I can confirm that Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother is a Billiards supporter. 1 read in a Sunday newspaper that this was the case so 1 wrote to Clarence House and forwarded a copy of the Teesside Boys Billiards Roll of Honour booklet.
I received a response from her majesty's Lady in Waiting thanking me and passing her best wishes. Perhaps we should compile a billiards who's who of billiards supporters.
The Teesside Boys Billiards League roll of honour booklet has been updated and reprinted and is being distributed. Copies were given to competitors at the Malta World Open event and the recent ABC.
This booklet is a historical record of the league's inception, championship trail and performance by age of highest break and highest score along with snippets on "Old Boys".
Anyone seeking a copy of this booklet, which is free, only have to ask.
Does your local authority have sports awards? Middlesbrough Borough Council, Cleveland County (when it existed) and Teesside Development Corporation all do. I've previously nominated Lee Lagan and Chris Shutt to Cleveland and they received £ 1,000 each. Stuart Robinson took Middlesbrough's coaching award of trophy + £250 and there have been other receipts as well.
My motto is "you can't be considered if you don't apply" so I advocate to others to submit nominations, true you will suffer disappointments as you efforts prove futile but again my view is you are bringing your sports activity to the attention of the administrators and it may bring future benefits.
Also consider applications to Sports Council or Sports Aid Foundation for sports bursaries, grants are afforded for coaching, tuition, travel, entries or equipment costs if you satisfy their criteria. Obviously developing players are best suited to apply but surely you must be one!
The ABC and Junior Ranking tournament are underway and are marvellous events to be involved in whether as competitor or spectator. 1 try to attend the ABC's despite not having picked up a cue in anger for 20 or so years. 1 find them great social occasions and catch up with old friends during the day.
The junior events provide the opportunity to view our stars of the future and support their development. If there's one in your area, call in or join in, I'm certain you'll enjoy it.
Congratulation to Paul Bennett and Darren Kell for their efforts in Malta, of which you'll read in other parts of the magazine. They performed well both in play and conduct as we would expect.
Due to pressures of business Malcolm Lax has asked to be relieved of some of the duties of Magazine production. To this end we've made some alterations to the production system.
David Burgess continues as Editor while I have expanded my involvement's and am joined by Peter Ainsworth, our 'historical pot pourri' contributor, on the production side.
We continue to seek contributions from anyone prepared to put pen to paper (or better still to floppy disk). Your viewpoint or information would be welcome.
Until next time, good cueing and good viewing.