Snooker Roll of Honour

Knutsford & District Amateur Snooker League -

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The KNUTSFORD & DISTRICT AMATEUR SNOOKER LEAGUE
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The 70th Anniversary Celebratory Yearbook (2020-1 season) Foreword by League Secretary Tony Crompton

It gives me great pleasure to write the foreword to our 70th Anniversary Yearbook - a book that is not merely a documentation of our historical facts and figures but a celebration of the creation, existence and continuation of our league. My aim in writing it was to demonstrate that teams cannot exist without players; clubs without teams; and leagues without clubs; and that it is far more important than those facts because it serves a social, competitive, interaction and personal purpose also. Snooker is very good for us all in so many ways.

I make no apologies for repeating most of my foreword from the previous Anniversary book because every word is as true today as it was then. I have, however, been able to considerably ‘flesh out’ details from our formative and subsequent years after extensive research and also to recover some of the many missing records and names of the achievers for good measure. Please enjoy it at your leisure.

Some of the league records remain incomplete despite my best efforts and may even have been omitted because I cannot verify facts. That said, if you find an omission or inaccuracy, then please let me know and I will correct it in future publications and on our website.

All things mighty can be traced back to something easily and often determined at the time as being ‘insignificant’. No team can win a Championship or an individual win a trophy without the vast majority of entrants being the oft called ‘losers’. The very nature of any sport, competition or pastime is that more lose than win and this makes it ever the more important that we recognise our winners and near winners in some way but also that we never lose sight of the fact that much more often we are not going to be ‘those people’. Many have said this before me but never a truer word is spoken than in the adage that ‘you learn far more from your mistakes than your victories and how you put that learning into practice makes you what you are’.

We turn out to play snooker because our mates do. We compete as hard and best as we can every time. We strive to improve each time we pick up a cue. But, we accept it for what it is. Some call it ‘a night out’. Some say they’re ‘going down to the club’. Some say ‘it’s the taking part that counts’. I prefer the adage that the value of anything is not in how many breaths you take but how often you are left breathless. I have been one of the ‘lucky winners’ on a few ocassions but am constantly left ‘breathless’ by the players turning out each week of the season when there is little or no chance of a trophy or victory or to strive to be that victor. You turn out weekly come rain, snow or shine and you are all players who just love this great game in this truly great league.

The players who set us on the road that we all now tread (and who now ply their pastime on the great green baize in the sky) created the league not only to fill their own time but as a legacy for you. You have been entrusted with its survival and progress and I know you will handle it with pride and care.

Enjoy your snooker – it’s not ‘real life’. It is meant to be a pleasure, relaxing and sociable not a war or a battle to win at all costs. Never forget that. Also remember than you, the members, made the rules but they are only a framework and should never overide the fact that we’re all on a night out to enjoy it too. Or, as a mate once said to me after I got a little dissapointed after missing another easy pot - and I urge you to remember these wise words – “there are many men wearing wooden coats who would love to have played that bad shot Tony”. We are very, very lucky to be able to play the bad shots we so often do – so enjoy them at least as much as the good ones.

Tony Crompton (Hon League Secretary)

MEMBER CLUBS

ALDERLEY UNION

Union rejoined the league for the 2016-7 season having formed the backbone of the division 2 winning Morley B team the year previous. The club never managed to win division one whilst a league member in the early nineties but three times finished runners-up and records show two breaks of note by Alderley players of a 70 by Barry Belton in the league and 64 by Trevor Stone in the Jay Trophy. Two stars of the team, Arthur Faux and Dave Whalley became the first players to retain the JME Alternate Pairs trophy between 2015 and 2017.

MERE PARISH CLUB – BROCK LODGE, CHESTER ROAD, MERE (01565-830299)

Mere has occupied the same site since becoming a founder member of the league. However, the building it now uses as the club house is not the original one. The building you see to the left of the club being used recently as a children’s playgroup / care facility was in fact the original club. Success came early to Mere with the first league title contested but it was 21 more seasons before title two befell them. That said, the club did take other regular honours in all the league competitions and sections.

Their most famous player must be David Wright, a player of great ability who won the Jay Trophy 4 years on the run and almost doubled up in 1978-9 season when he lost in the Rotary Cup final having given all opponents massive handicap starts due to his own minus 32 starting point. Other notable players include Life Members Sid Jones and Ron Tagg. Notable members of the club though, show Mere’s part in widening the influence of our league due to it’s location on the main road between the M6 and Manchester. A quick check of their history books show former members and regular visitors including Alex Higgins – a regular on Friday and Saturday nights after exhibitions; David Taylor – a resident of nearby Dunham; Doug Mountjoy – also en route to exhibitions and competitions in Manchester but also due to family and practice partner connections in south Manchester. This all made a heady mix for one of the smallest club in the league (in terms of area) where interesting tales, most not for printing, abound.

Until this season, Mere had a rare honour of being one of only two (the other being Mobberley) clubs in the league to have a maximum compliment of 4 teams but the demise of their ‘cricket’ C team dropped them back to ‘just’ 3. The club are still a vital component of our league and in servicing their mainly farm family membership and community with snooker, social and bowls facilities. In 2010 they fielded a full team from the Jackson family (now a regular occurence) and in 2011 the Owen family of Geoff, Richard and Matthew became the first to have 3 generations of one family in the same team / match – both incredible achievements.

MOBBERLEY VICTORY HALL MEMORIAL CLUB – TIPPING BROW, MOBBERLEY (01565-872451)
Formerly known as the Mobberley Victory Hall Men’s Club, Mobberley is the home and HQ of the Knutsford & District Amateur Snooker League. All the league honours boards are installed on the walls and the safe keeping of returned league trophies entrusted to the cabinets.
The Mobberley Victory Hall Memorial Club - as it has been known since the Annual General Meeting of 2005 - was gifted to the men folk of the village in deeds dating back to an agreement in 1922. The journey from very humble beginnings, where the ‘club’ was merely a meeting room, to what is seen on site today began soon after.
The first improvement came with the installation of a billiards table and a bar. Pure heaven! The addition of a lounge came next and then a second billiard table plus heating. Many committee members were active in helping to acquire additional parts of the site and ‘converting’ them to a more sociable use. In essence, though, the club was a self-contained compact affair where the males ‘escaped’ for a few hours whilst enjoying their pastimes. The club stayed almost unaltered then for almost 30 years until a major revamp in the late 1970’s when additional land was officially acquired for car parking, a crown bowling green, toilet facilities, bar extension, storage and a third snooker table - note the word ‘snooker’ - as the previous tables were actual billiard tables.

These improvements have also served the club well and only required upgrades and refurbishments in order to maintain an excellent facility where membership is now available to all sectors of the local, and wider, community. The club now has a dedicated 3 table snooker room that is generally accepted as the best in the league and facilities to rival any in the area. From the formation years of the league, Mobberley has produced winners of all the league titles and competitions and holding many league records along the way. Officer posts have been held on a regular basis and the club is the most often host to a range of league events.

The club holds an unusual honour in that it has won (Jay Trophy; Bert Astles Pairs; 6 Reds; Team KO cup; Inter Club; TSB Top Club) or been runner-up (Rotary Cup; Bert Astles Pairs; Surridge 3 Player; Redwood Hire Champions Trophy) in the first season of all but one league trophy in league history. The omission is the Taylor Trophy which took the club a terrible 4 years to get into the final and win!

SHAW HEATH SOCIAL CLUB – MOBBERLEY ROAD, KNUTSFORD (01565-632262)

The clue is in the name you may say as this is one of two clubs in our league that defines itself as a Social Club. The distinction between Shaw Heath and other clubs in the league is that all the others, whilst providing social facilities and events, have separate snooker rooms from the rest of the other facilities. This makes for a unique, and sometimes challenging, atmosphere – but none the less one we welcome.

The club only joined the league when the existing site was developed in the late 70’s / early 80’s and soon after they found their feet and committed to the league, success came at a rapid rate. Indeed, a division 1 title in 1982-3 signaled the start of a, probably never to be repeated, run of 11 titles in 14 seasons that included an incredible 9 on the bounce and 3 division 1 / Team KO cup doubles.

Star players of note include David Boswell (also a fine local bowler to boot), Paul Westbury (a winner previously at other league clubs), John Thompson (who moved on to Morley before dropping out of the league this season) and Jeff Gorton. Jeff won 9 titles at Shaw Heath before moving on to Knutsford Private / Bowling and Mobberley where he continued to add titles and individual honours.

Top flight success, though, had been elusive from the mid 90’s though and this led to the demise of the former 4 team club gradually losing teams until almost a total departure a few seasons ago. Thanks to the work of several key players including Life Member Dave Rainford, the club is now resurgent with a hardcore of young players – moreso than any other league club – and they are reaping the rewards. The club future may not be orange but it is certainly bright!

THE TATTON CLUB – TATTON STREET, KNUTSFORD

The club building is located in Tatton Street, Knutsford and dates back to 1829. It was built and used as a Baptist Chapel until 1854 and from 1854 to 1874 it was used as a parochial girls’ school. In 1874 it became “The Knutsford Club”. This was a men’s club with billiards and a form of pool played amongst other activities.

At this time the manager was “Trumpet Major Smith”, a survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade. It is rumoured that when he died, “of a surfeit of laudanum” he was laid out in the club and that his ghost still haunts the club! Around 1905 the club was taken over by the Parish Church men’s Institute and in 1926 became the Knutsford Recreation Club. In 1947 Lord Egerton bought the club premises for £2,600 and in 1954 he sold it to the club trustees for £800. This is when the club became The Tatton Club. There is a “Presidents Board” on the wall of the club with names going back to 1926 and is headed - “The Tatton Club – Formerly Knutsford Recreation Club”

Prior to 1994-5 Tatton had not been involved with the Knutsford & District Amateur Snooker League but due to problems at Knutsford Conservative club, their B team moved to Tatton and became their A team squad. After one season the team returned to the Conservative Club and Tatton made a new team of existing club members and this remained in the 1st division as Tatton A. Unfortunately this team was relegated in its 1st season but by 1997-8 interest in the league was high and a Tatton B team was entered into the league.

Tatton A won the second division title in 1997-8 and again in 2000-1 but each time struggled in the 1st division. Tatton A & Tatton B have both won the Team Knockout cup in 2000-1 and 2002-3 (adding the Presidents Charity Trophy for good measure) respectively and in 2009-10 Tatton went back to only one team in the league and managed to gain promotion to the 1st division under the captaincy of Paul Townsend.

Phil Roden captained the Tatton B team for several years until its demise and Steve Franklin (2002-3) and Dave Blackburn (2008-9) have both won the Redwood Hire Champions Trophy. In 2019 the club welcomed 2 new teams when Brook Street closed down and it is good to confirm that all the other team members contribute to the success and enjoyment that The Tatton Club teams have playing weekly in the Knutsford and District Amateur Snooker League.

WILMSLOW CONSERVATIVE CLUB – GROVE AVENUE, WILMSLOW (01625-523293)

Wilmslow Cons are founder members of the league with two current life members in Peter Watson & Dave Nuttall. A club where the famed Alex Higgins was an occasional guest, the club has won most of the major team and singles honours. Club member Gerry Wilkinson was the doubles partner with the former world Billiards champion Mark Wildman and one of his many sayings was that “its much better to be a has-been than a never-was” and although Gerry never talked about his snooker past he did have several 147’s in his heyday and a 105 break in practice about 10 years ago.

As with most clubs, the pool of players varied year on year by one or two out and likewise in. Club honours include Division 1 Winners in 2000-1 and runners-up from 1984-8 and 2001-2. They won Division 2 in 1991-2 and Division 3 Runners-up in 2004-5. Teams have won the Knock-out Cup in 1986-7, 1997-8 and 2004-5 and were 2nd in 1999-2000 and 2002-3.

Individual honours came in the Jay Trophy with wins in 1968-70 for A (Pat) Daniels and 1970-1 by Howard Stubbs and runners-up places in 1966-7 (Howard Stubbs), 1967-8 (Pat Daniels), 1970-1 (Jack Rigby) and 1988-9 (Stuart James). In the Rotary Cup there were wins for Stuart James in 1986-7, D Worth the following season and Jonathan Smith in 2008-9 and two runners-up places for J.Uttley in 1967-8 and Stuart James in 1994-5. Finally, the Pairs competition has also seen some success with 1992-3 titles for Jim Quinton and Stuart James who then retained the title with Trevor Stone the following year before Andy Stott and Jonathan Smith brought the cup home in 2007-8.

When players were asked about their favourite venues to play matches, the consensus was Shaw Heath and Mobberley Victory Hall, both having pleasant snooker rooms and very competitive teams, while the most memorable venue was Mere, where at times in the early 90’s, the atmosphere was so damp you could almost see a fine spray coming off a rolling ball!

PREVIOUS MEMBER CLUBS OF THE LEAGUE

In the early year’s two clubs - Crosstown working men’s club and Cranford Lodge - enjoyed success both as teams and with individual performances. Crosstown’s A team won the division one title in the 1952-3 season. Then later in the 50’s they found themselves relegated to division two before bouncing back to the top tier by winning division 2 in the 1957-8 season and then won the Team KO cup in the season of 1959-60. Crosstown’s B team’s only success was winning the Team KO cup in 1953-4. Individual players of note were Albert Tiffin, who was the first player in the league to score over 100 points in a league match, Frank Ward (who won the prestigious Jay trophy in 1960-1) and Ian Davies was runner-up in the handicapped Rotary cup.

Cranford Lodge’s A team only managed to win the Team KO cup in 1962-3 but Cranford’s B team were more successful and won it the following season and were runners-up in 1957-8, 1965-6, 1970-1 and 1971-2. The B team added division two champions 1955-6 and division one runners-up in 1961-2 to their trophy cabinet. G.Horrocks and Tommy Pugh both finished runners-up in the Rotary cup in seasons 1965-6 and 1970-1 respectively.

From the 80’s onwards a number of clubs that are no longer with us enjoyed much success.

Ilford’s A team finished runners-up in division one in 1988-9 but were soon were relegated to division two before winning the second division in 1996-7. Their B team were victorious in the KO cup in 1993-4 season and the C team managed to finish runners-up in division one in 1995-6.

The third club is Knutsford Private who in 2005 changed its name to Knutsford Bowling club before dropping out of the league at the end of the 2007/08 season. They were by far the most successful club to leave the league. In 1988-9, 1995-6 and 2002-3 Private B won division two and 1996-7 saw their A team finish runners-up in the KO cup. This season also saw Paul Hart score a mammoth 151 points in a league match. In 1999-2000 Ron Tagg was runner-up in the Rotary cup and a couple of years later Mike Roylance finished runner-up in the Jay Trophy. Dave Taylor and Chris Smith were to be runners-up in the H.Astles Pairs competition in 2000-1 season and went one better the following season by winning the handicapped cup. The 2002-3 Private A team of Steve Bond, Andy Vickers and Tony Prole were the first winners of the new CFS 3 player completion and the following year Steve won the Jay Trophy. In 04/05 Andy Vickers, Rick Edwards and Phil Crook finished runners-up in the 3 player competition.

Having changed its name to Knutsford Bowling club, in 2006-7 their B team won division one and the A team finished runners-up in the Team KO cup - also adding the President’s charity cup for good measure. This season had Colin Hamer winning the Jay and Rotary cups and in the H.Astles pairs an all Bowling club final saw Phil Crook and Andy Vickers beat Phil’s brother Adrian Crook and Paul Hart. In 2007-8 Paul was runner-up in the Jay but the major talking point was when their B team won the Team KO cup only to be stripped of the title due to fielding ineligible players when this became known.

The final club of the four is Knutsford Conservative Club who had been ever present in the K&DASL prior to their untimely demise at the end of November 2012. The club provided the first ever winner of the Rotary Cup, the leagues most prestigious individual handicap competition in 1951 before the formal team competitions began. When the league began in earnest as a team competition in the 1951-2 season the club provided the winners of the Team KO cup and also again the winner of the Rotary Cup. The club entered between two and four teams each season and regular success followed for the clubs teams and individual players. Indeed, Peter Tittle played in the major individual finals many times in the late 50’s and early 60’s and partnered Bill Edwards to win the first ever Pairs event in 1955-6. During the 50’s and 60’s regular honours came the clubs way and similar success followed in the 70’s and included a Rotary Cup win for one of the clubs current league Life Members, David Potter, in 1977. In that year the club provided three of the last four players in that competition including both finalists. After many seasons without such a formatted competition, in 1984 the league reintroduced the Pairs competition that was to be later named in honour and memory of Bert Astles (our former League Chair) in recognition of his long standing and many other contributions to the league. Bert was one of the key figures both for the league and for Knutsford Conservative Club and played on the clubs ‘A’ team for many years. Following the millennium the club’s ‘B’ team have consolidated their position as the club’s most successful team and have won the division one title three times and also took the Presidents Trophy twice. In 2009 players from the ‘B’ team also won the recently inaugurated Three Player Trophy competition. Overall the club is second in the list of league titles won, behind Mobberley Victory Hall and third in the list of Team KO cup victories while the club has provided the Chair of the league in over half of it’s 60 year existence including the current chair, Steve Power, who has held the position since 2006. All in all, Knutsford Cons club had been a long-standing, valuable and successful member of the league it supported and developed so well. Due to maintenance costs on their building, in November 2012 the club was forced to close and the remaining two teams transfered to the Brook Street club. This was without doubt the biggest loss to the KADASL to date until, at the end of the 2018-9 season we lost the Liberal / Brook Street club.

The former Liberal Club (created with Cranford members) then Brook Street Club originated above the post office on King Street in Knutsford which is now a restaurant. The club tables and scoreboards date back to an incredible 1885. We don’t have an exact date but at some point the Coburn family from Booths Hall off Toft Road in Knutsford wanted to make a Liberal party head-quarter and from that a social side of the meeting room formed a snooker section. The current building used now on Brook Street was originally a Bottle plant, it was purchased outright and the club moved to Brook where it too became the new Liberal party head-quarters until 1974. During the First World War Brook Street was used as a soup kitchen and the cellar was earmarked as a morgue - maybe that why it has such a distinct aroma about it! All of which must have been strange news to the Grocers shop next door where the office is now. In the Early 1960's the Mr Coburn died and his 2 sons took over the estate and split the club into 2 parts - upstairs being the Liberal Party HQ and downstairs being the Liberal Club itself. The club holds an important part in creating the league in that it donated the Division 1 winners trophy that was first won in 1951-2 by Mere A. The trophy is still in use today. In August of 1974 the building was bought by the members for the princely sum of £3,000 and on the 1st of July 2004 the members changed the name of the club because of its political suggestions to try to obtain a grant from Manchester Airport - this failed. The biggest project the club has taken on was the bar extension in 1979 and the club’s main claim to fame is that in 1995 Willie Robinson brought Alex Higgins into the club for a frame of snooker where he signed the Visitors book “Alex Higgins Snooker Champion”. Sadly the bills could no longer be paid and the remaining two teams moved to the Tatton club in 2019-20.

ROYAL LONDON (Formerly REFUGE)

Royal were a relatively recent addition to the league but they certainly made their mark. Only arriving in 2000 under the name of Refuge (Insurance) the club immediately committed itself to multiple and regular entries to all the league events and honours soon followed for the teams in the form of division 2 runners-up in 2001-2 season and a division 1 title 10 yesrs later. Based off the main Wilmslow to Alderley Edge road the club has a completely different feel to it as our only ‘business based’ club. The Mid-Cheshire league, of which many of our clubs have been members of over the seasons, was greatly based upon industrial / businesses which allowed staff a social outlet of a snooker room whereas the KADASL has always been a ‘village hall’ based league. There had been success on an irregular basis for the club with two players standing out from the crowd in the form of Mark Newall and Steve Flinders who moved on to Mobberley. These pair have been consistently taking titles in all the competitions.

MORLEY

Morley was the third most recent addition to the league having only joined in the early 1990’s. The club house is based in the hamlet that has a purpose built village hall that provides a focal point for village social activity. The club have floated between two and no teams in the league over the years as the transient populous and enthusiasm of the club stewards have seen (or not) the importance of snooker to the club.

What we do know is that when Morley was in the league, it was stronger for it because it had consistently punched above its weight with wins in every category except the 3 Player and Taylor Trophy. Players of note include Life Members John Thompson who won numerous titles at Shaw Heath before joining Morley; Paul Hart double Jay Trophy winner and Steve Redwood who not only gave his name to the league competition he sponsors but led Morley to the Division 1 title in 2008-9.

LIBERAL CLUB / BROOK STREET

This club finally died when the building was sold at the end of the 2018-9 season after being a founder member of the league. Many individual and team titles have found their way to the club over the seasons with the likes of Sid Jones, Bill Wilkinson and Bernard Hogan through to the current crop. The players have found a home at the Tatton club so at least the league hasn’t lost completely.

WILMSLOW ROYAL BRITISH LEGION

Wilmslow Royal British Legion were division two winners in 1990-1 and went on to win division one in the 96/97 season. Tony Bell was Rotary cup champion in 1992-3 and bettered that by winning the Jay Trophy in 1997-8. After a 13 year break, the club rejoined the league for the 2012-3 season and left again at the end of 2013-4 when 2 of their team organisers were banned from the league. However, a reformed team of bowlers were allowed to enter the league for the 2015-6 season without those barred players. This team also folded after just 4 years at the start of the 2019-20 season.

LIFE MEMBERS (Currently active with or in league)

Rob Clarke

Currently playing at Tatton, Rob is one of the leagues ‘occasional nomads’ having played at several other league clubs over his illustrious ‘life’ in the league. Rob has won the Bert Astles Pairs trophy and been runner-up twice in the Rotary Cup. He was in the 1975/6 Knutsford Cons C team which won the league and in 1988/89 won the Team Knockout. He has captained teams to success in previous years at Knutsford Cons and at Tatton. Rob has played in the Knutsford league for 40+ consecutive seasons, starting with Knutsford Cons C in 1971. Rob is a great example of a player dedicated to enjoying being involved in the league and a sensible voice of reason and common-sense at league discussions.

Tony Crompton

Tony is a two time League Secretary and also responsible for many of the innovations found in our league, including – sponsorship of competitions; entering a league team into ‘outside’ competitions; arranging and hosting our anniversary events; the league Internet web sites; the Redwood Hire Champions, Pairs, Alternate Pairs, Taylor Trophy, 6 Reds and the commemorative season competitions. Playing all his snooker at Mobberley Victory Hall he was the first player to reach the final of every non-league team event – the Jay, Rotary, Team KO, Pairs, 3 player, 6 Reds and Champions. A player of fair standard and a winner of all available league and individual titles, Tony is considered to have been amongst our most influential league members. Tony said “I’d describe myself as an unusual combination of organised, forthright, opinionated, even-handed, fair, forward-looking, innovative, open-minded and most importantly, whilst I’m not the best player in the world, I’d like to think I am hard to beat and I am certainly a true supporter of our league and all that it stands for”.

