WEEKLY UPDATE 29 MAY 2025

Just a brief - and early - update this week.

The Individual Snooker Final, between John Bedford and Chris Jarvis, will round off the season, when it is played on Tuesday (3rd June) at Gt Horton Conservative Club, starting at 7.30pm. Please come along and support.

Also, advance notice that the League Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 16th July. Venue to be confirmed nearer the time

Stephen Kershaw

Secretary

 WEEKLY UPDATE 25 MAY 2025

The Individual Billiards and Pairs finals were played this week at Gt Horton Conservative Club, following which, League Chairman Trevor Kershaw presented prizes to all this season's winners, who were:

League Champions - Pudsey B

Play Off Winners - Pudsey B

Knock Out Competition Winners - Bradford Deaf Centre

Highest Break - C Jarvis (Princeville D) 54

Highest Break (handicap 85 and over) - P Allan (Pudsey A) 27

Individual Billiards Winner - J Dixon

Runner Up - J Bedford

Billiards Pairs Winners - J Allan and S Ash (Pudsey)

Runners Up - D Howarth and P Allan (Pudsey)

The Individual Snooker Final between John Bedford and Chris Jarvis is still to be played, hopefully on Tuesday 3rd or 10th June but this is still to be confirmed - more information when it becomes available

All 6 players in action on Tuesday seemed to struggle with the pace of the tables at the Conservative Club, resulting in fairly lengthy matches and few breaks of note. I was on marking duty for the Individual Billiards final and most of the action seemed to come in the first and last 10 minutes. Jeremy Dixon started 50 points behind John Bedford on handicap, but aided  a bit of early good fortune he quickly closed to within about 10, after a break of 21 and another run into the teens. From then on, any break of over 10 was hard to come by, although Jeremy seemed to score slightly more than John and arrived at the 180 mark over 20 in front. It was now John's turn to make a 20 break, and aided with another double figure break he led at 191-186. Jeremy then did the rest of the scoring to record a 200 - 191 victory. Congratulations to him and commiserations to John.

Gareth Kershaw refereed the Billiards Pairs Final, between the Pudsey pairings of John Allan & Sid Ash and  Dave Howarth & Peter Allan. I am indebted to him for his report on Facebook, which was as follows:

Quick report for the pairs, when I said to uncle Stephen I’ll mark all the pairs I didn’t expect still to be marking after 10 o’clock, but I would say it was a great reason as to why we have the clocks in league games. Anyway onto the games, with Pete and Sid up first looked a decent game but straight away from the string off you could see the pace of the table would cause some issues throughout, and it did, the first 5/10 minutes was just back and forth between them until Pete found some rhythm and knocked in a 16, followed next visit by 14, so his score moved on quickly and was well ahead of Sid, who I think for about 5 visits in a row had to use the rest. Pete’s rhythm only seemed to last them 2 visits and they both struggled again with the pace of the table, and were back and forth with not many scores above 6. With Pete at about 180 and Sid around 150, Pete scored 10 and looked like he was going to win by a decent margin only for to it to completely dry up and Sid scored 28 whilst Pete scored the last 10. A crucial 28 it would be at the end of the game.

Dave and John up next, best friends for 50 years, set up for the next match with handicaps on Dave led John by 82 and with the season Dave has had I thought that gave him a great advantage, John, ever the competitor, got to work with his task and made inroads early on with a few breaks into the teens and a 27 break, to get to within 30 and looked as though he was going to take over Dave at about 300 mark but then came 20 minutes of billiards I’m sure everyone watching and playing could forget, as I’m not sure anything actually happened. After this 20 minutes Dave found a few of his shots and kept ahead of John and made the gap up to 40 again at about 360-320, John then remembered how he’d played the opening 10/15 minutes and had a couple of runs into the teens, again with a few good pots off the spot. Then came John's 30 break to leave him only needing 3, which came very shortly after the 30.

