Round the Regions

The South West

There were 16 entries for a one day handicap tournament played at the century club, Newton Abbot. The main competition was played over 1 hour and the plate half an hour.

Keith Olver (Saltash) won an exciting final against Horace Palmer (Plymouth), Keith conceding 180 points just got his nose in front with less than 1 minute left. Horace, a former County player is now 73 and played well all day but he did not do himself justice in the final as he inevitably tired after 4 hours play.

Dave Clue compiled a fine break of 100 in beating Bill Andress in the first round. Some of the low scores were caused by the minus handicaps.

Everybody enjoyed the day and we hope to have more entries next time.

Thanks to Bill Watson for providing the Club facilities and Fred Jarvis and Peter Northcott for organising the tournament.

Plate

Exeter

The League was won for the 2nd year in succession by Sidwell Club. Runners up were E.C.C. 'B'.

Highest break was 124 by Bill Andress (Bradninch).

Congratulations to Neil Wood (Snooker Lodge) who recorded his first competitive century (106) break.

Bill Andress (Bradninch) beat Andy Radford (Sidwell Club) 500-286 in the open final. Andy, a promising youngster, was the first to reach 200 but experience told in the end and Bill made a 113 break to see him home.

The handicap final was won by Bert Flynn who beat Neil Allum 500-496.

Highest break Bill Andress 101.

Newton Abbott

The League was won by century D. Runners up were Highweek B. Highest break Bill Andress 136.

The team knockout was won by Coombe A who beat St Annes in the final.

The individual handicap final was won by Arnie Nuttall who beat Richard Blackmore In the final.

Plymouth

Fred Pascoe 500 beat Roy Carter 374 in the final of the Plymouth Social Clubs Individual. Keith Olver 500 (Break 80) beat Graham Evans 302 in the Handicap Final.

Torbay

League winners - Palace Place. Paignton - Highest break - Peter Northcott 99. Individual winner - Steve Dart 500 beat Arnie Nuttall 420 Team Knockout - St. Annes B beat St. Annes A - 600-547 in the final. In the first round Bill Andress compiled breaks of 124 and 126unf.

Cornwall

Menheniot won the Liskeard League for the eleventh year in succession. Alan Snell (St Cleer) compiled the highest break 108. Dobwalls won the St Garmans League and Team Knockout Cup. Highest break Keith Olver 97 unfinished.

Dave Clue (Menheniot) beat Chris Mitchell (Dobwalls) 600-450 in the final of the Liskeard League Individual. Dave has won this competition many times and is a former County Champion.

Keith Olver beat Darren Hunn 300-132 in the final of the St German's League Individual.

Devon Individual Championship Final

Bill Andress 750 Alan Luke 355 Bill won the Championship for the 10th time. It was the first time Alan had reached the final. The two finalists were born and brought up in the same street in Bradninch, a town of some 2000 residents, 10 miles from Exeter.

They have played in the same team on and off for 35 years. The highest break was 137 unfinished by Bill in the semi final. The losing semi finalists were Peter Northcott and Graham Ward.

The Inter League knockout was won by Exeter who beat Newton Abbot 3-1 in the final.

The Inter Club Knockout was won by Crown Club, Barnstaple, who beat Snookerlodge, Exeter in the final.

Teesside

The Teesside Open attracted 36 players mostly local but with some, "foreigners, " including defending champion Bill Andress. The random draw kept the two best players apart to duly meet in the final.

Plate

Phil Johnson from Widnes did well to get to the semis losing to the eventual winner.

Teesside Under 16 Competition

There were 36 entrants almost all from the Teesside Boys League. Phil Johnson (Widnes) lost by just 2 in the first round. Otherwise it was Teesside all the way. The highest break was 53 by Matthew Daniels.

Norfolk

The annual, "Wheelspeed of Fakenham," Open Billiards tournament was held at the LeisureLee club. Holt. The event was won for the second time in three years by our correspondent Phil Welham.

Cambridge

Billiards is making some progress in the district. A Teesside player, Steve Connely, is coaching 12 boys at the Working Mens Club in Cambridge, whilst I have 5 boys at the club in my village and have been asked to give coaching to two girls next year. All the boys are aged under 14. One of the most promising is Adam Lewes, Adam regularly makes 30 breaks and is learning very quickly. We recently played a match which everyone enjoyed very much. If anyone is interested a boys' match then we would be pleased to arrange something provided there would not be too much travelling involved. Contact me, Denis McGuigan, on Cambridge.833888. Well done Denis - keep up the good work.

Derbyshire

Derbyshire Championship

In the semis Malcolm Gregory defeated C. Routledge whilst McCann defeated K. Hobbs. This was McCann's fifth win.

The North West

The Widnes and District Winter League first division saw a tightly fought contest for premier position between Widnes snooker Centre, "*" and the RAFA Club, "." The WSC won by a narrow margin. Mini-Prix regulars Arthur and Phil Johnson together with Graham Lloyd were joined by John Hughes, Tom Barton, Mark Smith, and Alan and Tom Qualter to make up the winning team.

The billiards second division was won by Laporte, with Conservative, ", " coming second.

The first division highest break prize went to Bert Lyons of Conservative for an 89 which is not a bad effort in 100 up. The second division prize was taken by Mark Ogborn of Laporte with a 56.

The individual championship was won by Trevor Gent of the ROAB club who beat Steve Blundell (ROAB) in the final. Trevor made a 137 in an earlier round. Chris Smart of the RAFA won the individual handicap beating Richard Whittle (Laporte) in the final.

During the 91/92 season teams and individual from the Widnes and District league met with some success out of area. The WSC team of Lloyd, Johnson, Johnson, Hughes, and Barton won the North West team billiards championship beating the Widnes based ROAB club in the final. This was a good result against a strong ROAB ten of Trevor Gent, Eddie McNicholas, Ernie Burns, Tony Bibby, and Dave Walton.

The Widnes and District billiards league fielded two teams in the regional inter-league competition. The, ""team of the Johnsons father and son, Graham Lloyd, John Hughes, and Eddie Lot, reached the final losing 3 - 2 to Chester. Chester's Arthur Nicholas and Ron Bradley were beaten by Graham Lloyd and Eddie Lot. Tony Done and Frank Nicholas beat John Hughes and Phil Johnson. Everything depended on the last game between Arthur Johnson and Paul Dunning - Mini-Prix travelling companions and rivals. Paul proved a worthy winner by 150 - 86 giving Chester the title. Congratulations to Chester on winning both the ABA and the Inter-League titles against some strong opposition.

The Merseyside Championship was taken by George Tinsley beating Trevor Gent in the final - a game Trevor was expected to win. Well done George. Gent made amends in the North West Championship final by beating veteran Bill Dennison - never an easy task. Trevor Gent, now retired, is becoming even more of a force to be reckoned with.

The season ended with a presentation evening held at the United Services Club and organised by League Secretary Eddie McNicholas and League Chairman Dave Walton. The evening was very successful. Aughton Ltd.sponsored the league to the tune of £600 and look forward to future association.

I would like to add that on behalf of the billiards regulars in Widnes we wish your magazine every success and look forward to meeting all of our billiards friends at the WSC for this year's Mini-Prix.

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