Francis Evans

Francis is typical of the type of player on which the long-term success of the Knutsford and District Snooker League is built. He played his first game in 1965 when appearing for and captaining Knutsford Conservative B against their own A team. That night Francis played fellow league legend H ‘Bert’ Astles and despite losing on black ball has gone on to be one of the ‘fixtures’ of the league winning many more games than he has lost. He has played for Knutsford Conservative Club and Shaw Heath in the Knutsford League and Mobberley and Knutsford Private in the Mid-Cheshire League. Since his 1965 debut Francis has played every season and for many years has topped his team averages – and that includes the last three seasons! For some years he’s been known as ‘The Killer’, a name that remains shrouded in mystery but that’s only one of his many nicknames – ask him yourself for the full list! Although in recent years Francis has predominantly played in the lower division he has spent most of his snooker career playing in the top division and one of his claims to fame is that he’s beaten Bruce Tulley three times (can you say that?). In his youth he was a keen footballer and still plays bowls during the summer. His favourite pro player of all time is Alex ‘The Hurricane’ Higgins followed closely by Steve ‘Interesting’ Davies which clearly shows that Francis obviously has polar tastes in sportsmen! Younger players beware – he’s aiming for 50 years in the league in the 2015-6 65th Anniversary season and he probably won’t stop there.

Arthur Hasford

Arthur joined the League in 1972 playing on the illustrious and successful Mere A and B teams and winning 3 league titles and 2 KO cups. He moved onto the Liberal club (Brook Street) where more titles followed and then to Shaw Heath for his finest period. 6 league wins, 3 runners-up and 2 KO cups plus individual success in the late rounds of the Jay Trophy and a highest break award. Arthur had a serious back injury in 1995 that brought about his retirement from the game but the draw of the competition over rode the pain as he returned to the league in 2006 with another league win at Brook Street club, a spell at Knutsford Private and in the Mere A division 2 winning team of 2008-9.

Andy Long

Andy Long has played in the league for well over 30 years all at one club – Brook Street – until the club closed at the end of the 2018-9 season when he moved to Tatton. The committee felt that this would be a particularly poignant time for Andy to be honoured by the league with Life Membership. Andy is the definition of a life member in that he has not only been a player, captain, organiser and club representative for longer than most have been playing in the league but also an officer of the league. As Trophy & Competitions Secretary for many seasons he was responsible for updating and building the wall of records at league HQ Mobberley amongst many things. In fact he performed the role so well that we’ve not been able to fill it properly since! Individually, Andy has been a late competitor in most league competitions, particularly excelling in the pairs and 6 Reds.

David Nuttall

Dave has held the league officer positions of Secretary from 1994 to 2002 and has been its Treasurer twice (2003-7 and 2010 onwards) over the years having come to the league’s assistance when others had turned the other way. Dave introduced Information Technology (IT) to the league with the first computerised fixture and player / team averages in the mid 90’s and credits the support of fellow ‘lifers’ Dave Prosser, Geoff Owen and Ray Dale as his greatest supporters / mentors. Dave has represented Wilmslow Conservative club with pride since the mid 1980’s.

David Rainford

Another example of a player upon which the lifeblood of league’s originate. A player who has been at the forefront of maintaining his club’s existence in our league who has worked tirelessly ‘in the shadows’ to ensure our survival. Dave has been playing snooker since he was 16 years old, playing with his father when he was a junior member of his social club in Altrincham. He played a few matches for the club in the local snooker league but didn't play regular snooker league matches until he moved to Knutsford some 12 years later in 1981 where he joined the Shaw Heath Social Club. At that time, the club only had one snooker table but when the club was extended a couple of years later, they got a second table which meant they could then join this league. Dave has only played for the Shaw Heath 'A' team and which was particularly successful in the 80s & 90s being the division 1 winners 11 times between 1983 to 1996 - including a league record 9 consecutive seasons from '88 to '96. They were also runners up in 97 and 99 as well as winning 4 KO cups to boot. On a personal level, Dave was Jay runner-up in 2005 and Rotary Cup runner-up in 1988 & 2005 and a Pairs winner 1988 and Pairs runner up in 1989; both with Tony Barrow and won the Taylor Trophy at his first attempt. Dave captained the Shaw Heath A team for a number of seasons and was the club's regular representative at the monthly committee meetings where he adds: “The Knutsford & District Snooker League is an exceptionally well-run league. Its committee and its members are always friendly and approachable and the standard of play has always been good and whilst my game isn't quite what it was, I still look forward to the matches each and every week I’m available and I was amazed and delighted to have this Life Member honour bestowed on me”.

Bruce Tulley

Son of Jack (who was also a Life – and founder – Member of the league and who passed away in October 2011) and is deserving of his place in this notable list as he is the most successful player in the history of the league ever to date and by quite a margin. Another one club player (Mobberley) Bruce has broken numerous records and still remains ‘the man to beat’ in every match. His 28 finals include 21 wins consisting of 9 Jay Trophy, 4 Rotary Cup, 4 Bert Astles Pairs, 3 Three Player competitions and a Redwood Hire Champions Trophy. When you also throw in a further dozen league titles and Team KO cups you can see how prolific he has been. However, success – and certainly Life Membership of our league – is not measured by silverware. Bruce was nominated and accepted by his peers for this and his sportsmanship and conduct. He carries himself well and always has a kind word no matter what the frame score.

Eddie Wakefield

Eddie Wakefield, also known as “AA Eddie” (from his working days) has been playing in our league since at least the mid-seventies. He has captained and supported only the players at Mere over all that time and has been at the forefront of encouraging the young players to play and develop their game at the club with a view to getting involved in the league. He is now near his 70’s and still playing weekly until very recently when his health has hindered his number of appearances. His help and support to all players at Mere has been far more than just helpful - it has been invaluable. The league needs people and players like Eddie equally as much as Eddie clearly needs the league.

LIFE MEMBERS (Currently not active with or in league)

Ray Dale

Ray first entered the league in 1973 at Mobberley Victory Hall and joined the newly formed "D" team (Jimmy Windles Wonders) and duly lost every match in his first season! Ray up to the age of 14 had very little education due to rare lung condition and was classed as semi-invalid spending a lot of time in and out of hospital. Ray was a keen novice player and was noted for his unusual break (playing the cue ball between the blue and pink) and did not stand 'correctly'. Since joining the league Ray has constantly come to its aid in many of its times of trouble, whether it is as an officer or whatever. Ray has won only one official league trophy (semi finalists with his wife Sheila in the 1984-85 Pairs competition) but it would be hard to find a less assuming or better physical supporter of this league and despite retiring at the end of the 2002-03 season as Treasurer, Ray was still active as a player in the league until the end of the 2011-2 season and remains a full-time supporter of the league.

Sid Jones

Sid had no previous experience in competition or league snooker when he first joined the league in 1960 having first picked up a cue and taking up snooker at the ripe old (in modern terms) age of 32. He was originally taught by his brother who had been very good billiards player from the age 16, at Albert Road Congregational club in Farnworth, Bolton. When Sid moved to High Leigh he joined Mere Parish Club and played for Mere from 1960 for about 12 years before later spells playing for Knutsford clubs Liberal, Bowling and Conservative teams. Sid became the President of the league at the AGM 1978 taking over from the late Frank Ward - a post he holds still. Sid currently plays (and wins) for Mere Parish club at the grand age of 90 plus. At the age of 78 he attained a personal best ever break of 91 in a witnessed friendly at Knutsford Conservative Club - a break that literally left him in the pink, the Manchester Football Pink. A winner of several league titles, Sid epitomises all that is good about this league - dignity, competitiveness and sociability. Unfortunately, Sid’s health drew a conclusion to his playing days at the end of the 2011-12 season but, we are more than happy to report, he hit his 100th birthday in a Macclesfield nursing home during the 2016-7 season.

Barry Lineham

Another one club player (Mobberley) with almost a thousand league games under his belt. Barry first represented his only club in the late 1960’s and soon after became the first player to win the Rotary Cup in successive years in the early 70’s. Over the years, sporadic league team and KO Cup titles have come his way. Barry was asked by the League Secretary as to whether he would like to be nominated for this award and his reply (after a 10 minute break to compose himself!) sums the man up: “The Knutsford & District Amateur Snooker League has given me so much more than I could ever give it. I’m no superstar by any stretch of the imagination but every week it has been a highlight and often a sanctuary. Snooker is a microcosm of life itself – you cannot enjoy the highs if you don’t experience the lows, much is learnt by mistakes, a bad night can turn good and vice versa. I am privileged to have met and played snooker with people from all walks of life and many have remained good friends over the years. I was totally taken aback when Tony proposed me to the management committee. I thought such honours were for the great players but he told me that the league is about people not just scores and averages. I am so very proud to be nominated and even prouder to accept this honour. Thank you”. Barry last played in the league during the 2010-11 season.

Brian Mitchell

Brian was the first (and only) non-player to be accepted as a Life Member after the League Committee agreed that the existence of the league was due not just to the players but to other ‘back room staff’ such as a non-playing organiser, captain, a club secretary and so on. Brian had been the table cleaner at Mobberley for over 20 years and his expertise has played no small part in ensuring the league’s HQ and member club had access to three superb tables at any given time. Brian retired as table cleaner at the end of the 2011-12 season as he approached his 90th year in age.

Geoff Owen

For over 40 years Geoff Owen has played an important role in the Knutsford & District Amateur Snooker League. He has been an active snooker member at three clubs starting with Knutsford Liberal Club (now Brook Street) in the 1970’s where he developed his taste for the game. He achieved his highest ‘league match’ break of 45 whilst at the Liberal Club in 1986 and Geoff eventually moved to his current venue of Mere Parish Club where he again had a part to play in re-launching the snooker section there. He played a key role on the Club Committee and as a team captain with Mere A who gained promotion to the Second and First Divisions a number of times under his management. Geoff is known for his sportsmanship, fairness and determination. He is a team player and has always been willing to hold his hand up when it comes to running a team or helping to manage a club. The sort of player that leagues are built on.

Mervyn Pike

A former league Treasurer and 1,000 plus match member who until the 2017-8 season was still active for his one and only club, Mobberley. Mervyn assisted the league as a Treasurer in times of need and won several league divisional and team honours interspersed with many individual semi-final appearances before personal success at the 2009-10 Taylor Trophy. The best way to describe Mervyn would be that he is no-one’s fool and he certainly knows his way around a table when he turns out!

David Potter

Was born in Sale and moved to the Knutsford area in 1972, when he joined Knutsford Cons club and gained a place on their B team. In 1977 David won both the Rotary Cup and the Jubilee Cup. David has acted as Captain of the team for over 20 years, ably assisted by Rob Parkinson who David graciously adds ‘probably deserves most of the credit’. A true gent, often a non-playing captain but certainly a vital link in the sustainability of our league and his own club and teams. When Knutsford Cons B withdrew from the league at the start of the 2010-11 season, Dave was sadly lost to playing too.

Geoff Sharpe

Geoff also played on the Mere A super team with David Wright and Sid Jones but more recently has been a stalwart member of the Liberal Club (now Brook Street) serving on the committee for many years and has always done maintenance work there and bar duties once a month. Two of his main efforts over the last few years saw him re-fit the bar and convert part of the cellar into a pool room. Geoff is a great example of what the Committee consider Life Membership of the league to be all about – people and players who make the league and its member clubs function. Geoff has also played for many years week in week out on whatever team required him and it’s only recently that he has taken to playing only when needed due to age.

David Sykes

Dave was the captain of Mere C for approaching 30 years and without the likes of him, any league would suffer. His ethos of 'sociable snooker - plays serious but enjoys the night' epitomises the league. David is another player lost to the league when the bulk of his team (‘The Cricketers’) left the league several seasons ago.

Ronnie Tagg

Ron played for over 40 years in the league having won the title with Knutsford Conservatives and prior to that at Mere. His personal highlight came as a runner-up in the leagues major, the Jay Trophy, in the 1978-9 season. He is another 1,000 plus match player who played to a good standard and will still turn out for the Tatton club when needed. Ron is a quiet but listened to voice in the league and within his own club and always a pleasure to know.

John Thompson

John took up snooker at the sprightly age of 10 and a year later had a 6’ x 3’ table in his bedroom. Locally he first played at Egerton Boys Club until eligible to go into Shaw Heath Club before playing at Knutsford Private Club as I wasn't able to play for Shaw Heath until the year after. John joined Shaw Heath A and enjoyed league and individual successes over 10 years including his first century break when he was 21 at Shaw Heath Club. After a brief spell away from the league, he returned playing for Morley A and good friend, Steve Redwood. In the 2008-9 season he finally got to the magic 10 x div 1 titles when Morley A won the league. John fulfilled a lifelong ambition of having his own full size table in his home in 2005, which despite his claim that “I have four kids now so it doesn't get used much but it is handy for storing things on and under!” doesn’t hold much water as scrutiny of his personal records show wins in the Pairs, Rotary and was the first player to retain the Redwood Hire Champions Trophy as well as being the League Secretary from 1992-94. John retired from play at the end of the 2009-10 season when Morley’s winning team was broken up by departing players.

Peter Watson

Peter has been a member of the league since its formation and was instrumental in it being created. Having played for Mobberley for a short time it is fair to say that his true home is Wilmslow Cons club where he would still turn out for the club teams when health permits him.

AND SO, TO OUR LEAGUE HISTORY AND THE 1950's

Our league began officially in the 1951-52 season although competitive matches on a more informal basis were played prior to that date. Indeed, many of the players who formed the league played in local matches in 1948 before the requirements of National Service disrupted things somewhat from 1939 to 1945.

Several of our founder member clubs played in the “Wilmslow and District Billiards and Snooker League” – and some still do. I don’t propose to dwell too long on the history of that league (for no other reason than they have provided their own historic booklets and it was a billiards league for much of the build-up period to our league’s formation) but it is important that we understand that the creation of our league was borne out of theirs. They provided the billiards, and later the snooker, for this area from 1924-5 season onwards with Mobberley as a founder member until a one year overlap with our league.

Knutsford Liberals (later to be Brook Street) joined in the 1926-7 season and stayed in the league until 1932-3 and Knutsford Conservatives joined in 1930-1 and only played for 6 seasons while Morley joined in the 1977-8 season, long after we were up and running. Wilmslow Cons club joined the league for one season in 1930-1 before leaving and rejoining in the 1951-2 season where they continue to present.

In their commemorative handbook of 1991, I am indebted to the author of the history booklet (Mr Hector T. Staley) for mention in the ‘Outstanding Player’ section of Jack Worsley from Mobberley who later moved on to play at Alderley Union club. Jack started to play in their league in the 1929-30 season and prior to the 1939-40 season had already won at least 6 individual billiards titles and a snooker title for good measure.

There is also much mention of another Mobberley based player, S. Clough, who was Treasurer (later Assistant Honorary Treasurer) from 1938-9 onwards and who was honoured for his incredible service in the 1989-90 season.

And so we come to the creation of the Knutsford & District Amateur Snooker League.

Borne out of the social rules that most people worked until 6pm or later and most had no vehicle, the increasing scope of the Wilmslow league ever further afield led to a group of players including Derek Parmenter and Mr C.W.Blake creating our league.

In 1950-51 the first ever holding of the Rotary Cup occurred and provided the impetus for local players to create the league as so many of the entrants were from the Knutsford and Mobberley area. The Rotary Cup was originally documented as having been donated by a Harold Gardiner (actually a typo in the local press that should have read ‘Harry Garner’) from Bucklow Garage at Bucklow Hill near Mere. This is wrong. Harry was a President of the league and ‘presented’ the trophy many times to winning players and NOT to the league!

The correct story is where the Knutsford Guardian documents a Mr Blake donating a handicap merit trophy on behalf of the local Rotary Club committee who were assisting in the local celebrations for the Festival of Britain that year. This fits comfortably and accurately with the ‘Rotary’ name. All six clubs played in-house competitions to decide finalists who competed off handicap. Sadly, through mismanagement by the league officers at the time, the original Rotary cup was lost in the late 1990's and had to be replaced by the new League Secretary with the current trophy on which the history of all the past winners is engraved. The first winner of the Rotary Cup was Maurice Pemberton from Knutsford Conservative club who beat Charlie Worsley of Mobberley Victory Hall in the final.

1951-2

When the league was formed, players from the 8 formation teams – Mobberley, Liberal and Knutsford Cons A and B plus Mere and Crosstown - all played off scratch (except for competitions) and one early entry in the local Guardian newspaper in February 1951 refers to a victory by the Wilmslow League over the Mid-Cheshire League by a 7-3 margin while in what was called the 'Knutsford Snooker Handicaps'.

Another 1951 Guardian entry mentions Charlie Worsley as the only player off scratch and handicaps running back to +35. Another article mentions Mr. A. Tiffin of Crosstown A as being the first player in the league to score over 100 points in a frame in a 104-21 win. Interestingly there were no rules to accommodate drawn frames or matches (ie re-spot black) and the Team Knockout cup final was a 2 leg affair 'won convincingly by Knutsford Conservative club B over Mobberley B' with Liberal a and Crosstown the losing semi-finalists.

With 6 players per team, 2 points per frame and 2 points for the aggregate (14 points per match on offer), the first ever league winners were Mere Memorial Club A with a team of 'steadies' rather than stars – Harry Garner his brother Frank Garner, F.Yarwood, Jim Hope, T.Ikin and H.Ankers. The league winners, Mere A, finished the season having played 14 games won 10 and lost 4 and were duly presented with pewter tankards as a memento of their success as they held aloft the Gaskarth Trophy as presented to the league by G.H.Podmore Esq..

Division 1 Winners: Mere A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons A
Team Knockout Cup Winners: Knutsford Cons B
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Mobberley B
Rotary Cup: Norman Cooper (Knutsford Cons)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: P.V.Worthington (Liberal)

1952-3

Many of the league players at this time also played in the Mid-Cheshire snooker and (separate) billiards leagues and our newly introduced 2 division setup consisting of the A teams from Crosstown, Knutsford Conservative Club, Mobberley, Knutsford Liberal Club and Mere in Division 1 and their B teams plus Knutsford Conservative Club C forming division 2. The AGM at Knutsford Cons club decided that half of all the league profits would continue to be paid to the ‘Old People’ charity for the area – a trend of charitability that exists today with proceeds from the Team KO cup being given to charity.

Handicaps have always been a bone of contention in this league with different moods at different times wanting scratch matches or handicaps to redress the balance of play but with the advent of 2 divisions in the second season of play, a handicap system was introduced. A brutal range from scratch to 42 (6 blacks) began which was soon reduced to 35.

In this second year the winners were all presented with Coronation Cues' to commemorate the Queen's coronation. One is current'/ owned by Steve Thorpe (Mobberley) who was given the cue by Derek Parmemer - another is rumoured to be stored at Knutsford’s former Liberal Club on Brook Street. Knutsford Conservative B became the first ever winner of the second division title with no team dominating proceedings until the final week when they secured the title with a 14-0 win over Liberal B.

An interesting name to note is Peter Tittle, an almost deaf player from the Liberal club, who came runner-up in the only non-team competition (The Rotary Cup) - a Hall of Fame member in later years while an interesting picture of the 16th of January 1953 shows the division 2 winning Knutsford Cons B team with their mascot ‘Dixie the Dog’.

Division 1 Winners: Crosstown Working Mens A
Division 1 Runners-up: Knutsford Cons A
Division 2 Winners: Knutsford Cons B
Division 2 Runners-up: Crosstown B
Team Knockout Winners: Mobberley A
Team Knockout runners-up: Liberal A
Rotary Cup: Harry Garner (Mere)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Peter Tittle (Knutsford Cons)

1953-4

With only 5 or 6 teams in each division, there were only 16 matches in Division 1 and 20 in division 2. This meant, compared to now, an October start to the season and games every 1 or 2 weeks (not weekly). The scoring system changed yet again with all matches decided on team aggregate and 2 points awarded to the winner. In the event of a tie, the black in the last frame to finish was replayed.

With the league expanding rapidly the Knutsford Conservative Club seemed to have cornered the market in individual stars (P.Tittle, D.Britcliffe and F.Ward) taking their tally in 3 years of the Rotary Cup to 2 winners and a runner-up. Their team clinching the Division 1 title for good measure with a win over runners-up Mobberley A on the final day.

There was also the first ‘One Club’ Team Knock-out cup final with Crosstown Working Mens Club A losing out to their B team club mates at the last hurdle and Les Taylor beat our oldest finalist to date, 76 year old Bill Edwards in the Rotary Cup final 3-2 in frames after a miscue by Bill in the decider let Les in for a winning 20 break.

A.Ollier set a new record for the lowest winning score to date in a 37-16 win for Crosstown only to be outdone in the 'low scoring stakes' by C.Bradley of Mobberley B with a paltry 36-34 win and then his teammate Harold Butterworth. Not a great title to hold when you consider that the lowest score possible in a win is 22.

An important photo in the Guardian newspaper of 13.11.53 shows Liberal B team player Mrs. Margaret Cash as our earliest known lady player. Little more is known about her other than that she played in the league for at least 3 seasons.

Division 1 Winners: Knutsford Cons A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley A
Division 2 Winners: Mere B
Division 2 Runners-Up: Mobberley B
Team Knockout Winners: Crosstown Working Mens Club B
Team Knockout Runners-up: Crosstown Working Mens Club A
Rotary Cup: Les Taylor (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Bill Edwards (Knutsford Cons Club)

1954-5

The season started in the second week of October with another new format - this time it was 1 point for a frame win and 2 for the aggregate, 8 points on offer for a clean sweep. With this in mind, and so few teams (still only 5 in division 1 and 6 in the second division), Mobberley A won 8-0 one week and leapt from bottom spot to 6 off the lead!

The Knutsford Liberal club announced their arrival as a force to be reckoned with by securing both Divisional titles and a runner-up in the Rotary Cup and in Division 1 - their A team became the first to do the double after also winning the Team Knockout cup by beating Knutsford Cons C team. Derek Parmenter (Hall of Fame) a founder of the league eased to the Rotary Cup title by winning 3-0 in the best of 5 final against Frank Bailey.

The league introduced it's first ever promotion and relegation policy - one up and one down. Reading articles in the 'Guardian', this was not a popular introduction by the league committee as the second division was certainly looked down upon by many of the division one clubs, teams and players as being of a standard well below them.

New to the league Cranford A are therefore the relegated team and division 2 winners Liberal B will be coming up in their place as Knutsford Cons B start a run of 4 seasons where they are runners-up in the second division.

Division 1 Winners: Liberal A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mere A
Division 2 Winners: Liberal B
Division 2 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons B
Team Knockout Winners: Liberal A
Team Knockout Runners-up: Knutsford Cons C
Rotary Cup: Derek Parmenter (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Frank Bailey (Liberal)

1955-6

In our 5th season, Knutsford Conservative club A team bounced back to win the first division title with Cranford Lodge taking the 2nd Division throne. This began a period where only 2 teams won 11 of the next 12 first division titles. Bill Wilkinson wins and Peter Tittle is runner-up in the Rotary Cup with C.Blake and Cliff Bradley the beaten semi-finalists. Mobberley B beat Knutsford Conservative Club A in the Team Knockout final.