As always with the Pudsey lads, an enjoyable game played exactly how billiards should be with sportsmanship and a laugh. Gaz

Stephen Kershaw

Secretary

 WEEKLY UPDATE 16 MAY 2025

No update last week, as only 2 games were played, and one of them not until Friday night. However, all 6 semi finals have been played over the past 10 days or so and are covered in this update - ahead of the Finals Night and Prize Presentation, which takes place on Tuesday (20th May) at Gt Horton Conservative Club. Spectators welcome.

The reports are grouped by competition and therefore do not necessarily reflect in the order the games were played, but we start with the Snooker semi final between Chris Jarvis and Brian Robinson, which was the one game played on Tuesday 6th May. Chris - the current trophy holder - was conceding 34 points on handicap in each frame. The first one seemed to be just a steady catch up, with Brian potting a few balls along the way. In fact, he potted a very good yellow, leaving green and brown in very potable positions - but unfortunately, the cue ball was close to the side cushion, and even using the shortest cue available at Princeville, was inconvenienced by the wall. Perhaps as a result he missed the green and Chris gradually took the colours over a number of visits, until an excellent pink gave Chris the frame 66-53. Brian was off to good start in the second frame and had added 20 to his start while Chris was potting a couple of reds. He was still 40 in front on the last red but, in a long frame, Chris laid some snookers and made some difficult pots, although this time it was Brian's turn to take the pink for the frame 74-62. The third frame went completely the other way at the start, with Chris being first to 40 and building up a significant lead. Brian only scored 12 points all frame and with 4 colours left and 29 in arrears he shook his opponents hand and congratulated him on a very good performance.

The other snooker semi final was something of an embarrassment - at least for me. I started 21 points in arrears to John Bedford and by some quirk scored exactly (or should that be only) 21 points in each frame!! John's potting was excellent and his knowledge of the game quite superior to mine, so a relatively quick 2 - 0 (73-21, 66-21) - with all colours still on the table in both frames and a red or two as well in the second one. Well played John, I can't compete with that

John Bedford was also in action earlier in the evening in the billiards semi final, and after his two performances  I was left wondering about drugs testing in billiards!!. He started 25 in arrears to Gareth Kershaw, who played a perfectly acceptable opening shot, but the start disappeared as John replied with a cannon at nice pace, gently pushing the red ball into the corner, from where he made a 27 break. His billiards continued to flow nicely, with Gareth getting few opportunities. Things looked like they might be changing, with Gareth starting to get more scoring opportunities, when John got in again and ran out with an unfinished break of 36 - which would have been more had he not reached 200 (in less than 45 minutes.)

The other billiards semi final between Jeremy Dixon and Sid Ash was a much closer fought affair, despite a wider difference in handicaps. Jeremy started 85 behind but was soon on his game and caught his opponent around the 120 mark. Sid, however, was very steady when his chances eventually came and the scores remained close up to the 180's, when a session of safety play ended in Jeremy's favour and he went on to win 200-188 in a tight finish

The Pairs semi finals were both at Pudsey but not played on the same night. Edward Lawson and I visited to play Peter Allan and Dave Howarth, with the Pudsey players appearing to be full of confidence after team successes in both leagues. Peter looked better than his 85 handicap, certainly in the early stages, and raced away from Edward. Just when it looked like the running might be changing, Peter knocked in break of 21 and went on to reach 200 with Edward on 159. With handicaps added I was trailing 119 - 267 and after scoring a double figure break from where Peter had left him, Dave seemed to get the best of the early chances. A bit of good fortune eventually got me going with a 30 plus break but I was never within striking distance and the Pudsey pair deservedly won 400-345.

I am indebted to Dave Howarth for the following report on the second Pairs semi final where John Allan and Sid Ash had home advantage against Trevor and Gareth Kershaw:

Gareth was quick to make up the 10 conceded to Sid on their handicaps and was 20 plus in front early on. Despite this, Sid continued to battle and with both making breaks in the twenties, he still found himself behind. However, he took advantage of a change in the running when catching Gareth and then tenaciously taking the lead as the 200 target approached. His more regular scoring continued and a 201-176 win for him belied how close the game was at times.

