Yet another successful weekend of billiards was held at Mill St. Club, Wincanton and commenced on Saturday 27th April with the Sandford Scrumpys hosting the Dove Valley Black Puddings in their 12th friendly match.
Both leagues fielded a six-man team with games being played for 55 minutes, 3 of which were very close-run affairs. Our standard of play on this occasion was reflected in the rather indifferent breaks recorded, the best being a 37 by Dove Valley's young Darren Feeley. If we had a trophy for the most improved player Darren would surely take it. In the event, Sandford took the unique Black Pudding/Scrumpy trophy on aggregate after the matches finished level a three apiece.
| C. Walters | 228 | D. Feeley | 233 | ||
| J. Masters | 243 | B. Hayes | 112 | ||
| C. White | 155 | J Heathcote | 166 | ||
| M. Gillham | 176 | G Coe | 207 | ||
| M. Woolmington | 140 | M. Jennings | 136 | ||
| R. Mitchem | 155 | M. Feeley | 84 |
The 6th Top Cue Event was staged at Wincanton's Mill St. Club on Sunday 28th April, when 28 players from a large geographical catchment area took part in the all-day activities. Preliminary rounds were played on a 3 game basis, players having been randomly drawn two weeks previously, thus ensuring that there was no element of seeding involved. As last year, the players were rewarded by way of bonus points for both wins and aggregate scores, the idea being to encourage active play and to discourage 'treading water' when a few points in front and the time bell imminent.
Some useful breaks were recorded in the preliminaries notably by Justin Cole (54), Keith Langley (58) and Michael White (57 & 84) but the man really on form was Dave Burgess with 63, 67, 89 and 92 to his credit.
Preliminaries over and collating completed, it was time for the two highest aggregate scorers from Group A (those winning all 3 prelims), Group B (those winning 2 games), Group C (those winning 1 game) and Group D (those not winning any games) to contest the finals. In the Group A contest for the Top Cue Rose Bowl, it was once again Dave Burgess who prevailed over Brian Harvey who just could not get to grips with the table. Burgess made the highest break of the event with 92.
| D. Burgess | 252 | B. Harvey | 163 |
| D. Feeley | 213 | K. Langley | 139 |
| W. Andress | 301 | E. Shorney | 136 |
| D. Ellis | 182 | J. Bristow | 157 |
After an interval of about 40 minutes during which time a raffle was held and the room arranged for seating the audience, Chris Shutt, our professional for the evening, presented the trophies followed by a near 2 hour session of unfettered exhibition play. Whether Chris also found the table difficult to play on was not determined, suffice to say that he did not match his 301 and 316 breaks playing on the adjacent table when last here in 1999. Nevertheless in producing breaks of 100, 104, 116, 141 and 144 he managed to assign to his amateur opponents, Dave Burgess and Brian Harvey, the near total role of spectators.
Instead of trick shots, Chris and Brian demonstrated a revised format for pro billiards which I have devised aided by David Smith (referee) and Ian McConnell (player) and for the first time in my experience, I saw a billiards audience on the edge of their seats and not lying backwards in a soporific state waiting for the bell to arouse them. The new format evoked a mixed reception from those who had read and studied my printed handout, but many of the players reacted with at least interest and many with enthusiasm.
If I am able to stage the Top Cue Tournament again in 2003 I intend having the professional slot played to the new format with 2 pros competing for cash incentives, based on (1) number of games won, (2) highest break and/or (3) a maximum break. More of this later.A competition for guessing the pro's best break was won by Justin Cole who received £34; the other £34 being added to the charity money. As a result of all our activities and the generosity of our many sponsors and donors, a sum of £300 has been given to Cancer Research UK with further sums of £50 each to the youth sections of Mere & Wincanton Clubs to help further the games of billiards and snooker.