Last season's new team Cranford Lodge set a league record (v Knutsford Cons C) with the lowest league match score so far with just 183 between the 6 players with one winner getting 64 of them! While at the other end of the scale Liberal A (352) and Mere A (354) set a new aggregate total record of 706 points just to prove some could knock them in as well.

Another record - oldest combined team and winners - was set in the Pairs competition where 77 year old Bill Edwards and 60+ Peter Tittle (Knutsford Cons A) won over the Mere pair of Syd Archer and Jim Hope. Obscurely the semis were best of 5 frames and the final just a best of 3 frames.

To round off a great season, a special dignitary – Sir Richard – presented the prizes at the Conservative Club to all the prize winners. These included the other competitions available to the league players like the Barr Trophy, Guardian Cup, Leighton Memorial Snooker Cup and the Knights Billiard Cup.

Division 1 Winners: Knutsford Cons A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Liberal A
Division 2 Winners: Cranford Lodge A
Division 2 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons B
Team Knockout Winners: Mobberley B
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Knutsford Cons A
Rotary Cup: Bill Wilkinson (Knutsford Cons)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Peter Tittle (Knutsford Cons)
Pairs winners: Peter Tittle & Bill Edwards (Knutsford Cons)
Pairs Runners-Up: Syd Archer and Jim Hope (Mere)

1956-7

In the 5th season of the league, team numbers have increased slightly to 6 in division 1 and 7 in division 2. Mobberley Victory Hall win their first major title and another first is the tied aggregate match between Liberal A and Mere A with both ending up on 263 points - 1 point each awarded. Mere A also end up in a last day decider match against Crosstown A to determine who dropped to division 2 – a match they won 6-2 to stay in the top flight. Knutsford Conservative club C wins the Team Knockout cup over the only 1st division team to win any game - Liberal A - in a one-sided 2 leg final.

Mobberley's star player Derek Parmenter becomes the first player to win the Rotary Cup twice and records a 103-11 win one week followed by an 80-18 win over his boss the next week. The best break in Division 1 was a 45 by T.Johnson of Crosstown A whose team was duly relegated.

Mobberley A win the first division from Knutsford Conservative club A with Liberal B winning Division 2 (promoted) from Knutsford Conservative club B. The second division now plays 24 games with 7 teams in it. Ben Passant (Mere B) creates a dubious record scoring just 30 points in his frame against Tyrone Walker (24) of Knutsford Conservative club C. This is also the lowest frame aggregate to date, only 54.

Clubs were playing many in-house competitions as the game flourished and a Guardian picture shows the ‘Mere Parish Snooker Cup’ being presented to Jim Jones by Colonel R.P Langford-Brooke after beating T. Usher in the final with B. McConnell, the winner of the billiards cup, in the background.

Another great honour came when League President Harry Garner was invited to play the legendary Fred Davis at Gladstone club, Northwich. Harry acquitted himself admirably until Fred knocked in a half century with ease to prompt Harry to comment ‘I’m rather glad I don’t have to play him every week!’

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons A
Division 2 Winners: Liberal B
Division 2 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons B
Team Knockout Winners: Knutsford Cons C
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Liberal A
Rotary Cup: Derek Parmenter (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Cyril Scott (Mobberley)

1957-8

The league introduced a new scratch – they called it a ‘Merit’ format initially - competition called The ‘Jay Trophy' which prompted an excellent 40 entries. The trophy was donated to Derek Parmenter for the league by a league member who wanted to remain anonymous. The name Jay did not come from any "Mr. Jay" but was decided whilst Derek and the generous donator were thinking of what they could call the cup. As they were looking out over the bowling green in Mobberley, a bird landed and the question was asked "what kind of bird is that" Derek replied "its a Jay" and the name was born. The Trophy is Pewter based and in the last few years was reconditioned rather than replaced. Aptly the first winner of the new trophy was a Mobberley Victory Hall player – Cyril Scott who beat Dave Britcliffe to the new silverware.

A strange decision by the management committee creates a lob-sided league with the entry of Liberal C team giving 6 teams in division 1 and 8 in division 2 and still only 1 up and 1 down. Mobberley Victory Hall become the first team to retain the first division championship (by a massive 21 points) and completed the double by winning the Team Knockout for good measure over Cranford Lodge B. Crosstown A, far from happy about being relegated to the 'lesser division' win Division 2 by an incredible 51 points.

Team total records fall with Liberal scoring just 160 against Knutsford Conservative club B (251) also creating a lowest match total record of 411. At the other end of the scale Mobberley A scores 430 points against Cranford Lodge in a league match, at an average of 70 per player. In division 2, Knutsford Cons B came runners-up for the 3rd season in succession.

Peter Tittle won his first league individual trophy in the Rotary Cup, after some near misses in the previous seasons. This success which would see him begin a run where he was playing in a final of one or other cup final in 6 of the next 8 seasons. Cyril Scott (Mobberley) is the accepted best player in the league, though, winning his best of 5 semi and final in the Jay Trophy 3-0 and the league averages to boot.

Just to illustrate how most of the players were also well adept in other pastimes including darts, football, motor-cross and bowls. Charlie Worsley – one of Mobberley’s top sticks – was invited to take over the Chair of the Lancashire County Bowls Association from Lord Derby no less.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Liberal A
Division 2 Winners: Crosstown Working Mens Club A
Division 2 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons B
Team Knockout Winners: Mobberley A
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Cranford Lodge B
Jay Trophy: Cyril Scott (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Dave Britcliffe (Knutsford Cons)
Rotary Cup: Peter Tittle (Knutsford Cons)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Harry Garner (Mere)

1958-9

Mobberley Victory Hall A became the first team to retain the Team Knockout Cup beating Mere B in the final, whilst Knutsford Conservative club swept the board with the Jay Trophy and the two divisional titles. Cyril Scott had a great season again almost wiping out his opponents team handicap when scoring 147 points in a frame and then swapped individual titles when he won the Rotary Cup - exchanging titles from last season with Peter Tittle who won the Jay 3-0.

Peter was actually named Philip Tittle but everyone called him Peter – if you can tell me why, I’m happy to know! Only the Knutsford Liberal club's Alf Ollier (as runner-up in the Jay) could break the apparent stranglehold on the league held by the Knutsford Conservative and Mobberley Victory Hall clubs.

The anonymous donator of the Jay Trophy was the subject of much speculation with the Guardian reporters referring to it as ‘The Mystery Man Knock-Out' competition! Mere A were last in division 1 but not relegated due to new clubs applying to join next season. Another team low score record with Knutsford Conservative club C scoring only 158 against Liberal B. This came in the same week their B team became only the second team to score over 400 points and create a record for the biggest win in a match with a 408-160 victory over Liberal C - a winning margin of 248.

Cyril Scott set a record in beating his Cranford Lodge B opponent 147-16 in the Team KO cup – almost pulling back the 155 handicap difference single-handedly. The Knutsford Guardian introduced 2 additional competitions for the league players - one called the ‘Beginners KO Competition’ for novice players (remember how most played billiards until a few years before this) and one for the top 12 players in the league, an invitational competition called the ‘Guardian Cup’. This cup was superseded later by the ‘Jay Trophy’. In the Novice competition, Mobberley's Irving Price beat G.Aspin in the final whilst Bill Wilkinson beat Dave Britcliffe in the final of the 'Guardian Cup' (top 12) competition.

At the end of the season there is much speculation about who can replace resigning League Secretary Derek Parmenter who says ‘I’ve taken the league from an idea to a two division setup of 14 teams in eight years. It’s been hard work and now it’s time for someone else to drive things forward’.

Division 1 Winners: Knutsford Cons A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley A
Division 2 Winners: Knutsford Cons B
Division 2 Runners-Up: Mere B
Team Knockout Winners: Mobberley A
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Mere B
Jay Trophy: Peter Tittle (Knutsford Cons)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Alf Ollier (Liberal)
Rotary Cup: Cyril Scott (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Irving Price (Mobberley)
Guardian Cup: Bill Wilkinson (Liberal)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: Peter Tittle (Knutsford Cons)

1959-60

Strange how things change as Mobberley A gain a division 1 runners-up spot for the second season running as they almost disappeared from the honours board and Knutsford Conservative club A retained the division 1 title – as well as runners-up in the Team KO cup. Meanwhile, the Knutsford Liberals sent out a warning with the second division title for their B team and their players winning the Jay and the Rotary trophies.

The League saw common-sense and leveled the 2 handicapped player divisions with now 8 teams each with Mere A staying in division 1 rather than relegated. Liberal B set a new team aggregate total with 439 against Crosstown C in October and a certain Sid Jones gets a mention in the Guardian Cup invitation tournament for (now) the top 16 league players. Bill Wilkinson beats Jack Shaw to win another title in the Jay final and division 2 is by Liberal B who drop only 2 matches in the season.

Derek Parmenter had the division one highest break with a run of 46 while Bill Tocher from Mere had their best of 30 to take their prize and Frank Bailey beat Ian Davies in an excellent Rotary Cup final that went to the last frame in 5.

In the final of the Team KO Cup, a lack of knowledge of the rules of the game (or should this read ‘extreme sportsmanship?) saw Norman Cooper of Knutsford Cons A playing Crosstown’s Albert Tiffin in the crucial last frame. Norman was 7 points behind when he came to the final black and, thinking he could not win the frame and therefore the match, conceded the frame. His opponent pointed out that he could in fact draw the frame by potting the black and that the frame and match would have to be decided on a re-spotted black if he did so. After discussion with his team mates, Norman and co shook hands and conceded the black, frame and match.

Division 1 Winners: Knutsford Cons A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley A
Division 2 Winners: Liberal B
Division 2 Runners-Up: Mere B
Team Knockout Winners: Crosstown Working Mens Club A
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Knutsford Cons A
Jay Trophy: Bill Wilkinson (Liberal)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Jack Shaw (Mere)
Rotary Cup: Frank Bailey (Liberal)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Ian Davies (Crosstown Club)
Guardian Cup: Bill Wilkinson (Liberal)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: Dave Britcliffe (Knutsford Cons)

THE1960's

1960-1

In our 10th season, the swinging 60's set off with now 14 teams playing up to twice a week in 1 division and Mobberley A retaining their Division 1 title with other honours evenly spread between the Mere and Knutsford Conservative clubs. A Guardian photo details the continuing interest in the Jay Trophy donator and yet another scoring system is in place with handicaps and 2 points for the aggregate.

The Rotary and Jay finals are played out between the old and the young with experience telling while Knutsford Conservative club A beat Mere A in the Knockout cup final who were also division 1 bridesmaids. Mere B won the division 2 title, the last time this would be competed for, for the next 22 seasons.

There was a strange (compared to nowadays) set up for the league with the top teams playing for the Division 1 trophy and, what they refereed to as, ‘B Class’ teams playing for the (effectively) Division 2 title – hence there is a division 2 winner but no runner-up!

Frank Passant won the Rotary cup against Gerald Aspin in front of a ‘one-sided’ crowd. The League President, Harry Garner, was far from impressed when just 2 players from Knutsford Cons club had turned out to support Gerald when almost 30 had done so for the winner. He was, rightly, unimpressed and raised the matter directly with the Cons club committee who blamed a club meeting and other fixtures for their lack of support.

It would seem that the season was problematic all-in-all as the Guardian also makes mention that there was ‘a lot of gossiping going on in the member clubs’ about the legitimacy of a Bill Wilkinson refereeing decision in the semi-final of the Rotary where Bill disqualified a player. The President was obliged to quell the wagging tongues after consultation with the powers in the national game who confirmed that Bill was correct in his decision.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-up: Mere A
Division 2 Winners: Mere B
Team Knockout Winners: Knutsford Cons A
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Mere A
Jay Trophy: Frank Ward (Cranford Lodge)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Stan Oldham (Mere)
Rotary Cup: Frank Passant (Mere)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Gerald Aspin (Knutsford Cons)
Guardian Cup: Derek Parmenter (Mobberley)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: Herbert Jones

1961-2

This year the league was played as a handicap league with match scores in excess of 900 points commonplace (excluded from records) and only one division. Drawn games were also possible with the point per frame and 2 for the aggregate format. Knutsford Liberal club introduce a third team to the league and confusion reigns with 2 teams from both the Cranford Lodge and Cranford clubs.

Mobberley A retained their title from Cranford Club B after throwing away a lead of 34 points at one point to scrape home in the final week with two good wins. Bill Wilkinson becomes the first player to win the Jay Trophy and Mere's Frank Passant, last year’s Rotary Cup winner, becomes the first player in the competition to reach consecutive finals when he is runner-up this time around.

No division 2 this year and Mr. Tittle is back in the frame as the Jay runner-up. Liberal B and C teams fill the bottom 2 spots. Frank Collins (Liberal) and W.Drohan (Cranford Lodge) are the beaten semi-finalists in the Rotary. The biggest news of the season comes at the AGM where former President of the league, Jack Hart ‘confesses’ that he was in fact the previously unknown donor of the ‘Jay Trophy’.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Cranford Club B
Team Knockout Winners: Mere A
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Mere B
Jay Trophy: Bill Wilkinson (Liberal)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Peter Tittle (Knutsford Cons)
Rotary Cup: Alan Goode (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Frank Passant (Mere)
Guardian Cup: Howard Randle (Mobberley)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: Harry Garner (Mere)

1962-3

With only 12 teams entered following the withdrawal of the 2 Cranford Club teams, Mobberley Victory Hall club retained the (only) division 1 championship but this time it was a title taken by their B team on the last day of the season. A feat mirrored at the Knutsford Conservative club as their B team came runners-up.

David Kimberley is jointly presented with a special award at the AGM for his services to the league by President Harry Garner, Chair Frank Ward and Treasurer Philip Johnson.

Peter Tittle won his second Jay Trophy beating Ted Thomas with Frank Passant and Alan Stansfield losing out in the semis. Harold Wilson (not that one) becomes the highest frame scorer with a 106-53 win over Jim Moreton and Dave Britcliffe beats Bill Daniels (semis: Bill Powell and Pat Baskerville) to win the Rotary Cup.

A couple of events of note were the continued non-league (but provided for the enjoyment of our KADASL players) Guardian Trophy competition was still being held and this season won by Peter Tittle 2-0 over Jack Hart. The second event concerned a charity snooker and billiards night where professional Jack Rea gave displays and played Peter Tittle, Frank Ward and Cyril Scott. At the AGM, a special award was made at the AGM to 76 year old David Kimberley from the Knutsford Liberal Club for 'his play, work for the league and service to his club'.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley B
Division 1 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons B
Team Knockout Winners: Cranford Lodge A
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Liberal A
Jay Trophy: Peter Tittle (Knutsford Cons)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Ted Thomas (Mere)
Rotary Cup: Dave Britcliffe (Knutsford Cons)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Bill Daniel (Mobberley)
Guardian Cup: Peter Tittle (Knutsford Cons)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: Jack Hart

1963-4

There was very little published in the Guardian this season but we have managed to ascertain that it was business as usual as Mobberley A regain the title with their C team runners-up.

Peter Tittle becomes the first player to retain the Jay Trophy in beating Cyril Scott in a tense final with Harry Garner and Sid Jones the losing semi-finalists. Peter later added the Guardian (invitational) cup in a replay against Cyril for good measure as he cemented his crown as the best stick in the league.

Cranford Lodge B beat Knutsford Cons A in the team Knockout cup and the high point of the season, for most, was when Mobberley’s Roy Simcock beats Ernie Oilier to become the youngest ever winner of the Rotary Cup at the sprightly age of just 19 years. Alan Curbishley and Peter Tittle lost out in the semi-finals.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley C
Team Knockout Winners: Cranford Lodge B
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Knutsford Cons A
Jay Trophy: Peter Tittle (Knutsford Cons)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Cyril Scott (Liberal)
Rotary Cup: Roy Simcock (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Ernie Oilier (Knutsford Cons)
Guardian Cup: Peter Tittle (Knutsford Cons)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: Cyril Scott (Mobberley)

1964-5

The league numbers increased back up to 14 teams but still in one division. It's 'as you were' for Mobberley A at the top who had a season long battle with their own B team for the title before scraping home by just 4 points while the places were reversed in the Team KO Cup final. However, unseen by both teams were Liberal C who had a great last period to the season and tied with Mobberley B on points for the runners-up spot. In those days (and this lead to the subsequent rule introduction) there was no provision for a tie and so they shared the spoils – nowadays, Mobberley B would have taken the place due to having won 2 more matches than Liberal C.

In the Jay Trophy, Peter Tittle seals his 3rd consecutive (a record then and his 4th overall) title to enter the record books and he reinforced his dominance when he added the Guardian Trophy also for the 3rd consecutive season when beating Peter Gregory of Mobberley.

For the first time, players’ partners were allowed to attend the league's AGM and there is debate and dismay as the President fears for the future of the league as teams thin out. They expand the league by inviting teams from Wilmslow Cons, Alderley Union and Wilmslow British Legion to join next season and the top handicap came down from 42 to 35.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley B & Liberal C
Team Knockout Winners: Mobberley B
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Mobberley A
Jay Trophy: Peter Tittle (Knutsford Cons)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Frank Collins (Liberal)
Rotary Cup: Ian Davies (Liberal)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: G.Horrocks (Cranford Lodge)
Guardian Cup: Peter Tittle (Knutsford Cons)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: Peter Gregory (Mobberley)

1965-6

Poor submissions of articles by our officers and teams, in our 15th season, led to a similar lack of news in the Guardian as they move from being a local paper to a more regional approach with sport having no dedicated pages.

Bernard Hogan becomes the first player ever to win the Rotary and Jay trophies in the same season beating Sid Jones in the handicap competition and York Walker in the scratch comp. Knutsford Conservative A won the league title comfortably from Mobberley B after the latter and Liberal teams took their eye off the ball in their own battles. Cranford Lodge winning the Team Knockout cup from their own B team.

Harold Butterworth won the best break for the season with a 29 and Peter Tittle was runner-up in the best performance and high break awards - an incredible achievement as it was the season during which he passed away. Peter (real name Phillip) was an outstanding snooker, billiard and bowls player who started life at the Liberal club but soon moved on to record numerous achievements for his only other club – Knutsford Cons.

Another interesting entry in the Guardian marks the exhibition match at Mobberley of a certain ‘Johnny Spencer’, the reigning British Amateur Champion. This was, in fact, the soon to be World Professional Champion ‘John Spencer’. He played several of our top players of the time – Cyril Scott, Sid Jones, Fred Bradshaw, Stan Smith, Les Taylor and Colin Smith – with the highlight of his visit being runs of 83 and 85.

Division 1 Winners: Knutsford Cons A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley B
Team Knockout Winners: Cranford Lodge A
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Cranford Lodge B
Jay Trophy: Bernard Hogan (Liberal)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: York Walker (Knutsford Cons)
Rotary Cup: Bernard Hogan (Liberal)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Sid Jones (Mere)
Guardian Cup: Sid Jones (Mere)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: Geoff Moores (Mobberley)

1966-7

Another poorly documented season saw Knutsford Conservative A retain their championship from the 14 teams in the one division structure and the other major titles being evenly distributed.

Frank Passant beats a young Howard Stubbs to win the Jay with A.Daniels (Pat) and George Holland the losing semi-finalists while in the Rotary the semi losers were Howard Stubbs and Ernie Ollier. Mobberley B beat Liberal A to win the Team Knockout cup.
Mobberley’s Tom Mainwaring wins the Rotary cup against Knutsford Cons opposition in the shape of a Mr E. Nuttall.

The season is rounded off when there is an all Mobberley Guardian Cup final that sees Cyril Scott beat Les Taylor in the final. At the AGM, Harry Garner, the President of the league, says 'let's put more enthusiasm back in the league' and Ken Corry (secretary) puts forward an increased fine of 2 shillings and 6 pence for late cards. Some things never change!

Division 1 Winners: Knutsford Cons A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mere A
Team Knockout Winners: Mobberley B
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Liberal A
Jay Trophy: Frank Passant (Mere)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Howard Stubbs (Wilmslow Cons)
Rotary Cup: Tom Mainwaring (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: E.Nuttall (Knutsford Cons)
Guardian Cup: Cyril Scott (Mobberley)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: Les Taylor (Mobberley)

1967-8

Knutsford Liberal club win their first title since 1954 and add the Rotary Cup courtesy of Dave Prosser.

Wilmslow Conservative club players miss out in the finals of both individual competitions – to Dave Prosser of the Liberal club in the Rotary cup and G.Kelsall of Mere in the Jay Trophy. Wilmslow did, however, make it a ‘one club’ final in the Guardian Cup where young upstart Howard Stubbs showed his mettle to beat established star Pat Daniels with Sid Jones and Peter Barber losing in the semi-finals.

Unfortunately we know little else about this season as there was nothing at all published.

Division 1 Winners: Liberal A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mere A
Team Knockout Winners: Mobberley C
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Cranford Lodge
Jay Trophy: G.Kelsall (Mere)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: A. (Pat) Daniels (Wilmslow Cons)
Rotary Cup: Dave Prosser (Liberal)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: J.Uttley (Wilmslow Cons)
Guardian Cup: Howard Stubbs (Wilmslow Cons)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: Pat Daniels (Wilmslow Cons)

1968-9

In 1968 the league introduced a rule to enforce the non-smoking by players and officials over the table during games. This was seen as a radical policy by some at the time but as we all know now, medical knowledge has proven it was correct – clothes don’t smell so much, you can see people playing their games while furnishings, players and tables last slightly longer for good measure too!

More problems during the season with the secretary giving up part way through (replaced by Frank Collins) and Chairman Ben Passant at the AGM unhappy with just 27 players present to debate issues. Another AGM suggestion surrounded the change of start time from 8pm to 7.30pm but this was heavily outvoted with the main argument against being sounded by Ben: “Many of us work until 7pm and some players are travelling to play in the league from as far away as Wilmslow and Altrincham”.

Two of the Knutsford Conservative club teams dropped out of the league to leave 12 in one division now and Mobberley A win the title by just 1 point from Liberal A with the Mobberley C team sealing the Team Knockout cup also from Liberal A. Sid Jones is runner-up in the Jay Trophy which was won by Pat Daniels from Wilmslow Conservative club and Derek Parmenter has a brilliant 47 break to take that award.

In the Mobberley based Barr Cup, Fred Bradshaw beat Peter Gregory in the final while Peter Barber and David Walters are beaten in the semi-finals of the Guardian Cup that is won by Bernard Hogan 2-0 against late replacement Jack Tulley.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Liberal A
Team Knockout Winners: Mobberley C
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Liberal A
Jay Trophy: Pat Daniels (Wilmslow Cons)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Sid Jones (Mere)
Rotary Cup: David Spruce (Mere)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Ernie Houghton (Liberal)
Guardian Cup: Bernard Hogan (Liberal)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: Jack Tulley (Mobberley)

1969-70

In 1969 the league had just 13 teams and the handicap allowance was reduced to 30 with players going up or down based on a formula. In layman's terms you worked out the difference between how many you won and how many you lost, took away 2 and then went up or down by the number left. Dead easy!!

