WEEKLY UPDATE 17 DECEMBER 2025

Not exactly a weekly update this week, as we didn't have one last week, but this will be the last one until around 9/10/11 January, so I take the opportunity to wish all players and other visitors to the web site a

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Back to the action on the tables, and we reach the halfway stage of the season with the league table  very tight at the top. Over the last 3 weeks the four teams that were at the top have been playing one another, and Princeville A and Deaf Centre A have emerged as the front runners, with Princeville C dropping to mid table, while Deaf Centre B, with only 1 point over the three weeks, are now among the strugglers. Pudsey A and Pudsey B have emerged from the scramble at the bottom to look more mid table, while those looking for improvement in the New Year are Deaf Centre B, Princeville D and Princeville B

Princeville A held onto stop spot - but only just. On the scheduled fixture night Gareth Kershaw got the better of John Bedford and Edward Lawson beat the previously unbeaten Michael Cookson, to put Princeville A in a strong position against Princeville C. The top board game between Trevor Kershaw and Chris Jarvis was delayed until this week, and what a game it was. Trevor started 40 in front on handicap and was soon into his stride with a run into the late 20's and another 20 plus, as well as several smaller contributions, while Chris struggled to get going. Around the halfway point Trevor was on 91 and Chris still 4 behind scratch. At this point, a little good fortune got Chris going, and his confidence grew as he made the opportunity into a break of 50. It was Trevor now struggling, as Chris continued to rack up the points and with seconds to go Chris had got to 116 while Trevor had added only 2 to his halfway score. A cannon, pushing the red to the pocket looked like it might be an opportunity to rescue the situation but before he could strike again the bell sounded, leaving him 21 adrift. A classic game of two halves. The aggregate point still went to Princeville A though, giving them a 3 - 1 victory, which took them to 21 points

Deaf Centre A are on 20.5 after a 4 - 0 win against Deaf Centre B. A strange one this, with Gerry Garland making his first league appearance of the season for the A team, after playing a couple of games in the Knock Out earlier in the season, while in the absence of Peter O'Connell, Richard Bowes played twice for the B team. Gerry played off his earlier handicap for the Knock Out of 100, rather than the reduced figure of 90 applied for the league fixtures, while Richard scored 216 points in his first game against Jeremy Dixon and 193 in his second, but his opponents also scored relatively heavily Jeremy 158 in the first game and Gerry 91 in the second, so with handicaps added it was two wins for the A team. In the other game Ian Ford had a comfortable win against the B team's Ihjaz Hussain, to give the A team all 4 points

In the Pudsey derby it was honours even at 2 - 2. Peter Allan got the A team off to a great start with a 62 point win over Sid Ash, but Graham Tudor secured his first win of the season, by single point, to get the B team on the board. Dave Howarth then got another point for the B team against John Allan but John scored enough to keep the aggregate point with the A team and a 2 - 2 score line

In the match between the basement dwellers at Princeville, the B team picked up their first win of the season, against Princeville D, which leaves them just half a point behind their opponents. It didn't look like being that way when the D team's Brian Haigh beat Graham Bentley by 10 but Don Hardcastle made it three wins in three for the season, beating David Walker by 21. The match point therefore depended on the last game and the D team's Paul Devitt held a slender lead for most of it, but a break of 39 late in the game was enough for me to win the game and with it the aggregate point.

Fixtures in the second half of the season are a reverse of those in the first, so when fixtures resume on 6 January the teams who competed against each other this week will do so again, but with this week's away teams having home advantage

Stephen Kershaw

 WEEKLY UPDATE 5 DECEMBER 2025

Competition at the top of the league table intensified this week, as unbeaten Princeville A won 4 - 0 away to Deaf Centre B, to take top spot, while previous leaders Princeville C could only pick up half a point away to third placed Deaf Centre A, who moved above them into second place. The middle section got closer, with only a point and a half between 4 teams, but they are all 8 or 9 points off the top. (Bottom of the table Princeville B's point and a half did little to improve their position).

After 5 weeks without any signs of a drawn game there were 2 this week, as John Allan and I finished level at Princeville and Ian Ford and Michael Cookson did likewise at the Deaf Centre. There was, however, nothing close about Princeville A's victory against Deaf Centre B. Richard Bowes returned from illness for the home side (perhaps too soon) and suffered a heavy defeat to the in form Trevor Kershaw. Edward Lawson followed up with a smaller win against Peter O'Connell before Gareth Kershaw completed the 4 - 0 rout with a 42 point victory over Ihjaz Hussain. 

On the other table Gerry Garland was down to play, instead of the holidaying Brian Robinson, in the clash between Deaf Centre A, who were third and league leaders Princeville C, but during the evening his name was removed leaving Ian Ford to play first and last. His first game saw him beat previously unbeaten John Bedford, to get the home side on their way, and then Jeremy Dixon showed why he is top of the Players Table with a big win against Chris Jarvis. In Ian's second game, he finished level with the previously unbeaten Michael Cookson, who thus prevented a white wash for the league leaders, who nevertheless only picked up half a point.