In the second game, with both John and Trevor starting on -5, John had the early 20+ advantage from Sid's win. Trevor, though, was soon up to speed with an early break in the low 20's. However, with some early good running and with Trevor often having little to go at, John skipped into a lead which soon increased from 20 and eventually all the way up to 70 plus. This lead was assisted by a 33 break. It looked like John would win comfortably, until Trevor staged an impressive fightback, also making a 33 break in the process. A further break in the twenties got him into a slight lead around the 140+ mark, but John immediately regained control and steamed ahead again, with double figure breaks at most visits. Needing 25 to win, John made a break on all reds which just about saw him home, but it broke down at 21. He scored the remaining 4 points very soon after and left Trevor stranded on 352. Both games were good to watch (and to referee). An all Pudsey final next Tuesday should provide an interesting spectacle!

Stephen Kershaw

Secretary

 WEEKLY UPDATE 4 MAY 2025

There were 4 games scheduled to be played this week, in the Individual Snooker quarter finals, three of which were due to be played at Princeville. As things turned out the only game played on Tuesday at Princeville was the one not scheduled for that venue!! However, I must give full marks to all 8 players for making sure that all 4 games were completed by the due date.

The action started the previous Thursday when Brian Robinson and Gareth Kershaw (both on holiday this week) played Mick Cockcroft and the league secretary respectively. On Tuesday John Bedford chose to forgo home advantage against Richard Bowes, while Ralph Allan asked to play his game against Chris Jarvis at Princeville - presumably to avoid a clash with bowls fixtures at Littlemoor.

John Bedford's decision looked like the most risky of the four, but all turned out well for him as he recorded a 2 - 0 victory. The game at Princeville on Tuesday was a close, one with Chris Jarvis (the current trophy holder) edging out Ralph Allan 2 - 1. Chris's resume of the game is as follows:

Ralph played very well in the first frame, taking it very easily by a huge margin. I then took the second frame fairly comfortably . The third frame looked like it might go Ralph's way but I just managed to sneak it by taking the pink and black

The previous Thursday, Gareth Kershaw had a 21 point lead on handicap and whilst I kept reducing it in the first frame, I was not in front until the colours and it took a blue and pink to secure the frame. In the second frame my first score was a break of 26 (nose bleed territory for me at snooker) and from then on I was able to steadily increase my lead for a more comfortable win

On the other table Brian Robinson had a 7 point handicap advantage on Mick Cockcroft and the first frame appeared to be quite tight. Mick took brown and blue to lead by 4 leaving himself what was in his words 'an easy cut on the pink'. (An easy cut at snooker is something I could never imagine!!). However, he missed it, and with a bit of good fortune Brian took pink and black for the frame. The second frame was all Brian, with Mick never getting going and this frame was over by the time it got to the colours.

This coming week both Pairs semi finals should be played at Pudsey, on Tuesday, but both have been moved, to avoid a clash with the bowls (and Gareth's holidays). Dave Howarth and Peter Allan will host myself and Edward Lawson on Friday (9th), while John Allan and Sid Ash will not play Trevor and Gareth Kershaw until sometime the following week

Also that week (13th May) is also the semi finals of both the Individual Billiards and Snooker competitions, all of which will be played at Princeville, as the Deaf Centre is still not available. Jeremy Dixon will take on Sid Ash, while Gareth Kershaw plays John Bedford. John is then in action again at Snooker (against the League Secretary), while Chris Jarvis is hoping to sneak in his game with Brian Robinson this week, before he goes on holiday (on the 9th) and after Brian returns from holiday on the 3rd. Another great effort at getting games played on time

It's not been quite so easy to find a date for the H Kershaw Memorial Trophy Competition and so it has been decided to postpone it until September, ahead of the new season. Lessons have also been learned about avoiding this situation in future years

Finally just a reminder that the Finals Night and Prize Presentation will be at Gt Horton Conservative Club on Tuesday 20th May

Stephen Kershaw

Secretary