Mobberley start the season off with an in-house battle for the league Charity Shield with Division 1 champs on the A team whooping their C team (KO cup holders) the week after a drubbing by the C in the league. Pat Daniels, having changed clubs for this season, retained his Jay Trophy title again beating Sid Jones in the final and leaving Peter Gregory and Bert Astles as the losing semi-finalists. Sid went one better when he beat his club mate (and no relation) John Jones 2-1 in the final of the Guardian cup. Ben Passant and Derek Walters were the losing semi-finalists in that particular competition.

Mobberley B won the league crown by just 2 points from Knutsford Conservative club A into second spot while in the Rotary cup was won by Mere’s Tony Duncalfe against Bernard Hogan in his first season in the league, the losing semi players were Dave Walters and Peter Curbishley. In the Team KO final, the handicappers got it right yet again as the trophy was decided by the final ball in the final frame.

More controversy at the AGM with the league secretary complaining that the Jay Trophy was 'meant for scratch players only - now anyone can pay 10 shillings and enter it'. Fortunately his proposal failed and the competition remained as it is today - a true test of every player’s ability off scratch and free. A decision is passed that the home player will always be spot on the scoreboard and on a sadder note; Frank Ward becomes league President following the death of Harry Garner.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley B
Division 1 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons A
Team Knockout Winners: Liberal B
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Knutsford Cons A
Jay Trophy: Pat Daniels (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Sid Jones (Mere)
Rotary Cup: Tony Duncalfe (Mere)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Bernard Hogan (Liberal)
Guardian Cup: Sid Jones (Mere)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: John Jones (Mere)

THE 1970's

1970-1

In our 20th season, and with a new President in the guise of Frank Ward, you could ask 'How deep does the talent at Mobberley go?' as their C team won the first division championship this time around.

Howard Stubbs is the main individual player this season winning the Jay trophy over club mate Jack Rigby in the final at a packed Liberal club. Meanwhile, in the Rotary cup, John Bell – a Mobberley player much better known for his cricketing achievements - conquered all before him to take home the silverware 2-1 against Tommy Pugh with F.Raynor and J.Whitton the losing semi-finalists.

Knutsford Liberal club also had a good year with their B team runners-up in division one and their C team clinching the Team Knockout competition in the closest final to date with their opponents, Cranford Lodge, last player going in-off the black in the final frame to secure victory.

The brilliantly named Hector Slaley beat George Horrocks of Cranford Lodge 2-0 in the final of the invitational Guardian Cup.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley C
Division 1 Runners-Up: Liberal B
Team Knockout Winners: Liberal C
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Cranford Lodge
Jay Trophy: Howard Stubbs Jnr (Wilmslow Cons)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Jack Rigby (Wilmslow Cons)
Rotary Cup: John Bell (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Tommy Pugh (Cranford Lodge)
Guardian Cup: Hector Slaley
Guardian Cup Runner-up: George Horrocks (Cranford Lodge)

1971-2

With the league numbers now down to 12 teams, it was very nearly a clean sweep – and certainly a domination of events – for the Liberal club this season.

Tom Lunney just missed out on doing the individual double as he won the Rotary Cup against F.Flynn from Knutsford Cons club but lost 2-0 in the final of the Jay Trophy to Mobberley’s Dave Harrison with Tommy Pugh and Bill Corrigan losing in the last four.

Knutsford Liberal club, having sent out a warning last year, saw their C team soar to the league title and their B team retains their runners-up spot from last season. Mobberley B wins the Team Knockout cup with ease beating last year's runners-up Cranford Lodge in the final at the Liberal club.

In the invitational Guardian Cup, the invitation to play was widened and at the cost of the local players. Alan Green from Cheadle duly took home the silverware having left Liberal star Stan Marsh in his wake.

Division 1 Winners: Liberal C
Division 1 Runners-Up: Liberal B
Team Knockout Winners: Mobberley B
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Cranford Lodge
Jay Trophy: Dave Harrison (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Tom Lunney (Liberal)
Rotary Cup: Tom Lunney (Liberal)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: F.Flynn (Knutsford Cons)
Guardian Cup: Alan Green (Cheadle)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: Stan Marsh (Liberal)

1972-3

Now a 13 team one division structure, Mere A won the division 1 title by 19 points from the previous season's champions Liberal C. They lost only 1 match all season and this was Mere's first championship since the first year of the league.

Sid Jones won his first Jay Trophy after being in 3 of the last 4 finals but Mobberley's Bill Corrigan was the unluckiest man of the year, coming runner-up in both individual competitions. The Rotary was won by Dave Stuart 2-0 but with both frames being black ball games. The losing semi-finalists in the Rotary were Eric Sutton and Francis Evans while in the Jay they were Derek Harrison and E.Smith.

Knutsford Cons B beat their own illustrious A team to win the Team Knockout Cup final – the first Team KO win for the club since 1961 and only their 3rd overall. Other awards go to John Sproston who had the best performance throughout the season and Bill Corrigan who won the best break award (now regularly over 40 each season) and the Guardian Cup against Dave Britcliffe 2-1 with a 52 break in the last 8 for good measure.

At the end of season AGM President Frank Ward warned players that to abolish the handicap system would effectively kill the league and it was agreed to reduce the maximum player handicap from 35 to 28 as a compromise proposal put forward by then Treasurer Mervyn Pike while Geoff Moores comments about the “dropping standards in the league”.

Division 1 Winners: Mere A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Liberal C
Team Knockout Winners: Knutsford Cons B
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Knutsford Cons A
Jay Trophy: Sid Jones (Mere)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Bill Corrigan (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup: Dave Stuart (Mere)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Bill Corrigan (Mobberley)
Guardian Cup: Bill Corrigan (Mobberley)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: Dave Britcliffe (Knutsford Cons)

1973-4

As stated, the top handicap had been reduced to 28 and all new handicaps were again reviewed by the Management Committee after players had completed 4 games. Knutsford Liberal club again monopolised the honours this season as their A team consisting of Dave Walters, John Walton, Crawford Smyth, Tom Lunney, Ian Smith, Alan and Peter Curbishley. They took a 13 point lead by halfway and lead on to take first place with their B team the runners-up spot eventually just 3 points back.

Mobberley B won their second Team KO cup in 3 years when they beat Liberal C on the last 3 colours in the frame between Peter Gregory and Peter Mimmack. Meanwhile, Sid Jones swapped titles and won the Rotary Cup this time around – a brilliant achievement as he had to give at least 26 start to each opponent before beating George Holland in the final. Alan Sutton and John Jones were the beaten semi-finalists.

The Jay title was taken at his first attempt by a new player in the league, Crawford Smyth from the Liberal club who beat club mate Ray Tootle in the final 2-0 in a low scoring match. In the Guardian cup, Bill Corrigan retained his title in beating fellow Mobberley player Peter Barber 2-1 in the final.

Division 1 Winners: Liberal A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Liberal B
Team Knockout Winners: Mobberley B
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Liberal C
Jay Trophy: Crawford Smyth (Liberal)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Ray Tootle (Liberal)
Rotary Cup: Sid Jones (Mere)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: George Holland (Liberal)
Guardian Cup: Bill Corrigan (Mobberley)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: Peter Barber (Mobberley)

1974-5

Bill Corrigan gained revenge for his Jay Trophy final defeat 2 seasons ago as he reversed that result to beat Sid Jones to the title 2-1 and by just 2 points at Knutsford Cons club – Stan Marsh and L.Bardsley missed out in the last 4. Bill was clearly one of the best players around as he also won the Guardian Cup the third consecutive season with a 2-1 victory also over Sid with the losing semi-finalists being Ron Tagg and J.Jones.

Mere A won their 2nd league title in 3 years and their B team made it a successful season for the club by winning the Team Knockout cup 451-363 against Liberal A. Mobberley’s monopoly of the individual competitions was complete when Barry Lineham beat Ian Smith of Knutsford Liberal club to win the Rotary Cup 2-0.

Division 1 Winners: Mere A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Liberal C
Team Knockout Winners: Mere B
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Liberal A
Jay Trophy: Bill Corrigan (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Sid Jones (Mere)
Rotary Cup: Barry Lineham (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Ian Smith (Liberal)
Guardian Cup: Bill Corrigan (Mobberley)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: Sid Jones (Mere)

1975-6

In our 25th season, Knutsford Conservative club's C team win the league crown from runners-up Mobberley A but just miss out on the double when Liberal C beat them in the Team KO final by 22 points. Mobberley had actually tied for second place in the league with Mere B but recent rules meant that tied teams played off for the honours and Mobberley won the play-off in style.

Cons club member Stan Marsh wins the Jay Trophy against Harry Hewitt in the final at his home club. Mobberley's Barry Lineham becomes the first player to retain the Rotary Cup with a final victory over Knutsford Cons League President Frank Ward and with Tom Lunney and Roger Gittins the unlucky semi-final losers at Knutsford Cons.

In the Guardian cup, Sid Jones wins his third crown as he reverses last season’s finale against arch rival Bill Corrigan with the final referee being Jack Tulley. At the AGM, long time President Ben Passant retires and Frank Ward and Ben are made Life Members of the league.

Division 1 Winners: Knutsford Cons C
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley A
Team Knockout Winners: Liberal C
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Knutsford Cons C
Jay Trophy: Stan Marsh (Knutsford Cons)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Harry Hewitt (Liberal)
Rotary Cup: Barry Lineham (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Frank Ward (Knutsford Cons)
Guardian Cup: Sid Jones (Mere)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: Bill Corrigan (Mobberley)

1976-7

In 1976, Ray Dale organised the first referees course in the history of the league and all the players attending qualified for a 'C' class certificate. One, Dave Ramsey, qualified later for a 'B' class certificate and all those taking part were used (and glad to be used) to referee the many finals and bigger matches held throughout the season.

Fifteen teams make up the one division this season and Knutsford Conservative B won the main title after leading the division for almost all the season. Two of their players contest the Rotary Cup final in the form of Dave Potter and Rob Clarke and just for good measure, Gary Hammond one of the losing semi-finalists ( the other being Crawford Smyth) was also a Cons man. John Oldfield and Sid Jones both scored 38 breaks in the league to share the award.

This season, a new star emerged into the league in the shape of Dave Wright. His Mere A team grabbed runners-up spot in the league and he won his first of 4 consecutive Jay Trophy titles at Mere in front of a crowd of over 30 from a poor entry of just 18 players beating Alan Goulding in the final with Mervyn Pike and Peter Mimmack losing in the semi-finals.

David then went on to record a fantastic break in the league of 91 against club mate Peter Stenson in a 129-0 win (with handicaps taken off the score) to prove his point. Indeed David recorded 12 breaks over 40 this season, a real feat as he played off -32 at the time. Could you give opponents a 40, 50 or 60 start each match and still win 70% of your matches? At the AGM, David proposed negative values be brought in and this was agreed.

Liberal D won the Team KO cup 26 points from Mere B. What made this so remarkable was that the winners had never previously made it through the first round of the comp let alone won it! Rumour has it that the turning point was when Keith Wright won his frame and then decided to wear his ‘lucky’ shirt in each subsequent round. It certainly worked.

Sid Jones retains the Guardian cup against fellow stalwart Derek Parmenter of Mobberley winning 2-1 in the final after they had beaten Bill Corrigan and Tom Lunney in the semis.

Division 1 Winners: Knutsford Cons B
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mere A
Team Knockout Winners: Liberal D
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Mere B
Jay Trophy: David Wright (Mere)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Alan Goulding (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup: David Potter (Knutsford Cons)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Rob Clarke (Knutsford Cons)
Guardian Cup: Sid Jones (Mere)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: Derek Parmenter (Mobberley)

1977-8

With the division increasing in numbers to 16 teams, Arthur Hasford skippered his Mere A team to the main title with a comfortable gap between them and runners-up Knutsford Cons C who had battled all season long against their own D team for this second place. Mere's star man Dave Wright wins Jay Trophy title number two in beating Bernard Billingham of Knutsford Cons club in the final 2-0 aided by a 45 break in frame one.

An invitational competition is held at Mobberley and sees Bert Astles beating Geoff Sharpe in the final with Sid Jones and Ted Davies losing in the semis for the Barr Trophy. Meanwhile, Crawford Smyth of the Liberal club wins the Rotary Cup after beating Albert Steele 2-1 in a close final which took the trophy to the Liberal club for the first time since 1972.

It wasn’t such a fun year for Knutsford Conservative club with their C team runners-up in the league and club players beaten in both the Rotary and Jay finals while Liberal D take the Team Knockout title when they beat Mere B in the final, as they lose for the second season running at the last hurdle.

Mere D and Knutsford Cons D set a new record when 4 of the 6 frames in their match are decided on the black ball and Bill Corrigan shows he’s still got the Midas touch by winning the Guardian Cup again against Mere’s John Sproston. Sheila Dale (the then current League Secretary) is featured in the Guardian newspaper as she reaches the Northern area ladies finals but is still unable to play in our league – this changes at the season ending AGM.

Division 1 Winners: Mere A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons C
Team Knockout Winners: Liberal D
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Mere B
Jay Trophy: David Wright (Mere)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Bernard Billington (Knutsford Cons Club)
Rotary Cup: Crawford Smyth (Liberal)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Albert Steele (Knutsford Cons)
Guardian Cup: Bill Corrigan (Mobberley)
Guardian Cup Runner-up: John Sproston (Mere)

1978-9

The 16 team (4 teams from each of Mobberley, Mere, Knutsford Cons and Liberal clubs) division 1 winners spot is snatched by Mobberley A from Mere A who had to be content with the Team Knockout Cup crown instead. Their star player, Dave Wright nearly did the double, winning the Jay for the third season in a row beating Ronnie Tagg 2-0 with an aggregate score of 147-25 over the two frames. He later loses two nil in the Rotary Cup final to Mobberley's Peter Gregory (Alan Gould and Francis Evans lose in the semis) which is still an incredible feat as at this time he was playing off a minus 32 handicap at the time.

Many of the league's players also entered the Cheshire County newspapers open competition which saw 64 entries playing best of 3 games and were held over a number of weeks at Mobberley Victory Hall club. It's no wonder they entered when the winner received the princely sum of £250. This was later raised to £1,000 (about £10,000 in today’s terms) to become one of the top amateur tournaments in Britain at a time when an average weekly wage was £35. This competition replaced the previously invitation only Guardian Cup.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons C
Team Knockout Winners: Mere A
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Mobberley A
Jay Trophy: David Wright (Mere)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Ronnie Tagg (Knutsford Cons)
Rotary Cup: Peter Gregory (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: David Wright (Mere)

1979-80

Common sense prevailed at the AGM as a proposal ensured that lady players, and in particular Sheila Dale the league Secretary for the past 2 seasons, have been full playing members of the league ever since. Another proposal put to the members at the AGM was to merge with the Mid- Cheshire snooker league but fortunately this suggestion was defeated and the league and its history lived on as a separate entity.

Sheila duly scored the (still) highest break for a lady player in the league this season with a creditable knock of 28 and was featured on TV's 'Look North' Programme. Interestingly, this was a higher break than the best recorded in the 2001-02 3rd division by any male player.

Gareth Williams of the Liberal club makes a newspaper entry when he scored a brilliant 129 points total in a frame but this is surpassed by Mere’s Bill Horrobin who wins his frame against club mate Terry Kirkham 148-51 and there is more joy for the Liberals when Crawford Smyth loses 2-1 to Ron Harper in the Rotary cup final.

A mixed season for Mere as their A team surged back to the top of the 16 team division 1 winning with 3 full weeks to spare with Mobberley B runners-up after a last week victory. Mobberley D won the Team Knockout Cup and Mere B are bottom of the league but there is more success for the Meresiders when David Wright secured a place in league history as the first to retain the Jay Trophy 4 seasons on the run - a feat unlikely to ever be beaten. In this season’s final he beat Paul Westbury of Knutsford Cons 2-1 with Bill Corrigan and Tom Lunney the losing semi-finalists.

An interesting entry in the Guardian on the 22.11.79 notes that ‘a new player, Tony Crompton on Mobberley D’s team beat Jay winner David Wright in his first ever league game 90-66’. This didn’t quite tell the full story, however, as David was on -32 handicap and Tony on +28. Tony broke off 60-0 up and David knocked in a 57 break – as he did almost weekly – before TC crawled over the line to appear to have won! Do you recall your first frame in the league?

Unfortunately, it is not known who Mobberley D beat in the Team KO final but we do know that the Cheshire County Newspapers competition is going from strength to strength and this season saw English International Douggie French entering it.

Division 1 Winners: Mere A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley B
Team Knockout Winners: Mobberley D
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Not known
Jay Trophy: David Wright (Mere)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Paul Westbury (Knutsford Cons)
Rotary Cup: Ron Harper (Mere)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Crawford Smyth (Liberal)

THE1980's

1980-1

In our 30th season, fifteen teams now make up the one division with just 3 clubs (Mere, Knutsford Conservative and Liberal) entering 4 teams each plus Mobberley with 3. Winners this season were Knutsford Cons B who after a sticky start, consolidated before easing away to take the title.

Mere were the stars of this season again with the D team runners-up in the league, the B team winning the Team KO cup and Les Irving beating Tony Crompton in the Rotary Cup final on the black in frame 3 with David Ramsey and Francis Evans losing out at the semi-final stage.

Sid Jones returned to the honours lists winning the Jay Trophy against Paul Westbury who was runner-up for the second year running. News articles were few and far between this season and no record can be found of the Team Knock-out cup runners-up to the winners Mere B.

The Cheshire County News open snooker tournament is now attracting stars from across the country and the field of 64 (all paying 20 pounds to enter) included John Hargreaves, England number 1; John Parrott and Dean Reynolds from ‘Junior Pot Black’ success; and the world number 2 amateur Steve Newbury, who decided not to turn professional until several years later, because he was earning so much winning comps in the amateur ranks!

Division 1 Winners: Knutsford Cons B
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mere D
Team Knockout Winners: Mere B
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Not known
Jay Trophy: Sid Jones (Liberal)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Paul Westbury (Liberal)
Rotary Cup: Les Irving (Mere)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)

1981-2

This season also saw the introduction of the ‘Inter-Club Competition’ where each club chose a combination of players from each their league teams. The idea being that it would weaken the stronger clubs and strengthen the weaker clubs - because you’d have, say, 2 A team players, 2 B team, 1 C team and 1 D team player making up a team rather than 6 A team players. However, the make-up of the league clubs meant that with only 2 clubs having 4 teams in the league, some clubs either failed to enter or the status quo was reached too quickly and the format and competition was soon abandoned.

It's strange how clubs have good and bad years. Knutsford Liberal C team were runners-up in the league to Mobberley A and also won the Team Knockout cup, sadly it is not known who they beat in the final. Gareth Williams was the Liberal star man with the highest break of the season with a creditable 54 and more success came when Paul Woods won the Rotary Cup in an all Liberal club final against Alan Curbishley who was runner-up in both individual competitions this season. Unfortunately, it is not known who Liberal C beat in the Team KO final.

Eleven year old Pip (Philip) Dunkerley enters the record books by becoming the youngest ever player in the league. Officially he could not play at other clubs until he was 18 but due to his dad, Bill, being the licensee at Mere club, this could not be enforced there. Pip continues to play in the league today when required.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Liberal C
Team Knockout Winners: Liberal C
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Not known
Jay Trophy: Dave Ramsey (Knutsford Cons)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Alan Curbishley (Liberal)
Rotary Cup: Phil Woods (Liberal)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Alan Curbishley (Liberal)
Inter-Club Competition: Mobberley

1982-3

Shaw Heath announced their arrival in only their second season in the league with the division 1 title by leading throughout the season from Mobberley C - a sign of things to come. 17 teams now form the division with 3 teams from Shaw Heath swelling the ranks but Mere B is bottom team again despite beating the champions twice during the season.

Sid Jones is there again with another Jay Trophy crown, his 2nd in 3 years and 4th overall beating Mobberley’s Geoff Moores in the final and club mate Guy Raynor wins the Rotary Cup against Knutsford Con’s Rob Clarke to make it a double for the Liberal Club. More prizes come the Liberal way when their cup specialist C team reaches another final only to lose out to Knutsford Cons D.

Mere's rising star Keith Horrobin knocks in a 44 break to win the award this year and Bruce Tulley shows his future promise by winning the Mid-Cheshire Leagues ‘Young Player Of The Year’ competition.

Division 1 Winners: Shaw Heath A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley C
Team Knockout Winners: Knutsford Cons D
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Liberal C
Jay Trophy: Sid Jones (Liberal)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Geoff Moores (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup: Guy Raynor (Liberal)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Rob Clarke (Knutsford Cons)
Inter-Club Competition: Mobberley

1983-4

With 4 teams each from Mobberley, Mere, Knutsford Cons, Liberal and Shaw Heath, the league reverted back to the two division / 10 teams in each, format with Mobberley monopolising proceedings with the division 1, division 2 and division 2 runners-up prizes.

Mobberley's top stick Norman Lovatt lost just one league match all season long and became only the second ever player to win both the Jay Trophy and the Rotary Cup (John Carnie losing in the final) in the same season and Tony Crompton makes another bridesmaid’s appearance in the Jay this time throwing away a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 to Norman.

Knutsford Conservative Club B beat Mere B in the Team Knockout final to replace their own D team as cup holders and Sheila Dale, former League officer, achieves the highest ever break by a lady player in the league when she knocks in a fluent run of 28 in a match.

There was also an attempt by the committee to ‘spread the load’ of winners in a period where there were only the 5 different titles available by the introduction of the TSB Top Club competition. This sponsored trophy by the TSB bank involved totaling up the final league points of each club to give the ‘top club’ title. This, too, failed to take off when teams failed to enter the same number of teams into the league as each other and despite some nifty attempts at mathematical formulas to maintain it, after just two seasons was abandoned as unworkable.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Liberal A
Division 2 Winners: Mobberley D
Division 2 Runners-Up: Mobberley C
Team Knockout Winners: Knutsford Cons B
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Mere B
Jay Trophy: Norman Lovatt (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup: Norman Lovatt (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: John Carnie (Mere)
TSB Top Club: Mobberley
Frank Ward Memorial Shield: Knutsford Cons B beat Mobberley A

1984-5

A new competition, the first since the 1957-8 season, was introduced to the league by Tony Crompton the League Secretary at the time. The handicap pairs competition was reintroduced - remember, there had been a pair’s competition in the 1955-6 season that was won by Peter Tittle & Bill Edwards of the Knutsford Cons club - to the league and was later to be known as the ‘H (Bert) Astles Memorial Pairs’. This ‘new’ handicapped format soon became popular particularly after later being renamed in honour of the late Chairman of our league. The first winners were Howard Stubbs and Peter Fraser from Wilmslow Cons club beating the competition founder and his partner Bill McCaig (Mobberley) in the final. In losing in the semi-finals with husband Ray, Sheila Dale became (and remains) the only lady player to win any open competition league commemorative trophy.

