final being played to 7 points. The final, which is often held over because of time constraints, is now an 11-point affair.
Entry fees, originally £10 and more recently £15, were traditionally shared by the two finalists. In 2000, coinciding with the linkage of the competition to the Bristol Open Grand Prix and the Intermediate Grand Prix, the fee was raised to £20, with just £1 levied from this to contribute to the prize for the eventual grand prix winners.
Otherwise the existing format of the competition was faithfully maintained, except that -- from 2002 -- there were four tournaments each year.
Now, starting with Lesters 58 in March 2006, a further change has been made. In an attempt to counteract dwindling attendances at Lesters events, the decision has been made to make it a two flight competition, just like the other eight annual grand prix events.
The sad passing of one of the founder members of the Lesters Trophy, John Chidgey, was commemorated by the provision of a special trophy. The "John Chidgey Cup" is awarded to the winner of each Christmas Lesters tournament. John won the Christmas event in 1995.