At Princeville it was the bottom four teams in action, but you wouldn't have thought so if witnessing Paul Devitt's performance in the first game of the night. as an early break of 42 and a later run of 38 made short work of Dave Howarth's 55 point handicap advantage. On the other table John Allan and I finished level a game which didn't have any of Paul Devitt's impressive control of the balls. Brian Haigh continued Princeville D's opening success, with a 12 point win against Graham Tudor, in a game between two players without a win between them up until this point. Returning Princeville D captain Steve Gatenby, (playing only his second game of the season) must have wondered why his team were stuck in middle of the table, after what he had seen, and he looked like picking up at least a draw, against Sid Ash, as with the seconds running down both players had a couple of visits, each without scoring, and with scores level. However at the death Sid secured a unfinished beak of 5 to ensure that Pudsey B did not return home completely empty handed.

For Princeville B, Don Hardcastle was also making his second appearance of the season and he made it 2 wins from 2 as his opponent Peter Allan failed by 15 to overcome Don's 55 point handicap advantage. The home sides narrow lead disappeared however in the third game, as some late scoring by Ralph Allan got him a 38 point win over Graham Bentley and secured Pudsey A the aggregate point, in a match where the individual points were shared one and a half each

This coming week is the last round of league fixture before Christmas and it's derby week everywhere, At Princeville it's A v C and D v B, while at the Deaf Centre it's A v B and at Pudsey it's B v A. The following week is reserved for preliminary round matches in the Individual and Pairs competitions but with 16 entries for both Individual Billiards and Snooker there is just one Pairs match - which I understand is to be played on a different date but before the next round on 24th March

Stephen Kershaw

Secretary

WEEKLY UPDATE 30 NOVEMBER 2025

With only two weeks to go to the half way stage of the season, the league table is beginning to take a very clear shape. This week, third place Princeville B defeated joint leaders Deaf Centre A, to leapfrog them into second place, with 14 points, while Deaf Centre A move down to third place with 13. Last week's other joint leaders leaders Princeville C are now league leaders in their own right after a 3 - 1 win over Deaf Centre B, but on 15 points they are only one point above Princeville A and two above Deaf Centre A, whom they play next. Deaf Centre B's defeat leaves them 5 behind the leaders and in mid table, where they are joined by the two Pudsey teams, both of whom had 3 - 1 home wins over Princeville D and Princeville B respectively. These two defeated Princeville teams now find themselves occupying the bottom two places in the table.

Deaf Centre B were inconvenienced by Richard Bowes absence, due to illness, and with reserve Gerry Garland in Spain, Ihjaz Hussain was obliged to play twice - with contrasting fortunes. Princeville C captain Chris Jarvis had a 50 break, but it was not enough to secure him a win. I am indebted to him for the following report as he was similarly indebted to his two teammates who secured the team a 3-1 win

A brief resumé of yesterday evening’s events: (An interesting evening where we once again “escaped" with a 3-1 win).  
On arrival Brian Robinson reported that the Deaf B team were a man down due to Richard Bowes being unfit to play. Ihjaz being the first B team member to arrive, I had no alternative but to play him against John Bedford who obviously wanted to play and start his long journey home to darkest Normanton. For Ihjaz the evening turned out to be a case of famine and feast on the good fortune front. John played steadily and increased his handicap advantage early on. Ihjaz struggled with the table, had very little of the running and missed a few shots that I would have expected him to get. John ran out a comfortable winner, his  contribution ensuring that the C team would later take the aggregate point. Michael Cookson and Peter O'Connell went on second. Michael kept his cool to take a win in what turned out to be a very close game. In the final game of our match Ihjaz’s fortunes changed somewhat.  He steadily built a commanding lead with the help of some good fortune, and frequently managed to leave me little or nothing to go at. With just over ten minutes to go I started a break which had a fluke very early on which I managed to take to 50 with the help of a string of losing hazards off the red. This brought me to within 13 of Ihjaz, who then proceeded to make another break into the high teens and he eventually ran out the winner by 34.

 Princeville A captain Trevor Kershaw held off a late charge from Jeremy Dixon to win by 2 points, against his previously inbeaten opponent, and a big win for Gareth Kershaw was enough to compensate for Edward Lawson missing out against Ian Ford and secure the home side a 3 - 1 win

At Pudsey, Princeville B were off to good start, against Pudsey B, as Graham Bentley recorded a 44 point victory over Graham Tudor, but Sid Ash and Dave Howarth proved too good for Peter Turner and myself as Pudsey B ended up with a comfortable 3 - 1 victory. For Princeville D, Paul Devitt made an early 48 break, and then defended it well against John Allan, but it was small consolation for the visitors, after Ralph Allan's late arrival had forced an order change, with Peter Allan beating Brian Haigh in the opening game and Ralph proving far too good good for Princeville newcomer David Walker in the second, as he racked up a score of 239.

This coming week Pudsey will be visiting Princeville where their A team will play Princeville B and the B team Princeville D. The Deaf Centre will be hosting the other two Princeville teams, when their A team will play league leaders Princeville C (third v first) and Deaf Centre B will play Princeville A (fourth v second)

At last Wednesdays League Committee Meeting, Princeville registered Leeds based player Simon Coyne, who will be available as an occasional reserve, off a handicap of Rec 50. Draws were made for the Individual and Pairs competitions. These can be found on the |Merit and Pairs page. In a strange twist of fate John Bedford was drawn to play in the only preliminary round game in Pairs competition for the second year in succession, while in a more welcome outcome, in both the Individual Billiards and Snooker competitions there were no instances of players from the same venue being drawn to play one another

Stephen Kershaw

Secretary