Knutsford Private Club join and Wilmslow Conservative Club are back in the league but it is Shaw Heath A who wins their 2nd title in 3 years in division 1 with the new boy’s being runners-up 7 points back with Mobberley A 17 further adrift. There is more joy for Shaw Heath as their B team wins the second division championship and their C team grabbed the runners-up spot. Mere A and Mobberley C are relegated.

In the individual competitions, Paul Westbury is a runner-up again in a final taking just 38 minutes to complete - this time in the Rotary Cup to his nemesis Bruce Tulley. Ron Tagg and Peter Watson are the losing semi-finalists. Meanwhile in the Jay Trophy, John Sproston beat Mervyn Pike to win his first ever title with Tony Crompton and Arthur Hasford losing out in the last 4.

Frank Guthrie (Knutsford Cons A) creates 2 new league records with the highest win and the highest individual score in a league game, to date, with a 137-5 win and Tony Crompton (Mobberley A) becomes the first player to be his team’s only winner but wins the aggregate point when he wins his frame 116-7.

Division 1 Winners: Shaw Heath A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Wilmslow Cons A
Division 2 Winners: Shaw Heath B
Division 2 Runners- Up: Shaw Heath C
Team Knockout Winners: Shaw Heath A
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Mere C
Jay Trophy: John Sproston (Mere)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Mervyn Pike (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Paul Westbury (Shaw Heath)
H.Astles Pairs: Howard Stubbs & Peter Fraser (Wilmslow Cons)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Tony Crompton & Bill McCaig (Mobberley)
Inter-Club Competition: Mobberley
TSB Top Club: Wilmslow Cons
Frank Ward Memorial Shield: Shaw Heath A beat Shaw Heath B

1985-6

With a massive 29 teams (15 in division 1 and 14 in division 2) in the league for this 35th season made up of 4 each from Mobberley, Liberal, Mere, Knutsford Cons, Private and Shaw Heath plus 3 from Wilmslow Cons and 2 from Union, Union club make a healthy appearance in their first season but Mobberley A win the league by leading throughout the season.

Wilmslow Conservative club consolidate their position with division 1 runners-up place for their A team for the second year in succession plus a runaway division 2 title for their C team. Mere A and Shaw Heath C are relegated to be replaced next season by the Cons C team and Liberal B – for whom Geoff Owen had a creditable 45 break.

Mobberley’s stars were knocking breaks in for fun; firstly Andy Towers has a 52 for the best break in 3 seasons before being eclipsed by Bruce Tulley and a 70 break in a 116-0 whitewash in a frame. Bruce had also won the high break award in the previous two seasons and later retains his Rotary Cup crown against Jim Kerr in a fantastic year that saw him (off scratch) score over 100 points in a frame 8 times in 28 games, achieve even more success in the neighbouring Mid-Cheshire league and earn him the nickname ‘Ton Up Tulley’ in the local press.

If you thought Ronnie O’Sullivan was quick, even he would have had fun keeping up when Andy Towers and Tony Crompton play the fastest ever final in the history of the league as Andy beats Tony 2-0 in the Jay in just 9 + 6 = 15 minutes from first break to final black with both frames decided on the colours with two forty plus breaks and three high 20 breaks.

Paul Westbury, at long last, secures a title in the 2nd year of the Pairs competition (with Graham Meade); Norman Lovatt of Mobberley takes the best performance trophy having not lost a frame all season; Mere D beat Wilmslow Cons A by 32 points in the Team KO cup and the AGM itself sets a new record when 64 interested attentive members and guests attend to discuss matters and present the season’s prizes.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Wilmslow Cons A
Division 2 Winners: Wilmslow Cons C
Division 2 Runners-Up: Liberal B
Team Knockout Winners: Mere D
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Wilmslow Cons A
Jay Trophy: Andy Towers (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Jim Kerr (Alderley Union)
H.Astles Pairs: Paul Westbury & Graham Meade (Shaw Heath)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Damon Worstencroft & Philip Lamplugh (Mere)
Frank Ward Memorial Shield: Mobberley A beat Mere D

1986-7

With the addition of a team from Ilfords, the 30 team 2 division structure sees Mobberley A retains the division 1 crown after a season long battle between them, Wilmslow Cons A and Shaw Heath A. These headlines belittle the drama in this season as Mobberley A trailed Wilmslow Cons A throughout the season only for Wilmslow, needing 5 points to guarantee the title in their last match, to only secure a 4-3 victory. This meant that with a whitewash, Mobberley A, at home to Union B, could tie at the top but win the crown by virtue of having had more winning matches. With scores being relayed by telephone throughout the evening, Mobberley stumbled to their success, much to the obvious disappointment of the Wilmslow team who ‘had their day’ later in the season when beating the champions in the Team KO final when Nick Kidd beats Norman Lovatt.

More points of note see Mere D win again – this time taking the division 2 title with ease from their, also promoted, C team; Dave Boswell knocked in a 62 break for Shaw Heath; Paul Westbury winning his first individual crown, beating Bruce Tulley in the Jay final; Rob Clarke, a 3 time non-team competition finalist, winning his first title in the Pairs with Rob Parkinson when they eased past Liberal’s David Prosser and Andy Dunn at Mobberley; and an all ‘Stuart’ final in the Rotary cup when Mr James beat Mr Grieg 2-0 at Knutsford Private club.

Oh, did I mention that there are more disputes late in the season when Private A are relegated due to 4 points being deducted for a rules infringement. I can hear the debates already....

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Wilmslow Cons A
Division 2 Winners: Mere D
Division 2 Runners-Up: Mere C
Team Knockout Winners: Wilmslow Cons A
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Mobberley A
Jay Trophy: Paul Westbury (Shaw Heath)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup: Stuart James (Wilmslow Cons)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Stuart Grieg (Union)
H.Astles Pairs: Rob Clarke & Rob Parkinson (Knutsford Cons)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: David Prosser & Andy Dunn (Liberal)
Frank Ward Memorial Shield: Mobberley A beat Wilmslow Cons A

1987-8

A heady 30 teams are now in the league with 16 in division 1 and 14 in the second tier. Mobberley A are knocked off their perch as Shaw Heath A wins the division 1 championship from them and Wilmslow Cons A after a season long battle as Heath A begin a run of 9 years as division one title holders.

The Liberal club had a particularly good year with their B team winning the 2nd division and their D team the Team KO cup. New club llford join the league with an A and B team and Wilmslow Cons A are runners-up in division 1 for the 4th season running.

There is more success for Shaw Heath when Paul Westbury and Bruce Tulley repeat last season's final for the Jay Trophy crown with Bruce being victorious this time around while Dave Rainford is runner-up to Duncan Worth of Alderley Union in the Rotary Cup before teaming up with Tony Barrow to win the Pairs for more honours.

Sadly, and strangely, little more is known about this season because weekly articles in the Guardian cease in the New Year and do not resurface until January of 1979. As a result, it is not known who Liberal D beat in the Team KO final.

Division 1 Winners: Shaw Heath A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Wilmslow Cons A
Division 2 Winners: Liberal B
Division 2 Runners-Up: Mere A
Team Knockout Winners: Liberal D
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Not known
Jay Trophy: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Paul Westbury (Liberal)
Rotary Cup: Duncan Worth (Union)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Dave Rainford (Shaw Heath)
H.Astles Pairs: Dave Rainford & Tony Barrow (Shaw Heath)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: A.Haworth & G.Prince
Frank Ward Memorial Shield: Shaw Heath A beat Liberal D

1988-9

In the season which saw the biggest ever number of teams entered in our league (2 divisions of 16) when Wilmslow Cons D and Ilford B join, some things don’t seem to change as quickly. For the next 3 years, Shaw Heath A wins and Mobberley A are runners-up in the first division with Heath winning by an unprecedented margin with 3 matches to play.

In division two, a similar battle ensued with 3 teams breaking away by the halfway point before Private B stretched out to take the title from Ilford A by just 4 points. These two will replace relegated Mere D and Mobberley C next season.

Bruce Tulley retains his Jay title – this time from Wilmslow’s top stick Stuart James. Last years Pairs winners become this season's runners-up against Private club opposition in the shape of Bernard Webb and Mark Beckley. Mark was later to join the successful Shaw Heath club and team.

Frank Guthrie adds even more silverware to the cabinet as runner-up to Mobberley’s Paul Mihailovits in the Rotary Cup for the monopolising Shaw Heath. Trevor Stone won the top break award after a brilliant 66 but Bruce Tulley is the clear top individual as he racks up another 7 ton-plus scores in the season that is topped by a 135-10 win in one of them to enter the record books.

A photo of interest in the Guardian shows the opening of the 3rd table extension of Mobberley’s snooker room. The guest of honour is Manchester United player Colin Gibson – presumably a friend of one of the members – who strikes an excellent snooker pose. It is not known who Wilmslow Cons C beat in the Team KO final.

Division 1 Winners: Shaw Heath A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley A
Division 2 Winners: Private B
Division 2 Runners-Up: llford A
Team Knockout Winners: Wilmslow Cons C
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Not known
Jay Trophy: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Stuart James (Wilmslow Cons)
Rotary Cup: Paul Mihailovits (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Frank Guthrie (Shaw Heath)
H.Astles Pairs: Bernard Webb & Mark Beckley (Private)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Dave Rainford & Tony Barrow (Shaw Heath)
Frank Ward Memorial Shield: Shaw Heath A beat Knutsford Cons C

1989-90

It's 'as you were' at the top of division 1 with Shaw Heath A and Mobberley A filling the places 24 and 15 points clear of 3rd placed Union A respectively. Shaw Heath's D team muscle in on the awards by securing the second division crown held by their C team last year.

Later in the season, the divisional winners played for the Frank Ward Memorial Charity Shield where the undoubted winners were the Booths Hall Children’s Hospital who received a cheque for a fantastic 150 pounds – in a time when 150 pounds was two or three week’s average pay for most people.

llford A, who were only promoted to the top division last year and Wilmslow Cons C are relegated to the second tier next season and Private C take the wooden spoon prize in division 2 while Mere B wins the Team Knockout Cup comfortably from yet another unknown runner-up team.

New kid on the block Dave Boswell from the division 1 winners Shaw Heath A becomes the third player ever to do the double in the Jay Trophy and Rotary Cup beating Mobberley’s Andy Towers and Liberal’s Sid Jones in the respective finals. Finally, in the Pairs, Mere’s Les Irvine and Peter Owen beat Shaw Heath’s Colin Hough and Clive Whittaker to take the honours in another poorly reported season in the media.

Division 1 Winners: Shaw Heath A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley A
Division 2 Winners: Shaw Heath D
Division 2 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons C
Team Knockout Winners: Mere B
Team Knockout cup runners-up: Not known
Jay Trophy: David Boswell (Shaw Heath)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Andy Towers (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup: David Boswell (Shaw Heath)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Sid Jones (Liberal)
H.Astles Pairs: Les Irvine & Peter Owen (Mere)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Colin Hough & Clive Whittaker (Shaw Heath)
Frank Ward Memorial Shield: Shaw Heath A beat Mere B

THE 1990's

1990-1

In our 40th season, yet again it is a ‘ditto year’ as Shaw Heath A win the main title with Mobberley A runners-up after a season long fight with Union A and Wilmslow Cons A. Indeed, Mobberley A started the season with three 6-1 defeats before stringing together an unbeaten run that ended just 1 point in front of 3rd placed Union A but a massive 23 behind winners Heath.

Wilmslow Royal British Legion announce their intentions by romping to the division 2 title by a clear 26 points with 3 weeks to spare and Bruce Tulley just misses out on the first ever non-team treble. Bruce won the Jay against club mate Mike Gittins; added the Pairs crown with David Street; and lost the Rotary final to another fine player, Trevor Stone from Alderley Union.

Knutsford Cons C and Shaw Heath B are relegated from the top flight and replaced by Division 2 winners Wilmslow Royal British Legion and runners-up Private A who later become bridesmaids again when Mere B have great success when they ease to the Team KO crown against them. At season end, there is a sad indictment of the times (or was it poor publicity by the committee?) when just six people turn up at the AGM – and that included the 3 league officers!

Division 1 Winners: Shaw Heath A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley A
Division 2 Winners: Wilmslow Royal British Legion
Division 2 Runners-Up: Private A
Team KO Cup Winners: Mere B
Team KO Cup runners-up: Private A
Jay Trophy: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Michael Gittins (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup: Trevor Stone (Alderley Union)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs: Bruce Tulley & David Street (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: A.Raynes & D.Raynes
Frank Ward Memorial Shield: Shaw Heath A beat Mere B

1991-2

The committee could almost have re-held the prize giving from last season as Trevor Stone retained the Rotary Cup (against David Coates); Paul Westbury lost in the Jay final to his nemesis Bruce Tulley and Shaw Heath A completed the first division 1 and Team Knockout cup double for many years after overhauling pacesetters Union A who edged out Mobberley A on the final match date when they lose 6-1 at Morley.

Both Private A teams are relegated to the second division and replaced in the top flight next season by Wilmslow Cons C and Shaw Heath B who won the title by 8 points and a further 16 points clear of 3rd. A photo in the Guardian shows several league players also played in our neighbouring Mid-Cheshire league and under the umbrella Liberal club banner where they won their top division title this season also.

There were great breaks galore this season as the barrier was moved up from 46 to 57 by John Thompson before Trevor Stone had a 64 to equal Bruce Tulley's best of the season to win that award. The division 2 award goes to Ian Jones of llford B with a knock of 39. The Jay Trophy tried out a new format – soon abandoned – whereby the 32 entrants were split into 4 groups of 8 players who played round robin single frame matches to determine a group winner who went through to the semi-finals.

Shaw Heath A celebrated their 5th division 1 title by taking on the ‘Silver Fox Challenge’. David Taylor, the well known local professional who lived in nearby Dunham Massey gave 7 players a 200 point start in a match played on total aggregate. If your team beat him then you paid no fee. Will Robinson, John Thomson and Dave Rainford lost the first 3 frames to see the ‘match’ score including the 200 start as 324-268 to the Silver Fox but wins from David Boswell and Mark Beckley closed the gap to a 33 point lead for Heath going into the last 2 frames. When Paul Westbury lost 78-17, a tense final frame with Jeff Gorton ensued with Taylor turning on the style with a 54 break to take the spoils.

A great night is also noted when Nigel Prescott and Neil Dixon play a 24 hour sponsored snooker event at Private club that raised a much needed and well received 400 pounds for the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. What a great effort.

Division 1 Winners: Shaw Heath A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Alderley Union A
Division 2 Winners: Wilmslow Cons C
Division 2 Runners-Up: Shaw Heath B
Team KO Cup Winners: Shaw Heath A
Team KO Cup runners-up: Mere D
Jay Trophy: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Paul Westbury (Shaw Heath)
Rotary Cup: Trevor Stone (Alderley Union)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: David Coates
H.Astles Pairs: Paul Makinson & Mark Holden (Morley)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Peter Barber & Jim Hall (Mobberley)
Frank Ward Memorial Shield: Shaw Heath A beat Wilmslow Cons C

1992-3

This season, with 2 divisions of 16 teams, is certainly up there for when our league was at it’s peak in terms of competitiveness, despite the fact that Shaw Heath A are at the peak of their powers, recruiting top players on a yearly basis to maintain their standard and again win the main division 1 crown for the 6th season in succession by another massive margin with 4 games to play.

The season was opened as it meant to go on, with Shaw Heath’s David Boswell knocking in a 61 break in a frame total of 123 as teams played catch-up with Heath’s formidable team.

Alderley Union are runners-up in division 1 for the second year running – albeit 23 points behind the winners but 7 clear of Mobberley A in 3rd place - with their star man beating Knutsford Cons Gary Hammond in the Rotary Cup final. Shaw Heath collected more silverware when they have an in-house Jay Trophy final where Mark Beckley edged out team mate Jeff Gorton. In the Pairs, Jim Quinton and Stuart James of Wilmslow Cons beat Paul Hammond and Ian Paton of Shaw Heath for the title.

Liberal B and Wilmslow Cons A are relegated and will be replaced next season by division 2 champions Private A (who must be using yo-yo cues or have fiddlers-elbows!) and runners-up Knutsford Cons D who were 15 points back. Private A also beat Shaw Heath A in the Frank Ward shield to show promise for next season.

Mobberley A player Paul Mihailovits enters the record books (second highest individual score and winning margin) with a 131-8 win over a hapless Wilmslow Conservative club B team player and there are 40 plus breaks almost weekly with a 52 by Matt Walton; 62 by Stuart James; 63 by Bruce Tulley and 70 by Nick Longworth being the pick of the bunch.

Division 1 Winners: Shaw Heath A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Alderley Union A
Division 2 Winners: Private A
Division 2 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons D
Team KO Cup Winners: Mere C
Team KO Cup runners-up: Not known
Jay Trophy: Mark Beckley (Shaw Heath)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Jeff Gorton (Shaw Heath)
Rotary Cup: Tony Bell (Wilmslow Union)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Gary Hammond (Knutsford Cons)
H.Astles Pairs: Jim Quinton & Stuart James (Wilmslow Cons)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Paul Hammond & Ian Paton (Shaw Heath)
Frank Ward Memorial Shield: Private A beat Shaw Heath A

1993-4

The league actually tried this season to function with 4 divisions - Premier, 1st, 2nd and 3rd - but this was unsuccessful and the league returned to a 2 division basis at the end of the season with 3 teams dropping out. The result was the same as Shaw Heath A won by an even greater margin than before, this time from Morley who edged out Union A.

The rather pretentious format meant playing each of the 7 teams in your division 4 times and unsurprisingly, each ‘divisional’ winner won by the proverbial ‘country mile’ of 30, 12, 12 and 30 points respectively. I suppose the league members thought it was worth a try but sadly, the same effort by league officials didn’t extend to taking any photos of the matches, competitions, end of season tables or AGM and so this season has several factual gaps – the Team KO runners-up are not known nor are the full names or home club of the Rotary Cup winner.

Stuart James retained the Pairs competition crown but with a different partner this time around - Trevor Stone who adds another title to his portfolio, llford B win the Team Knockout cup. That man Bruce Tulley returned to the winners paddock to beat reigning title holder Mark Beckley in the Jay Trophy for a rare Mobberley success.

There were more high breaks with Trevor Stone (Union) having a 52 and a 56 before Mark Holden (Morley) raised the bar with a 60, only to be edged out by Shaw Heath’s Mark Beckley with a 61 later in the season to take the award.

Premier Division Winners: Shaw Heath A
Premier Division Runners-Up: Morley
Division 1 Winners: Private A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Liberal A
Division 2 Winners: Wilmslow Cons A
Division 2 Runners-Up: Private B
Division 3 Winners: Shaw Heath C
Division 3 Runners-Up: Mere C
Team KO Cup Winners: llford B
Team KO Cup runners-up: Not known
Jay Trophy: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Mark Beckley (Shaw Heath)
Rotary Cup: A.Raynes;
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Martin Cooke (Private)
H.Astles Pairs: Trevor Stone & Stuart James (Wilmslow Cons)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Wayne Hammond & Damien Dodgson (Knutsford Cons)

1994-5

New 2 division format with a reduced 29 teams but it is still ‘as you were’, as Shaw Heath win division 1 for the 8th season in a row and achieve that most difficult of doubles when they take the Team Knockout cup against opponents not noted by the league records. Steve Thompson’s 65 break and Matt Walton’s 59 run, help them on their way.

Union A are second for the 3rd time in the last four seasons and for good measure, Shaw Heath B add more trophies to their cabinets when the second division title is sealed and their C team claim the runners-up spot to them. They will replace Shaw Heath D – a small cloud in their brilliant club season – and Knutsford Cons A who are relegated from the top division.

David Boswell returns to winning ways with his second Rotary Cup crown when he defeats Wilmslow Cons star and regular last 4 player Stuart James and Tony Crompton becomes a winner at last after losing in 4 finals in securing the Pairs competition with partner Mike Shakeshaft after having lost in the Jay final to Morley's top stick Nick Longworth.

Story of the season, though, must be when 78 year old League President Sid Jones scores a magnificent 91 break in his match for Liberal A against a Union player on the 9th of March. The answer never came back from the snooker powers that be, but the question was posed ‘is this the oldest player to beat his age in a break on record?’ Whatever the answer, it must be one record our league is unlikely to ever see beaten and was rightly lauded in the Manchester Evening News paper.

Division 1 Winners: Shaw Heath A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Alderley Union A
Division 2 Winners: Shaw Heath B
Division 2 Runners-Up: Shaw Heath C
Team KO Cup Winners: Shaw Heath A
Team KO Cup runners-up: Not known
Jay Trophy: Nick Longworth (Morley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup: David Boswell (Shaw Heath)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Stuart James (Wilmslow Cons)
H.Astles Pairs: Tony Crompton & Mike Shakeshaft (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Rick Bradburn & Richard Buxton (Liberal)

1995-6

In our 45th season, the last of Shaw Heath A’s 9 incredible league division 1 wins on the trot saw a rather confusing llford C emerge from the pack to take the runners-up spot some 29 points back. I say confusing because it was basically a team put together at the club in an attempt to win the league (hence the C team tag and not the A – who were in division 2 - or B – who didn’t exist!). Ilford edged Mobberley out by just one point into 3rd.

At the bottom of division 1, Mobberley B was soon adrift of the rest and was joined in relegation by Union B later in the season. They will be replaced by clear division 2 winners Private B and Liberal B who sprung past Private C and D to snatch runners-up spot in the final week.

Indeed, Knutsford Private club had a good year all round by also winning the Team Knockout cup - against champions Shaw Heath A who were seeking a ‘double double’ - with their A team.

Mark Beckley get’s back to winning ways by beating Union club’s Mark Rawlinson in the Rotary Cup and Bruce Tulley takes his 6th Jay Trophy winners pedestal against Dave Boswell in a season where he had a record equaling eight league match frames of 100 points scores or more.

The Morley pairing of Chris McNeil and Steve Redwood (later donator of the Redwood Hire Champions Trophy) win the Bert Astles Pairs competition in a nail-biting final on the black in the deciding frame against Liberal club’s blend of youth and experience (or not much hair and lots of hair!) in the shape of Sid Breakspear and Richard Brookman.

Division 1 Winners: Shaw Heath A
Division 1 Runners-Up: llford C
Division 2 Winners: Private B
Division 2 Runners-Up: Liberal B
Team KO Cup Winners: Private A
Team KO Cup runners-up: Shaw Heath A
Jay Trophy: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: David Boswell (Shaw Heath)
Rotary Cup: Mark Beckley (Shaw Heath)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Mark Rawlinson (Union)
H.Astles Pairs: Steve Redwood & Chris McNeil (Morley)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Sid Breakspear & Richard Brookman (Liberal)

1996-7

This season, Shaw Heath 'failed' to win the division 1 title - assuming you can call being runners-up a failure – as the main honour went to Wilmslow RBL after 6 seasons of trying. Legion did, however, give Heath a taste of how the rest of the teams had felt for almost a decade as they romped to the title by a massive 27 points while Heath were a further 22 clear of 3rd placed Union.

The issue of ‘importing’ players was clearly illustrated when the majority of the Ilford C division 1 runners-up squad of last season departed for pot-hunting pastures anew and left the remaining players in the team struggling to avoid relegation all season.

In division two, Mobberley B and Ilford A (unsurprisingly strengthened while the C team was ‘sacrificed’) went head to head for honours until the latter edged to the title in the final week. Meanwhile, much applause rippled around the league when Liberal D did not end up bottom of division 2 this year. I won't mention how many years running they had been but their perseverance and dedication to the league eventually paid off and lest we forget, we can never have a winner unless there are even more ‘losers’.

The question of the season is: “was it a good or a bad year for Shaw Heath's John Thompson?” in the three available competitions, John won the Pairs with P.Lewis but lost both the Rotary Cup and Jay Trophy individual finals to Mark Rawlinson and Steve Roberts respectively. I think the answer most of us would respond with is ‘Yes’!

Another new title holder was the Alderley / Wilmslow based club Refuge (later to become Royal London) in the Team Knockout cup when they beat Private A and Paul Hart of Knutsford Private club enters the records with an amazing 151 points scored off scratch in his frame which is also added up to the highest ever total of 166 against an unfortunate Mr N.Hagen.

To round the season off, the Annual General Meeting was held in June and, amongst other things, debated the worth of returning the league back to a handicap format. Fortunately, the decision was overwhelmingly to stay with the scratch league setup which whilst recently producing similar winning teams, also had the far bigger positives of improving the general standard of all players play and assisting the ‘lesser players’ to find their own competitive levels and teams.

Division 1 Winners: Wilmslow RBL
Division 1 Runners-Up: Shaw Heath A
Division 2 Winners: llford A
Division 2 Runners-Up: Mobberley B
Team KO Cup Winners: Refuge
Team KO Cup runners-up: Private A
Jay Trophy: Steve Roberts (Ilford)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: John Thompson (Shaw Heath)
Rotary Cup: Mark Rawlinson (Union)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: John Thompson (Shaw Heath)
H.Astles Pairs: John Thompson & P.Lewis (Shaw Heath)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Mark Holden & Gary Nolan (Morley)

1997-8

With 16 teams in division one and 15 more in division two, the league approached it’s highest number yet. Wilmslow Royal British Legion retained the division 1 championship being hard pressed by up and coming Knutsford Conservative club B in second place after a long battle with recent addition, Refuge club.

Things were even tighter in division 2 with Private C and D just missing out on the top 2 spots which are taken by champions Tatton A and, yet again, coming up on the rails in the finals weeks were Liberal B. The demise of Ilford is near complete when the C team collapse and one team remains in the top division before being relegated and then leaving the league.

The league also spreads its wings and has Timperley join us to give the first division a very unfamiliar look with the only ‘regular’ teams being Knutsford Cons A and B; Wilmslow Cons A and C; Mobberley A and Private A. Timperley put their marker down when Derek Stubbs – later of Knutsford Private, Morley and Knutsford Cons – partners Steve Cookson to the first of two Pairs titles against Liberal players David Prosser and Martin Sharpe.

In the individual competitions, John Thompson went one better than last year to win the Rotary Cup against Private’s Scott Mills whilst the tightest of Jay Trophy finals in years saw ex Ilford team mates John Bell (now at Union) beat Les Golden (Liberal) 3-2 after being 2-0 down. It is not known who Wilmslow Cons C beat in the Team KO cup final.

Division 1 Winners: Wilmslow Royal British Legion
Division 1 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons B
Division 2 Winners: Tatton A
Division 2 Runners-Up: Liberal B
Team KO Cup Winners: Wilmslow Cons C
Team KO Cup runners-up: Knutsford Cons C
Jay Trophy: John Bell (Wilmslow Union Club)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Les Golden (Liberal)
Rotary Cup: John Thompson (Shaw Heath)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Scott Mills (Private)
H.Astles Pairs: Derek Stubbs & Steve Cookson (Timperley)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: David Prosser & Martin Sharpe (Liberal)

1998-9

With 14 teams in division one and 13 in division two, Knutsford Conservative club B moved up a spot from last season to win their first top division crown for 18 seasons - with Shaw Heath A returning to the honours fold 15 points back in the runners-up spot. Heath added the Team Knockout cup title to their cabinet when they beat unrecorded opponents.

Wilmslow British Legion drop out of the league and Liberal B and Union B are relegated. They will be replaced next season in the top flight by Liberal C team and Knutsford Cons C, the winners and runners-up in division 2 by 14 and 6 points respectively.

Alderley Union's Graham Walls joined that select band of players doing the Rotary Cup and Jay Trophy individual competition double beating Bruce Tulley in both finals while Derek Stubbs and Steve Cookson become the first pairing to retain and win twice; the Bert Astles Memorial Pairs competition when they beat the Buxton father and son pairing.

Highlight of the season to many was when John Thompson of Shaw Heath had a 90 break in the league while anomaly of the season must be the team names where (just for one example) we had Wilmslow Cons entering C and D teams but no A or B team!

Division 1 Winners: Knutsford Cons B
Division 1 Runners-Up: Shaw Heath A
Division 2 Winners: Liberal C
Division 2 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons C
Team KO Cup Winners: Shaw Heath A
Team KO Cup runners-up: Not known
Jay Trophy: Graham Walls (Alderley Union)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup: Graham Walls (Alderley Union)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs: Derek Stubbs & Steve Cookson (Timperley)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Richard Buxton & Rod Buxton

1999-2000

The league players had a cost free season this year to mark the Millennium as a full compliment of 14 teams in each division set to do battle. The idea of a subs free season was put forward by Ray Dale at the AGM of 1998 which allowed the annual balance of league funds to accumulate to a level where it covered the shortfall in league finances.

In the closest race for years, Knutsford Conservative club B retained the division 1 title with the forgotten team of the league (in terms of recent league honours) Mobberley A coming second just 5 points back after a season long tussle from the half-way point of the year. The second division endorsed Mobberley’s improvement when the C team won the title by just one point from their B team in the runners-up position. They will replace Shaw Heath B and Private C in the top flight next season.

Bruce Tulley swaps the runners-up trophy for the winning one in the Jay Trophy when he beats Dave Boswell of Shaw Heath for the 3rd time and the oldest ever finalist in an individual competition (Ron Tagg) just lost out in the Rotary Cup final to Private’s Chris Parr. Morley's Nick Longworth wins his second non-team title with Rob Antrobus in the Pairs final over another Liberal pairing of Andy Long and Tony Bell and to round of the results, Private A are convincing winners of the Team KO cup when they conquer Wilmslow Cons C.

Division 1 Winners: Knutsford Cons B
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley A
Division 2 Winners: Mobberley C
Division 2 Runners-Up: Mobberley B
Team KO Cup Winners: Private A
Team KO Cup runners-up: Wilmslow Cons C
Jay Trophy: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: David Boswell (Shaw Heath)
Rotary Cup: Chris Parr (Private)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Ron Tagg (Private)
H.Astles Pairs: Nick Longworth & Rob Antrobus (Morley)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Andy Long & Tony Bell (Liberal)

INTO THE MILLENNIUM

2000-1

In our 50th season, just about the only good time for a Conservative was in our league as Wilmslow Cons C won the main crown and Knutsford Cons B team are runners-up in the first division after leaders Mobberley A faded badly in the last 3 weeks. Democracy ruled when, with an uneven number of league teams (27) the bye week moved into division 1.

Mobberley C and Refuge are relegated and will be replaced by Tatton A, who had a great year in winning the second division title from Shaw Heath B and the Team Knockout cup against unrecorded opposition.

Nick Longworth from Morley won two more titles by becoming another to join that elite 'double group' by winning both the Rotary – against Liberal club’s Andy Long - and the Jay against Jim Kerr while Bruce Tulley wasn't content without adding yet more entries to his extensive list of honours when he seals the Pairs title with Dave Southwell against Private’s Dave Taylor and Chris Smith.

Division 1 Winners: Wilmslow Cons C
Division 1 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons B
Division 2 Winners: Tatton A
Division 2 Runners-Up: Shaw Heath B
Team KO Cup Winners: Tatton A
Team KO Cup runners-up: Not known
Jay Trophy: Nick Longworth (Morley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Jim Kerr
Rotary Cup: Nick Longworth (Morley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Andy Long (Liberal)
H.Astles Pairs: Bruce Tulley & Dave Southwell (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: David Taylor & Chris Smith (Private)

2001-2

The best word to describe the league this season is 'new'. Tony Crompton becomes the new League Secretary and makes his mark with a 3 division format and two new competitions – The Redwood Hire Champions' and ‘Presidents’ trophies - to welcome the players.

In brief, the Redwood format sees each team playing between its own players to decide a team champion; the team champions in each division play each other to determine the divisional champions and they play off to decide the overall Redwood Hire champion. The Presidents Trophy used to be played for under the guise of a charity match between the division on and two winners and Tony rebranded the game as a match between the Division 1 and Team KO Cup winners where the subs from the players are donated to charities of the team’s choice spilt 60/40% in favour of the winners. For good measure, Tony later in the season became the first player to play in a final of every league competition - Jay, Rotary, Pairs, Redwood Hire and Team Knockout.

This season’s first division winners were Morley, from Wilmslow Cons C, with their first title since joining the league some 14 or so years ago but not such a new headline was yet another double title triumph, this time from Bruce Tulley in the Jay and Rotary individual competitions. Bruce becomes the first player to win the Rotary cup 3 times to add to his wins from 1984-6 when he beats Stuart Valentine of Shaw Heath 2-0 where he only allowed Stuart a paltry 26 points in the 2 frames it took to take the crown. In the Jay final he swept past Private’s Mike Roylance by the same scoreline in the Jay final with a 43 break in the last frame.

Union and Tatton A are relegated to division 2 with Liberal C and Royal London with a late run who are promoted in their place while Knutsford Cons A and Wilmslow Cons B down from the second to the third division. This was only the second time the league had consisted of 3 or more divisions (remember the 1993-94 four division experiment) and was won by Knutsford Private club D with Knutsford Liberal club A runners-up.

The oldest team (age’s added together total over 400 years) in Mobberley B won the Team Knockout cup against Morley after disposing of their own A team in the semis. The first 'Redwood Hire Champion' was a young player from the Liberal club in the 3rd division - Craig Wreglesworth who beat division 1 champ Tony Crompton and division 2 winner Dave Taylor in the round-robin final. Dave continued his successful season for Private when he partnered Chris Smith to go one better than last season and win the Bert Astles Pairs on the blue in frame 3 against Morley’s Steve Redwood and Graham Waumsley.

Divisional break prizes went to Bruce in division 1 with a 50; Dave Rainford in division 2 with a 44 and Jack Tulley making it a family celebration with a 27 in division 3. Best performances were given to Paul Makinson, Dave Rainford and Bob Jones in each division while Bruce added the Derek Parmenter bowl for good measure with a 67 break in the Jay Trophy for the best competition break of the season.

On the 26th of April, the season closed with 50 players attending the Annual General Meeting at Brook Street (Liberal) club where they adopted a re-written, re-worded and tidied up full set of league rules that provided a clear framework for the members to enjoy our game within in future seasons.

Division 1 Winners: Morley
Division 1 Runners-Up: Wilmslow Cons C
Division 2 Winners: Liberal C
Division 2 Runners-Up: Royal London
Division 3 Winners: Private D
Division 3 Runners-Up: Liberal A
Team KO Cup Winners: Mobberley B
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Morley
Jay Trophy: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Mike Roylance (Private)
Rotary Cup: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Stuart Valentine (Shaw Heath)
H.Astles Pairs: David Taylor & Chris Smith (Private)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Steve Redwood & Graham Waumsley (Morley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: Craig Wreglesworth (Liberal A- 3rd Division)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Division 1: Tony Crompton (Mobberley A)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Division 2: David Taylor (Private C)
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 v KO Cup winners): Morley beat Mobberley B

2002-3

Mobberley A win division 1 for the first time in 16 seasons by 13 points from Knutsford Cons B 2nd as these 2 announce their returns to the trophy table after a season long tussle with former champs Morley. Cons only sealed their place in the records after a resounding win over Morley with two weeks of the season remaining.

League Secretary, Tony Crompton, introduces another new competition (sponsored by the providers of the league trophies – Surridge Sports) in the shape of the 3 Player competition. The inaugural winners are Steve Bond, Andy Vickers and Tony Prole of Private A who beat Bob Spilsbury, Gary Nolan and Mark Holden of Mobberley B in the final.

Mobberley have a great season when they also provide the last 4 in the Jay Trophy, the finalist of the Pairs, runner-up in the Rotary (to Craig Wreglesworth of Liberal club), 3 Player (losing to Private A threesome), the Redwood Hire and Presidents Trophy with Bruce Tulley notably adding more to his illustrious tally. The Jay is particularly noteworthy as the standard was so high with breaks of 48 and 54 plus several 30+ in the last 3 matches.

Tatton also had a good year with the Division 2 runners-up spot to champions Private B and wins in the Team KO Cup against Wilmslow Cons B and the Redwood Hire crown by star player Steve Franklin. Private club’s Steve Bond had a solid personal season and an unlikely record enters league annals when Alan Conkleton (Tatton A) played John Evison (Mere C) in the league. Their frame total of just 49 points (31-18 to Alan) is just 7 more than the minimum 42 points available on the table in total.

Royal London are relegated from division one and Liberal B join Mere C in division 3 after dropping out of division 2 to be replaced by Mere A who won division 3 by 11 from also promoted Knutsford Cons A. Other articles of note saw Paul Hart have a 47 break in the league and Tony Crompton win a frame 113-1.

At the AGM, Ray Dale retires as Treasurer and a number of ‘tidy up’ proposals are accepted by the members together with some flexibility for teams and players in rearranging matches. The new Secretary was resoundingly supported in his ‘professionalising’ of the leagues administration and trophies in particular.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons B
Division 2 Winners: Private B
Division 2 Runners-Up: Tatton A
Division 3 Winners: Mere A
Division 3 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons A
Team KO Cup Winners: Tatton B
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Wilmslow Cons B
Jay Trophy: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Mike Gittins (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup: Craig Wreglesworth (Liberal)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Mike Roylance (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs Winners: Bruce Tulley & Dave Southwell (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Mike Roylance & Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: Steve Franklin (Tatton B - Division 3)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Mike Roylance (Mobberley A - Division 1)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Steve Bond (Private B - Division 2)
3 Player Competition Winners: Private A (Steve Bond, Andy Vickers and Tony Prole);
3 Player Competition Runners-Up: Mobberley B (Bob Spilsbury, Gary Nolan and Mark Holden);
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 v KO Cup winners): Tatton B beat Mobberley A

2003-4

Knutsford Cons B take the division 1 title from rivals Mobberley A and add the Presidents Trophy plus a league record of an incredible 544 team aggregate at an average of 91 per player in a league match against Tatton A for good measure. At the other end of the scale, Mere B could only muster 126 points from their 6 players in the Team KO cup against Wilmslow Cons A to create history for a non-league game.

Mobberley had to console themselves with the Rotary Cup, Redwood Hire, Presidents, division 1 and division 2 runners-up places and titles in the Team KO Cup, Pairs (won on a re-spotted black in frame 3 against Royal London pairing Mark Newall and Steve Flinders) and 3 Player competitions – not a bad season!

Mark Newall of Royal London, though, is fast amassing titles and records as he wins the Rotary and is beaten in the Pairs and 3 Player finals. Steve Bond of Knutsford Private continues his good run when he adds the Jay Trophy to his honours list in beating John Thompson of Morley with a 61 break in frame two of the final and Tony Crompton wins the Pairs crown with partner Mike Roylance.

In the divisional stakes, Shaw Heath and Tatton A drop into division 2 in place of promoted Royal London A and Mobberley C while division 3 top two Mere C and Tatton B will replace relegated Liberal A and Private C.

There were also notes in the Guardian for Paul Makinson for a run of 50, Rick Brookman who had a 57 break and Mobberley A who scored a record-breaking 467 points in their Team Knock-Out match versus their own D team - who only scored an all-time low 137 points in return. At the AGM, several issues were addressed and agreed, including drawn frame / matches and how the league deemed they should be resolved.

Division 1 Winners: Knutsford Cons B
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley A
Division 2 Winners: Royal London A
Division 2 Runners-Up: Mobberley C
Division 3 Winners: Mere C
Division 3 Runners-Up: Tatton B
Team KO Cup Winners: Mobberley A
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Liberal C
Jay Trophy Winner: Steve Bond (Private)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: John Thompson (Morley)
Rotary Cup Winner: Mark Newall (Royal London)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs Winners: Mike Roylance & Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Steve Flinders & Mark Newall (Royal London)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner John Thompson (Morley - Division 1):
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Chris McNeil (Mobberley C - Division 2)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Richard Bayley (Wilmslow Cons B - Division 3)
3 Player Competition Winners: Mobberley B (Tony Crompton, Mike Roylance and Bruce Tulley);
3 Player Competition Runners-Up: Royal London A (Steve Flinders, Paul Adkin and Mark Newall);
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 v KO Cup winners): Knutsford Cons B beat Mobberley A

2004-5

Mobberley A return to the winners circle in division 1 and the in-form club also add the Jay Trophy courtesy of Mike Roylance; the Rotary Cup when Bruce Tulley wins league title number 16 on the final brown in a 2-1 win; and adds title 17 soon after in the Bert Astles Pairs when he partners Bob Spilsbury to another 2-1 win against Liberal club opposition.

Wilmslow Cons B are runners-up in division 3 and also win the Team KO Cup against Brook Street C for good measure while John Thompson becomes the first player to retain the Redwood Hire Champions Trophy when he eases past Bob Jones of Mere and Tim Copner of Royal London in the final.

“Unlucky Player of the Year” award goes to Shaw Heath’s Dave Rainford who is beaten in both the major trophy finals but leads Shaw Heath to the Division 2 title. Meanwhile, there are breaks galore in the league with Paul Hart of Knutsford Private knocking in a 71 for division ones best; Steve Roberts having a 55 in division two and Mike Davies of Knutsford Cons A having a brilliant run of 45 in division three. Bruce Tulley added to his haul with the Derek Parmenter Bowl (best competition break) when he rolls in a 69 break in the Jay Trophy.

Knutsford Cons C with 274 and Tatton with 459 points create league history with the fifth highest match aggregate ever of 733. This is an unbelievable 122 points in each of the 6 frames played and Brook Street’s Steve Roberts sets an individual record when he records consecutive match frame scores of 105, 115 and 106 points.

Meanwhile, the league entered a representative team into the Manchester Inter-League competition. The round-robin group stages produce a top 2 who go through to knock-out quarter-finals but the standard of play far exceeded expectations with leagues as far and wide as Manchester, Wilmslow and Preston having an average of at least one semi-pro in each five man team. It was good experience and the team took points off every opponent even though they finished at the foot of their group.

The AGM demonstrated why we are a league like we are when, amongst several matters as usual, a proposal was accepted to structure the continued charitable donations made by the players. In future, the Team Knock-out matches will be charged at the league fee rate of one pound with the total monies collected during the competition being split between the finalists in the Presidents Trophy, 60/40 in favour of the winning team. We have always been a charitable league from our earliest days – see the 1952-3 section.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Knutsford Bowling B
Division 2 Winners: Shaw Heath
Division 2 Runners-Up: Brook Street C
Division 3 Winners: Royal London B
Division 3 Runners-Up: Wilmslow Cons B
Team KO Cup Winners: Wilmslow Cons B
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Brook Street A
Jay Trophy Winner: Mike Roylance (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: David Rainford (Shaw Heath)
Rotary Cup Winner: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: David Rainford (Shaw Heath)
H.Astles Pairs Winners: Bruce Tulley & Bob Spilsbury (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Dave Lee & Ian Willson (Brook Street)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: John Thompson (Morley - Division 1)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Bob Jones (Mere A - Division 2)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Tim Copner (Royal London B - Division 3)
3 Player Competition Winners: Royal London A (Steve Flinders, Paul Adkin and Mark Newall);
3 Player Competition Runners-Up: Private A (Phil Crook, Andy Vickers, Rick Edwards);
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 v KO Cup winners): Wilmslow Cons B beat Mobberley A

2005-6

To mark our 55th season, a timely first (and only to date) century break in the league was recorded by Colin Hamer (Brook Street) on the 15th of December against Knutsford Bowling’s Trevor Horsfield. His 108 eclipsed the previous highest of 91 by David Wright back in the 1976-7 season. John Thompson (Shaw Heath) wasn’t far behind with a 90 to take the competition best break award to add to his runners-up spot in the Jay Trophy. Indeed, the Jay was a memorable year for Shaw Heath as a whole with big breaks all the way through from John (90 and 67); Dave Rainford (55) and David Boswell (48 and 36).

Royal London A score 369 but still lose their league match against division 1 champions Knutsford Cons B but their star player Mark Newall wins the Jay Trophy for the first time as consolation, with breaks of 49 and 38 in a one-sided match against multi-competition finalist John Thompson.

Mobberley club had another great season with their C team beating Wilmslow Cons A for the Team KO cup plus grabbing a promotion place to division 1; Mike Gittins losing 2-1 in the final of the Rotary Cup to Shaw Heath’s Mike Christison; Mike Roylance and Tony Crompton missing out to Privates star players Ian Carr and Steve Bond in the Pairs; Mike going one better in winning the Redwood Hire against own club opposition Ian Paton (division 3) and Brook Street’s Steve Prosser (division 2 champ); and finally the 3 Player competition when Gary Nolan, Mark Holden and Mike Gittins beat Royal London B (Tim Copner, Pete Maltby and Rob Bowers) in the final.

The future of the league looks to be in good hands when Mobberley youngsters play their Brook Street and Shaw Heath counterparts in a friendly challenge match and Adam McNeil of Mobberley becomes the second youngest league player ever at just 13 years 200 days of age – remember Pip Dunkerley playing in 1981-2?

Another good turnout at the AGM (49 members) heard reports by the officers of a successful season and the league again entered a representative team into the Manchester Inter-League competition. Once again, the round-robin group stages proved just a small step too far as the team were out at hurdle one for the second season running but, this time, only on countback. Next year could be the year!

Division 1 Winners: Knutsford Cons B
Division 1 Runners-Up: Brook Street C
Division 2 Winners: Wilmslow Cons A
Division 2 Runners-Up: Mobberley C
Division 3 Winners: Tatton B
Division 3 Runners-Up: Shaw Heath B
Team KO Cup Winners: Mobberley C
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Wilmslow Cons A
Jay Trophy Winner: Mark Newall (Royal London)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: John Thompson (Shaw Heath)
Rotary Cup Winner: Mike Christison (Shaw Heath)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Mike Gittins (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs Winners: Ian Carr & Steve Bond (Knutsford Bowling)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Mike Roylance & Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: Mike Roylance (Mobberley A - Division 1)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Steve Prosser (Brook Street A - Division 2)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Ian Paton (Mobberley D - Division 3)
3 Player Competition Winners: Mobberley B (Gary Nolan, Mark Holden, Mike Gittins)
3 Player Competition Runners-Up: Royal London B (Rob Bowers, Pete Maltby, Tim Copner)
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 v KO Cup winners): Knutsford Cons B beat Mobberley C

2006-7

To celebrate our 56th season an over 55’s only competition was introduced by League Secretary Tony Crompton and the trophy donated by, and named after, the retiring League Chair Dave Taylor of Knutsford Bowling club. The idea was introduced to address the fact that most of the ‘older’ players were unlikely to beat the ‘young guns’ in the other main trophies and therefore provide an interesting but competitive one-day comp for them. The innaugural winner was Jeff Gorton from Knutsford Bowling who beat Rick Peers of Brook Street in the final.

In other celebratory events, John Thompson beats Mike Roylance in a competition for players who had won a league comp previously; in the ‘Elsa Challenge Trophy’, Mobberley juniors beat Brook Street & Shaw Heath juniors 7-3 (over 2 legs); in the Junior (13-17 years of age) Challenge: Steve Jenyons of Shaw Heath beat Adam McNeil (Mobberley) 2-0 in final and finally, in the Family Pairs: Keith & Philip Roden (Tatton) beat Ray & Sheila Dale (Mobberley) in the final.

In normal league business, division 1 is won by 6 points by Knutsford Bowling B from Mobberley; Knutsford Bowling A win by 30 from Wilmslow Cons B; Tatton A rise from division 3 with Brook Street B after winning the title by 11 points; and the Team KO cup final ends in the closest manner possible when there is a re-spotted black after the match aggregate ends level and Royal London’s Steve Flinders pots it for the title.

Indeed, Knutsford Bowling had by far their most successful season in the league with wins in Division 1, 2, Taylor Trophy, the Jay and Rotary (Colin Hamer doing the double), both finalists in the Pairs and a runners-up spot in the 3 Player competition. Mobberley weighed in with a win in the Redwood Hire Champions Trophy for Bruce Tulley which gave him a full list of wins in all the non-divisional competitions, plus runners-up places in division 1, the Jay and Rotary while Royal London had wins in the Team KO Cup and the 3 Player competitions.

Mobberley A (363) and Royal London A (398) create history with their league match total of 763 points (an average of 127 points per frame) being the highest ever while at the other end of the record book, Brook Street’s Rick Peers creates an unusual entry by winning his frame 27-25. The lowest possible winning frame score is just 22 points as there is a minimum of only 42 points available on a table while another ‘low record’ comes when Knutsford Bowling C scored just 237 points between them and still beat Mobberley C in the match.

There is grief in the league after a decision by the league committee regarding Knutsford Cons B failing to fulfill a fixture, disputed and by their captain who instigates legal action against the league and threatens to take the matter to court. The challenge was robustly defended by the league committee and several rules were later introduced at the AGM after the league takes its own legal advice. The new rules gave all members more say in who could join their league and many more safeguards against such a situation arising again in the future.

Division 1 Winners: Knutsford Bowling B
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley A
Division 2 Winners: Knutsford Bowling A
Division 2 Runners-Up: Wilmslow Cons B
Division 3 Winners: Tatton A
Division 3 Runners-Up: Brook Street B
Team KO Cup Winners: Royal London A
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Knutsford Bowling A
Jay Trophy Winner: Colin Hamer (Knutsford Bowling)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Winner: Colin Hamer (Knutsford Bowling)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs Winners: Andy Vickers & Phil Crook (Knutsford Bowling)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Paul Hart & Adrian Crook (Knutsford Bowling)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley A - Division 1)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Dave Mullins (Brook Street A - Division 2)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Jamie Way (Brook Street B - Division 3)
3 Player Competition Winners: Royal London A (Lawrence Barnett, Steve Flinders, Paul Adkin)
3 Player Competition Runners-Up: Knutsford Bowling A (Andy Vickers, Phil Crook, Paul Hart)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Winner: Jeff Gorton (Knutsford Bowling)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Runner-Up: Rick Peers (Brook Street)
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 v KO Cup winners): Knuts Bowling B beat Royal London A
Derek Parmenter Bowl: Colin Hamer – 67 break

Anniversary Events:

The ‘Elsa Challenge Trophy’: Mobberley beat Brook Street & Shaw Heath juniors 7-3 (over 2 legs)
Junior (13-17years) Challenge: Steve Jenyons (Shaw Heath) beat Adam McNeil (Mobberley) 2-0 in final
Family Pairs: Keith & Philip Roden (Tatton) beat Ray & Sheila Dale (Mobberley) in the final
Winners All: Steve Thompson (Morley) beat Mike Roylance (Mobberley) 2-1 in the final
Taylor Trophy: Jeff Gorton (Knutsford Bowling) beat Rick Peers (Brook Street) 2-0 in the final

2007-8

Mobberley A romp to the division 1 title by 28 points and 4 weeks to spare from Royal London A and ‘double up’ when their B team does likewise in division 2. Jonathon Smith of Wilmslow Cons has a 79 break in the Jay while Steve Bond (Royal London) has a 50 in the Pairs and Phil Wood (Knutsford Cons) has a 70 in the league. Royal London also fared well with runners-up in division 1 and 2nd place in the Pairs and 3 Player comps. Another record is made when three ton plus scores are recorded in the same league match – Neil Marshall (120) and Colin Hamer (111) for Mobberley A and Dave Slater with 108 for Wilmslow Cons A.

Colin Hamer sets another league record with the “double double” in retaining both the Jay Trophy and Rotary Cup after his move from Knutsford Bowling to Mobberley- against Paul Hart and Neil Marshall respectively. The Jay final was kindly refereed by Timperley resident Steve Starkie who went on to referee numerous high-profile and televised matches including the 2010-1 World Amateur semi-finals. Indeed, Mobberley won 7 of the 10 available titles in an all-conquering season and added the highest ever cup total of 472 points at an average of 78 per player to boot.

Mobberley’s records also extend this season to scoring the most 400 plus team aggregate scores in a 28 game season with 10 matches and the highest team aggregate points scored over a season of 10,937 at an average of 390 points per match – very impressive scoring at any level of snooker. They are also involved in the first ever league match to involve 3 players scoring over 100 in their frames – Neil Marshal (120) and Colin Hamer (111) for Mobberley and 108 by Dave Slater of Wilmslow Cons A.

To round league matters off, Morley condemn Knutsford Bowling A to division 2 snooker next season after a head-to-head in the last week while things are even tighter in the division 2 / 3 relegation zone where Mobberley C stay up in place of Mere A only by virtue of having more wins on their card through the season. In the last Division 3 for a while, Mere C (‘the cricketers’) beat Tatton B into 2nd spot and Jim Sinclair of Wilmslow Cons beats Jeff Gorton in the Taylor Trophy final to stop him retaining the title.

The league again entered their representative team into the Manchester Inter-League competition and at last, burst out of the round-robin group stages with a 6-1 win over the Bolton league and with a match to spare and actually topped the group. The squad of Tony Crompton (Captain), Mark Newall, Mike Roylance, Steve Flinders, Bruce Tulley, Kenny Knight, Jonathon Smith and Steve Bond went all the way to the semi-finals before being beaten by eventual winners St. Helens. This was an absolutely brilliant achievement for such a small league as ours and one that specifically prohibits professionals from joining it.

At the AGM, several new Life Members of the league were nominated and elected for their various contributions to the league, it’s development, survival and support: Arthur Hasford, Dave Potter, Francis Evans, Mervyn Pike, Tony Crompton, Steve Redwood and Peter Watson.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Royal London A
Division 2 Winners: Mobberley B
Division 2 Runners-Up: Brook Street A
Division 3 Winners: Mere C
Division 3 Runners-Up: Tatton B
Team KO Cup Winners: Morley A
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Mere A
Jay Trophy Winner: Colin Hamer (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Paul Hart (Knutsford Bowling)
Rotary Cup Winner: Colin Hamer (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Neil Marshall (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs Winners: Andy Stott & Jonathon Smith (Wilmslow Cons)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Steve Bond & Graham Robertson (Royal London)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: Paul Hodson (Mobberley B - Division 2)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Tony Crompton (Mobberley A - Division 1)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Geoff Jackson (Mere B - Division 3)
3 Player Competition Winners: Mobberley A (Tony Crompton, Bruce Tulley, Mike Roylance)
3 Player Competition Runners-Up: Royal London B (Paul Adkin, Steve Flinders, Mark Newall)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Winner: Jim Sinclair (Wilmslow Cons)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Runner-Up: Jeff Gorton (Knutsford Bowling)
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 v KO Cup winners): Mobberley A beat Knutsford Bowling B
Derek Parmenter Bowl: Jonathan Smith - 79 break

2008-9

The season started out under a cloud when it was discovered that last seasons Team KO ‘winners’ Knutsford Bowling B had, in fact, played numerous ineligible players. The players and captain were dealt with and the team stripped of the title and relegated. The re-run competition then led to Morley beating Mere A in the final and the winners entering the league records soon after when they lost in the new season’s competition to achieve the ‘shortest reign of any team’ in league history.

Morley’s Steve Thompson had a brilliant 90 clearance in a league match to take the high break prize as his team surges to their fist division 1 title for many years aided by setting a record when 3 members of the team scored ton-plus frame scores in the same match – Paul Makinson (107), Steve Thompson and Henry Chay (104 each).

Tatton’s Dave Blackburn edged out Mark Newall of Royal London on the final pink of their finals match to take the Redwood Hire title while big breaks galore added to the best by Steve Thompson (above) with runs of 60, 61 and 69 by Colin Hamer, Phil Wood and Neil Marshall. Morley’s John Bell collects more honours for the club when he seals a great season with the best performance award when winning 23 of his 25 games played.

Josh Street (Mobberley D) becomes the youngest ever league prize winner at just 15 years old when he helps his grandfathers team to win the Team KO Cup for the 20th time for the Mobberley club – double any other league member club. The winners also create an unusual record by becoming the oldest team to win a league title with a combined age of 435 years in their final line-up – and that included the aforementioned Josh!

Knutsford Cons B return to the honours board with division 1 runners-up place and the 3 Player title but Royal London star Mark Newall is the player of the season as he sets another league record by reaching all 5 available finals in a brilliant year – even though he only took home one winners trophy, in the Pairs with Steve Flinders. At the other end of the ‘achievement’ spectrum, Mere D managed to score just 132 points between all 6 players in their match against their own A team to enter the league records for a league game.

At the AGM, several new Life Members of the league were nominated and elected for their various contributions to the league, it’s development, survival and support: Barry Lineham, Dave Rainford, Geoff Sharpe and John Thompson. Other matters discussed included the structure of the league ‘between seasons’; the role and responsibilities of team captains; league fee free seasons; payment of league fees and the acceptance of email copies of scorecards as proof.

Division 1 Winners: Morley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Knutsford Cons B
Division 2 Winners: Mere A
Division 2 Runners-Up: Brook Street B
Team KO Cup Winners: Mobberley D
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Tatton A
Jay Trophy Winner: Neil Marshall (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Mark Newall (Royal London)
Rotary Cup Winner: Jonathon Smith (Wilmslow Cons)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Mark Newall (Royal London)
H.Astles Pairs Winners: Steve Flinders & Mark Newall (Royal London)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Mike Roylance & Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: Dave Blackburn (Tatton B - Division 2)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Mark Newall (Royal London A - Division 1)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Nick Thompson (Wilmslow Cons C - Division 2)
3 Player Competition Winners: Knutsford Cons (Keith Aldred, Joe Blessyn, Phil Wood)
3 Player Competition Runners-Up: Royal London B (Paul Adkin, Steve Flinders, Mark Newall)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Winner: Dave Rainford (Shaw Heath)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Runner-Up: Jim Sinclair (Wilmslow Cons)
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 v KO Cup winners): Mobberley D beat Morley A
Derek Parmenter Bowl: Tony Crompton - 60 break

2009-10

Mobberley A had another great season as they win Division 1, Division 2, 3 Player, Rotary Cup, Presidents Charity Trophy, Taylor Trophy and the Jay – in which Neil Marshall retaining the trophy in a repeat of the 2008-9 final. The club also added runners-up places in the 3 Player, Redwood Hire and the Pairs, to boot.

Mark Newall adds the Redwood Hire Champions Trophy and a Jay runners-up spot to his growing honours list and the emergence of young players in the league is evident with Adam McNeil and Robert Spilsbury of Mobberley being the youngest ever finalists in a competition in the Pairs and Sam Jackson from Mere losing in the Redwood Hire finals.

Jonathon Smith (Wilmslow Cons A) knocked in 83 and 57 breaks to win the season prizes in division 1 and the competitions while Knutsford Cons B, who also won the Team KO Cup, create a league record by beating Brook Street A by a massive 378 points (543-165) in their league match.

Paul Hart is the nearly man again when he loses out to Bruce Tulley in the Rotary Cup final with these two also taking the best performance awards with Bruce winning 23 of 27 matches in division 1 and Paul winning 24 of 26 games in division 2.

At the AGM, Life Members of the league were nominated and elected for their various contributions to the league, it’s development, survival and support: Dave Nuttall, Rob Clarke and the first ever non-playing Life Member – Brian Mitchell of Mobberley – for his help within the club as table cleaner etc in connection not only with the many league matches but also the many ‘run of the mill’ and Sunday competitions.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Morley A
Division 2 Winners: Mobberley B
Division 2 Runners-Up: Tatton
Team KO Cup Winners: Knutsford Cons B
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Shaw Heath
Jay Trophy Winner: Neil Marshall (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Mark Newall (Royal London)
Rotary Cup Winner: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Paul Hart (Morley)
H.Astles Pairs Winners: Steve Bond & Pete Maltby (Royal London)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Adam McNeil & Robert Spilsbury (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: Mark Newall (Royal London A - Div 1)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Paul Hodson (Mobberley B - Division 2/1)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy finalist: Sam Jackson (Mere B - Division 2/2)
3 Player Competition Winners: Mobberley A (Tony Crompton, Bruce Tulley, Mike Roylance)
3 Player Competition Runners-Up: Mobberley B (Paul Hodson, Mervyn Pike, Chris McNeil)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Winner: Mervyn Pike (Mobberley)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Runner-Up: Kevin Shackleton (Wilmslow Cons)
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 v KO Cup winners): Mobberley A beat Knutsford Cons B
Derek Parmenter Bowl: Jonathan Smith - 57 break

2010-11

In the 60th season of the league, Mobberley A retain the division 1 crown for only the 4th time in their club history, despite it being their 20th title overall with League Secretary Tony Crompton having his best season to date (after his first on the 20.11.79) by adding the Redwood Hire Champions Trophy and 6 Reds Challenge as well as taking 2nd place in another comp and losing in 3 more semi-finals. Tony becomes the first player to be in the final of every non-divisional competition.

Royal London also had a great season with runners-Up in division 1, 3 Player and the Team KO cup plus best performance and high break (74 break and won 22 of 23 games in the league) awards for Steve Flinders and Mark Newall (73 break in the Jay for the Derek Parmenter bowl) and runner-up in the Rotary Cup. The division 2 awards went to John Higgins, who only lost once all season, and Paul Makinson who had a solid 45 break for his Morley side who did their own double with the division 2 title plus the Team KO cup. Their captain Paul Hart rounded off their memorable season when he won his first league individual crown when sealing the Rotary Cup after many years of trying.

This anniversary season was also marked by a number of special events including memento presentations to all the Life Members; 80 players visiting the World Championships in Sheffield; a Family Pairs event at Tatton won by the youngsters from Mere (Sam and Tom Jackson) against Josh and Mike Sullivan from Wilmslow Cons; a fastest ‘Clear The Colours’ competition where only 2 players completed the task in under 30 seconds with Tony Crompton of Mobberley taking just 28.01 and the winner being Gary Long of Brook Street with a phenomenal 26.5 seconds; and finally - what was then adopted as an annual tournament - a ‘6 Reds Challenge’ won by Tony against Tatton’s Paul Townsend. Indeed this remarkable commemorative season saw victories for 8 of the league’s 9 member clubs with all but Tatton club winning one or more title.

As if by way of illustration as to the smooth running of the league now, the Annual General Meeting had no proposals or business to discuss – the first time in many seasons.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Royal London A
Division 2 Winners: Morley
Division 2 Runners-Up: Wilmslow Cons B
Team KO Cup Winners: Morley
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Royal London A
Jay Trophy Winner: Jonathon Smith (Wilmslow Cons)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Steve Bond (Royal London)
Rotary Cup Winner: Paul Hart (Morley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Mark Newall (Royal London)
H.Astles Pairs Winners: Steve Jenyons & Mike Thorp (Shaw Heath)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Adam McNeil & Robert Spilsbury (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: Tony Crompton (Mobberley A – Division 1)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Runner-Up: Mark Anderson (Wilmslow Cons C – Division 2)
3 Player Competition Winners: Royal London B (Kenny Knight, John Gillespie, Ian Willson)
3 Player Competition Runners-Up: Wilmslow Cons (Kevin Shackleton, Mark Anderson, Nick Thompson)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Winner: Chris Parker (Knutsford Cons)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Runner-Up: Kevin Shackleton (Wilmslow Cons)
6 Reds Challenge Winner: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
6 Reds Challenge Runner-Up: Paul Townsend (Tatton)
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 v KO Cup winners): Mobberley A beat Morley
Derek Parmenter Bowl: Mark Newall 73 break

Anniversary Events:

Family Pairs: Sam & Tom Jackson (Mere) beat Mike & Josh Sullivan (Wilmslow Cons) in the final
Clear The Colours: Gary Long (Brook Street) was fastest in 26.5 secs & Tony Crompton (Mobberley) 2nd in 28 sec
6 Reds Challenge: Tony Crompton (Mobberley) beat Paul Townsend (Tatton) in the final

2011-2

The 61st season is marked when League Secretary Tony Crompton introduced yet more competitions to the league to keep players stimulated. The JME Transport sponsored pairs competition involved handicapped pairings taking alternate shots (not visits) at the table with winners of matches determined by the aggregate score over two frames. The other was in memory of one of our founder members of the league and Life Member, Jack Tulley. Jack was a quiet but assertive supporter of our league throughout the decades he played in it and never moreso than when he encouraged the young players at Mobberley to get involved in the game – his best ‘product’ being his son Bruce, of course. To mark his passing in late 2011, the family asked if the league would consider holding an annual ‘Young Player of the Year’ competition for those aged 23 and under – obviously the members agreed that this would be a fitting way in which to remember Jack.

The first winner and runner-up in the Young Player competition were two Mere players, Simon Lowndes and Sam Jackson. Simon lost his first match in the round-robin matches but then remained unbeaten to secure the title while Sam edged out sibling Tom to take the runners-up spot. The following week, Sam – celebrating his birthday – reversed the positions when he beat Simon 2-0 in the final of the Redwood Hire Champions Trophy and that same week was rounded off in fine style for the Meresiders when Life Member and player of over 40 years in the league, Arthur Hasford, took the Taylor Trophy title after consigning Kevin Shackleton of Wilmslow Cons to the runners-up spot for the third season on the bounce.

“All good things come to those who wait” and when Brook Street win the 3 Player competition, their players all became first-time winners after a combined 75 years of trying and team member (and league Competition & Trophy Secretary) Andy Long is proud to see son Gary add the Rotary Cup to the family honours. Meanwhile, league Secretary Tony Crompton has another good season as he retains the 6 Reds Challenge competition trophy in an all-Mobberley final against Paul Hodson.

An interesting, and important, entry into our history and records came on the 27th of September 2011 when Mere A’s Geoff, Richard and Matthew Owen became the first known grandfather, son and grandson to play on the same team in their match against Mere C. This, to me, defines our league – “a place for families and friends to enjoy a sociable but competitive few hours together”.

In the league, long time league members Knutsford Cons B dropped out on the eve of the season to leave a bye week in their place and Royal London A set the pace in division one with champions Mobberley A chasing them all the way to the finishing line without succeeding. In division two, three teams broke away early doors – Brook Street, Shaw Heath A and Mere A and all will be playing in the top flight next season as the bye week drops down with the two relegated clubs.

Mere B were beaten in the Team KO final by a rampant Royal London A who sealed a rare double while in the remaining competitions Royal continued their best ever season with titles and finalists in the Jay, Rotary and Bert Astles Pairs – the Jay being retained by Wilmslow Cons A star Jonathan Smith.

Division 1 Winners: Royal London A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley A
Division 2 Winners: Brook Street
Division 2 Runners-Up: Shaw Heath A
Team KO Cup Winners: Royal London A
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Mere B
Jay Trophy Winner: Jonathan Smith (Wilmslow Cons)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Mark Newall (Royal London)
Rotary Cup Winner: Gary Long (Brook Street)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Kenny Knight (Royal London)
H.Astles Pairs Winners: Mark Newall & Steve Flinders (Royal London)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Tony Crompton & Steve Bond (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: Sam Jackson (Mere)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Runner-Up: Simon Lowndes (Mere)
JME Transport Alternate Pairs Winners: Paul Townsend & James Phillipson (Tatton)
JME Transport Alternate Pairs Runners-Up: Steve Bond & Mike Gittins (Mobberley)
3 Player Competition Winners: Brook Street (Andy Long, Rick Peers, Bob Jones)
3 Player Competition Runners-Up: Mobberley A (Tony Crompton, Bruce Tulley, Mike Roylance)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Winner: Arthur Hasford (Mere)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Runner-Up: Kevin Shackleton (Wilmslow Cons)
6 Reds Challenge Winner: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
6 Reds Challenge Runner-Up: Paul Hodson (Mobberley)
Young Player of the Year Winner: Simon Lowndes (Mere)
Young Player of the Year Runner-Up: Sam Jackson (Mere)
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 v KO Cup winners): Mere B beat Royal London A
Derek Parmenter Bowl: Bruce Tulley - 79 break
Division 1 best performance: Steve Flinders (Royal London A) P23 W21
Division 2 best performance: Martin Sharpe (Brook Street) P27 W23
Division 1 high break: Jonathan Smith (Wilmslow Cons A) 65
Division 2 high break: Leung Yu (Mobberley D) 46

2012-3

The 62nd season started with bad news of the demise of champions Royal London A, the eve of season withdrawal of Wilmslow Cons C but the addition of Wilmslow Royal British Legion after a 13 season gap. More bad news was to come at the end of November when Knutsford Cons club was forced out of business – fortunately, homes were found for both league teams at Brook Street – and hard work by the league committee managed to get Wilmslow Cons C reformed for the second part of the season and even more arrived the week after with the resignation of the new Competitions and Trophy Secretary Kevin Shackleton.

When the league got under way, Mobberley A set about smashing league records galore with the fastest league win (5 matches before season end) for 20 years; most 7-0 wins in a season (8); most 400 plus match scores (10); second highest points total and match averages (386 per game) plus match records that included the Mere A v Mobberley A match where Steve Bond scoring 104, Mark Newall 107 & (League Secretary) Tony Crompton 108 for Mobberley to become only the 2nd ever team to have 3 ton plus scores in the same match. Mere’s aggregated team total of just 103 was the lowest ever in a league match while Mobberley’s 537 is the 3rd highest and the winning margin of 434 is the largest ever to boot. An interesting fact is that Steve Bond had no cue of his own and so had to use Mark Newall’s which effectively means that the same cue had 2 tons in the same match!
Indeed, Tony Crompton had a rather succesful season all round including winning the Redwood Hire Champions Trophy for the second time in 3 seasons; retaining the 6 Reds Challenge title for the third time in a repeat of the previous season’s final against Paul Hodson; the Bert Astles Pairs and the JME Pairs with Steve Bond; and losing in the final of the Jay Trophy. Tony was also involved in setting another record when in the first round of the Jay Trophy he beat Wilmslow Cons A’s John Higgins on the final black in the third frame to win 105-101. This is the first time two players in the same frame have scored a ton and easily beats the previous best frame total in league history of 166 points by a clear 40.
Wilmslow RBL had a relatively succesful season in gaining promotion to the top division as runners-up in division 2 whilst Jake O’Neill won the Young Player competition and his uncle, Peter, took the Taylor Trophy at both first attempts. The tale of the season though must be about the all-conquoring Mobberley club who won both divisions; the Team KO cup; Redwood Hire; 6 Reds; best performance in both divisions; high break in division 1; Bert Astles Pairs; JME Pairs; and were runners-up in Division 1; the 6 Reds; Redwood Hire; Young Player; Bert Astles Pairs; JME Pairs and Jay Trophy.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley B
Division 2 Winners: Mobberley C
Division 2 Runners-Up: Wilmslow RBL
Team KO Cup Winners: Mobberley C
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Mere B
Jay Trophy Winner: Paul Hart (Morley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Winner: John Higgins (Wilmslow Cons)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Andy Long (Brook Street)
H.Astles Pairs Winners: Tony Crompton & Steve Bond (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Adam McNeil & Robert Spilsbury (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Runner-Up: Bob Spilsbury (Mobberley)
JME Transport Alternate Pairs Winners: Tony Crompton & Steve Bond (Mobberley)
JME Transport Alternate Pairs Runners-Up: Bruce Tulley & Peter Hargreaves (Mobberley)
3 Player Competition Winners: Morley (Paul Hart; Jason Robinson; Derek Stubbs)
3 Player Competition Runners-Up: Mobberley B (Steve Flinders; Paul Adkin; Mark Newall)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Winner: Peter O’Neill (Wilmslow RBL)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Runner-Up: Rob Clarke (Tatton)
6 Reds Challenge Winner: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
6 Reds Challenge Runner-Up: Paul Hodson (Mobberley)
Young Player of the Year Winner: Jake O’Neill (Wilmslow RBL)
Young Player of the Year Runner-Up: Adam McNeil (Mobberley)
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 v KO Cup winners): Mobberley C beat Mobberley A
Derek Parmenter Bowl: Paul Hart (Morley) 54 break in the Jay
Division 1 best performance: Mark Newall (Mobberley)
Division 2 best performance: Peter Hargreaves (Mobberley)
Division 1 high break: Mark Newall (Mobberley) - 64
Division 2 high break: Tony Jackson (Mere) - 43

2013-4

Sad news of the sudden and unexpected death of Life Member Steve Redwood in June, preceded season 63 in our history. Steve was a big time supporter of our league who had sponsored the Champions Trophy from inception and whose name will forever be embellished on the competition trophy in memorial. There was more mourning in February when brief comps Secretary Kevin Shackleton died after a short illness.

When the season did kick off there was a new league Vice-President of the league due to the extended illness of President Sid Jones, in the form of Mere’s Geoff Jackson. Team moves and re-names were aplenty with the former Knutsford Cons C team - that had already changed to Cons B and then moved to Brook Street last season – relocating to become Mobberley’s E team while the remaining 2 Brook Street squads (one being the former Knutsford Cons A team) were renamed A and B. To complicate matters more, at the half-way point of the season, Shaw Heath A withdrew from the league and the League Secretary was kept busy redrawing fixtures and deleting their expunged results but this didn’t halt the ever-improving teams that remained from setting several new league records:

Mobberley A retained their division one title in being unbeaten all season and now haven’t lost since the first match of the 2011-2 season - they added best aggregate scores, match average, season total, whitewashes and more to their CV; The oldest total age in a league match became 160 years when 84 year old Jim Sinclair of Wilmslow Cons C played 76 years old Geoff Owen of Mere A on the 25.9.13; Wilmslow Cons B scored just 132 points in a match in February; Bruce Tulley further cemented his role as the most succesful player ever with competition wins in the 3 Player and with league winners Mobberley A; team mate Tony Crompton also added more titles to his growing list as did fellow players Mark Newall and Mike Roylance; Paul Hart retained the Jay Trophy; Tom Jackson of Mere won his first 2 titles in the Young Player and the Pairs with family member John.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Mobberley B
Division 2 Winners: Shaw Heath B
Division 2 Runners-Up: Mere B
Team KO Cup Winners: Brook Street B
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Shaw Heath B
Jay Trophy Winner: Paul Hart (Morley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Winner: Jonathan Smith (Wilmslow Cons)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Mike Roylance (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs Winners: John & Tom Jackson (Mere)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Richard Bayley & Will Bell (Wilmslow Cons)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: Mark Newall (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Runner-Up: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
JME Transport Alternate Pairs Winners: Mike Roylance & Mark Newall (Mobberley)
JME Transport Alternate Pairs Runners-Up: Steve Bond & Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
3 Player Competition Winners: Mobberley B (Tony Crompton, Bruce Tulley & Steve Bond)
3 Player Competition Runners-Up: Mobberley C (Chris McNeil, Mike Gittins & Mike Roylance)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Winner: Carl Prince (Brook Street)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Runner-Up: Dave Rainford (Shaw Heath)
6 Reds Challenge Winner: Gary Long (Brook Street)
6 Reds Challenge Runner-Up: Andy Kelly (Wilmslow RBL)
Young Player of the Year Winner: Tom Jackson (Mere)
Young Player of the Year Runner-Up: Jake O’Neill (Wilmslow Cons)
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 v KO Cup winners): Brook Street B beat Mobberley A
Derek Parmenter Bowl: Mark Newall (Mobberley) - 56
Division 1 best performance: Mike Roylance (Mobberley)
Division 2 best performance: Scott Marshall (Shaw Heath)
Division 1 high break: Mark Newall (Mobberley) - 63
Division 2 high break: Carl Prince (Brook Street) - 36

2014-5

Wilmslow RBL dropped out of the league after 2 of their main team organisers were barred from the league at the end of the previous season and Wilmslow Cons B team left to play in the Wilmslow league where they hoped to have more chance of success. This led to a shake-up / re-organisation of the remaining 16 teams into two divisions of 8 playing 4 cycles of 7 matches and no bye weeks. Just before the start of the competitions Dave Nuttall resigned as Trophy / Comps Secretary and league Secretary Tony Crompton once more stepped into the breach!

Mobberley A started the season with a 71 game unbeaten run that came to an end after 6 matches against Wilmslow Cons A and Mere A set a new record in week two when they turned out 4 players aged under 17 in their win against Brook Street B, but it was again the Mobberley club who dominated the season. Their A team won division 1 with ease and added the Team KO Cup and Presidents Cup for a historic treble; they also had numerous semi-finalists and runners-up places and won the Bert Astles Pairs; Rotary Cup; 3 Player and Redwood Hire Champions competitions. They also became only the second ever all 1 club semi-final line-up in the Jay Trophy. Bruce Tulley, the most successful player in league history with 34 titles over 31 seasons reminded all that his best days are still to come as he won the Astles with Mike Roylance and then individually, the Redwood Hire and a 10th Jay Trophy.

Mere B dominated division 2 with star man Sam Jackson taking the best performance and high break awards and they monopolized the young talent in the league with Jack Bushell emerging from the crowd to become, at just 15 years of age, the youngest winner of a league trophy when taking the 6 Reds and Young Player titles. Morley also had more than their fair share of silverware too as Presidents Cup winners; Division 1, Team KO and Rotary Cup runners-up spots and the Taylor Trophy title.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Morley
Division 2 Winners: Mere B
Division 2 Runners-Up: Brook Street B
Team KO Cup Winners: Mobberley A
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Morley
Jay Trophy Winner: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Winner: Mark Newall (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Mike Richmond (Morley)
H.Astles Pairs Winners: Bruce Tulley & Mike Roylance (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Mark Jenyons & Mark Evans (Shaw Heath)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Runner-Up: Mike Roylance (Mobberley)
JME Transport Alternate Pairs Winners: Rick Goldsmith & Pete Hodge (Royal London)
JME Transport Alternate Pairs Runners-Up: Tony Crompton & Steve Bond (Mobberley)
3 Player Competition Winners: Mobberley B – Mark Newall, Steve Flinders & Paul Adkin
3 Player Competition Runners-Up:Mobberley A – Bruce Tulley, Steve Bond & Tony Crompton
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Winner: Rod Bird (Morley)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Runner-Up: Rob Clarke (Tatton)
6 Reds Challenge Winner: Jack Bushell (Mere)
6 Reds Challenge Runner-Up: Jake O’Neill (Wilmslow Cons)
Young Player of the Year Winner: Jack Bushell (Mere)
Young Player of the Year Runner-Up: Tom Jackson (Mere)
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 v KO Cup winners / R-Up): Mobberley A lost to Morley
Derek Parmenter Bowl: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley – 45)
Division 1 best performance: Mark Newall (Mobberley)
Division 2 best performance: Sam Jackson (Mere B)
Division 1 high break: Paul Hart (Morley – 61)
Division 2 high break: Sam Jackson (Mere B – 44)

2015-6

65th Anniversary season.

The season started off with the demise of the Royal London club who were replaced in division 2 by a B team at Morley plus the return of Wilmslow RBL whilst Steve Bond assumed the role of Competition and Trophy Secretary. Other than that, things remained largely unchanged …. Mobberley A retained the division 1 crown with the biggest match score (561), most 7-0 wins (13/28), highest points total in a season (167/28) and best average per game (5.9) ever; Bruce Tulley won the 6 Reds and Redwood Hire for his 27th and 28th league comp titles; Jack Bushell retained the Young Player trophy; and Tony Crompton lost in the Jay final for the 4th season in a row.

Sam Jackson of Mere became only the 9th player in league history to do the Jay and Rotary titles in the same season and a more unwelcome record was set when Brook Street’s Chris Parker took 76 minutes to beat Wilmslow Cons Mike Sullivan – that will bring the crowds back!

New teams on the block, RBL and Morley made their impact on the league with RBL just missing out on promotion from division 2 with Morley B completing the division 2 and Team KO double with the Astles Pairs also going to the club. The anniversary competitions were also a roaring success with the Sid Jones Legends for over 65’s – won by Herbert Hope - welcomed by all as so many of the better players can now enter the Taylor (over 55’s) competition.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Morley A
Division 2 Winners: Morley B
Division 2 Runners-Up: Shaw Heath
Team KO Cup Winners: Morley B
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Brook Street A
Jay Trophy Winner: Sam Jackson (Mere)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Winner: Sam Jackson (Mere)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Scott Marshall (Shaw Heath)
H.Astles Pairs Winners: Arthur Faux & Dave Whalley (Morley)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Rod Bird & Mike Richmond (Morley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Runner-Up: Dave Rainford (Mobberley)
JME Transport Alternate Pairs Winners: Paul Adkin & Steve Flinders (Mobberley)
JME Transport Alternate Pairs Runners-Up: Gary Long & Bob Jones (Brook Street)
3 Player Competition Winners: Brook Street A (Bob Jones, Gary Long & Andy Long)
3 Player Competition Runners-Up: Mobberley B (Paul Adkin, Steve Flinders & Mark Newall)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Winner: Carl Prince (Brook Street)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Runner-Up: Andy Long (Brook Street)
Sid Jones Legends (Over 65’s only) Winner: Herbert Hope (Mobberley)
Sid Jones Legends (Over 65’s only) Runner-Up: Jeff Gorton (Mobberley)
6 Reds Challenge Winner: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
6 Reds Challenge Runner-Up: Gary Long (Brook Street)
Young Player of the Year Winner: Jack Bushell (Mere)
Young Player of the Year Runner-Up: Mark Bushell (Mere)
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 v KO Cup winners): Mobberley A beat Morley B
Derek Parmenter Bowl: Steve Flinders (Mobberley) 66 break
Division 1 best performance: Mark Newall (Mobberley A)
Division 2 best performance: Chris Bushell (Mere A)
Division 1 high break: Paul Hart (57)
Division 2 high break: Arthur Faux (40)
Pot As Many Reds As You Can winner: Mark Newall (Mobberley)
Pot As Many Reds As You Can runner-up: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)

2016-7

The 66th season began with the loss of one Morley and one Mobberley team and the return of Alderley Union club to the league to leave us with 2 divisions of 8 teams. Terrible news was received 7 weeks into the season when long time President Sid Jones passed away just 4 weeks short of his 100th birthday – Geoff Jackson moving from VP to President – and then in November, Mobberley D’s Phil Willocks fell during a match at Mere and passed away a week or so later with Richard Owen and Alec Wright (also Mere) being awarded Royal Humane Society certificates at the AGM for their respiratory actions. In a terrible season for losses, in March we also saw the passing of Life Member Geoff Sharpe of the Brook Street club.

In week 7, Ed Wakefield of Mere B set an unlikely to be beaten league record of lowest winning score when he ‘hammered’ Jack Bushell of Mere A 27-18 and with the lowest possible score in a normal frame being a total of 42 points, their 45 comes very close. A better record of sorts was created when Rob Clarke won the 6 Reds comp – only his second ever title and a 30 year gap since he won the 1986-7 Pairs crown and Mike Roylance beats fellow Mobberley A player Mark Newall for his second Jay title and Mark’s 4th Jay runners-up place.

Mobberley A secure the division one crown with 6 weeks to spare and Arthur Faux and Dave Whalley (now from Alderley Union) set a new record by becoming the first to retain the Bert Astles Pairs title against 10 time finalist Tony Crompton in a 5 times final pairing with Mike Roylance. Arthur then went on to lose in the final of the Rotary Cup where Bruce Tulley took his 5th title and 30th ever – in fact it was a good year for ‘Arthurs’ when Mr Hasford won the Sid Jones Legends title in an all-Mere final.

Mobberley C won division 2 with ease and also lost in the final of the Team KO cup which was won by Mobberley A who went on to win an unprecedented treble when they also won the Presidents Charity Cup and the season notes end with Philip Simpson, long serving Mere C captain and Sid Jones Legends runner-up, being made a Life Member of the league for his many years as a player and captain.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Alderley Union
Division 2 Winners: Mobberley C
Division 2 Runners-Up: Wilmslow Cons B
Team KO Cup Winners: Mobberley A
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Mobberley C
Jay Trophy Winner: Mike Roylance (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Mark Newall (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Winner: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Arthur Faux (Alderley Union)
H.Astles Pairs Winners: Dave Whalley & Arthur Faux (Alderley Union)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Tony Crompton & Mike Roylance (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: Mark Newall (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Runner-Up: Paul Adkin (Mobberley)
JME Transport Alternate Pairs Winners: Gary Long & Bob Jones
JME Transport Alternate Pairs Runners-Up: Paul Adkin & Steve Flinders
3 Player Competition Winners: Mobberley B (Mike Gittins, Bruce Tulley & Tony Crompton)
3 Player Competition Runners-Up: Mobberley A (Paul Adkin, Mark Newall & Steve Flinders)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Winner: Dave Lingard (Mobberley)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Runner-Up: Mark Murphy (Brook Street)
Sid Jones Legends (Over 65’s only) Winner: Arthur Hasford (Mere)
Sid Jones Legends (Over 65’s only) Runner-Up: Philip Simpson (Mere)
6 Reds Challenge Winner: Rob Clarke (Tatton)
6 Reds Challenge Runner-Up: Chris Bushell (Mere)
Young Player of the Year Winner: Mark Bushell (Mere)
Young Player of the Year Runner-Up: Peter Jackson (Mere)
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 v KO Cup winners): Mobberley A
Derek Parmenter Bowl: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley A)
Division 1 best performance: Mark Newall (Mobberley)
Division 2 best performance: Dan Jackson (Mere B)
Division 1 high break: Mike Roylance (Mobberley A) 51
Division 2 high break: Dave Rainford (Mobberley C) 49

2017-8

The 67th season started with the loss of Morley team / club and just 15 teams in the league – our lowest number to date. The Young Player competition for under 23 year olds was discontinued due to a lack of youngsters entering the league as the average age of league players continued to rise and players move on to the great green baize in the sky.

Mobberley A extended their unbeaten record to 89 games and averaged 6 points and an unbelievable 412.5 points per game as they retained their division 1, Team KO cup and Presidents cup titles as did Bruce Tulley, Mike Gittins and Tony Crompton in the 3 player competition to become the first to do so. Tony Added the JME alternate pair’s title with Mike Roylance and after 38 years (and 6 runners-up spots) finally won the Jay Trophy and the Rotary Cup for an amazing personal season.

Arthur Hasford became the oldest player to ever win an ‘open’ competition when he snatched the 6 Reds crown and other first time winners were Dave Mullins (number 146) and Jamie Way (147 ever to win a non-team comp) from Shaw Heath in the Astles Pairs. Bruce Tulley won the 3 Player and lost in the finals of the Jay, Astles Pairs and Redwood for another fine season. Mark Newall retained the Redwood Champions and was runner-up in the 3 Player, Astles Pairs and Rotary finals too for an incredible Mobberley season.

Brook Street B were the surprise package in the cup and club mate Bob Jones had his own successful season with runners-up spots in both pairs comps, the 6 Reds and semi-finals in the Rotary Cup to boot. We also had the first ever siblings final when Tony Jackson beat brother Allen for the crown and finally Tatton players dominated division 2 with the title, averages, high break, both semis of the Redwood and the Sid Jones Legends.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Shaw Heath
Division 2 Winners: Tatton
Division 2 Runners-Up: Mere A
Team KO Cup Winners: Mobberley A
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Brook Street B
Jay Trophy Winner: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Winner: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Mark Newall (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs Winners: Dave Mullins & Jamie Way (Shaw Heath)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Mark Newall & Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: Mark Newall (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Runner-Up: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
JME Transport Alternate Pairs Winners: Tony Crompton & Mike Roylance (Mobberley)
JME Transport Alternate Pairs Runners-Up: Bob Jones & Gary Long (Brook Street)
3 Player Competition Winners: Mobberley A (Mike Gittins, Bruce Tulley & Tony Crompton)
3 Player Competition Runners-Up: Mobberley B (Steve Bond, Mark Newall & Mike Roylance)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Winner: Tony Jackson (Mere)
Taylor Trophy (Over 55’s only) Runner-Up: Allen Jackson (Mere)
Sid Jones Legends (Over 65’s only) Winner: Rob Clarke (Tatton)
Sid Jones Legends (Over 65’s only) Runner-Up: Francis Evans (Brook Street)
6 Reds Challenge Winner: Arthur Hasford (Mere)
6 Reds Challenge Runner-Up: Bob Jones (Brook Street)
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 v KO Cup winners): Mobberley A beat Brook Street B
Derek Parmenter Bowl: Bruce Tulley (57) Mobberley
Division 1 best performance: Steve Flinders (Mobberley)
Division 2 best performance: Dave Taylor (Tatton)
Division 1 high break: Mike Roylance (62) Mobberley
Division 2 high break: Dave Taylor (31) Tatton

2018-9

The 68th season saw a new league format of all 14 remaining teams in two divisions off scratch whilst in order to address falling competition entries from a number of events – only the Jay, Rotary, Astles Pairs, Redwood, re-named Jack Tulley 6 Reds and a combined Taylor Jones (over 60’s) remaining while on hold go the JME alternate shot pairs, 3 Player and the Taylor / Jones specific competitions for the foreseeable future. All these competitions being once again run by league Secretary Tony Crompton who stepped into the breach on the resignation, for the 4th time! of Dave Nuttall.

A new age record was set when Francis Evans and Steven Bloor played their league game in September with them both at the ripe old age of 81 and then beaten again when Francis played Peter Turner at Mobberley on the 5th of February as Peter was 84 and so setting the bar at a total of 166 years. Incredible.

Mobberley A finally lost their unbeaten tag after 4 years and 2 days in which they amassed 109 league victories and set records galore in being the first team to retain the Team KO cup for 3 seasons; the first to do a league and cup double for 3 consecutive seasons; and in drawing the Presidents cup against Wilmslow Cons (first time ever) they became the first to retain the cup and do the ‘double treble’ of league, cup and Presidents.

Mobberley players took most of the cups too. Bruce Tulley added more titles to his CV in appropriately winning the 6 Reds crown and 11th Jay Trophy (plus the Parmenter Bowl break) whilst Mark Newall won the Redwood Hire, Rotary Cup and division 1 high break. Tony Crompton, part of the Mobberley A league, cup, Presidents winning team; division 2 high break and lost in the finals of the 6 Reds, Rotary Cup, Astles Pairs and Jay Trophy for a relatively good season!

Division two had runaway winners in Wilmslow Cons club with Mere B clear in second whilst in the inaugural Taylor Jones (over 60’s) competition, Tony Jackson beat Adrian Hough in a season that saw the Brook Street club close down and all their teams move to The Tatton Club for next year as division 1 runners-up.

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up: Brook Street A
Division 2 Winners: Wilmslow Cons
Division 2 Runners-Up: Mere B
Team KO Cup Winners: Mobberley A
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Tatton
Jay Trophy Winner: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Jay Trophy Runner-Up: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Winner: Mark Newall (Mobberley)
Rotary Cup Runner-Up: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs Winners: Steve Flinders & Paul Adkin (Mobberley)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Tony Crompton & Gary Hammond (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: Mark Newall (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Runner-Up: Mike Roylance (Mobberley)
Taylor Jones Trophy (Over 60’s only) Winner: Tony Jackson (Mere)
Taylor Jones Trophy (Over 60’s only) Runner-Up: Adrian Hough (Brook Street)
Jack Tulley 6 Reds Winner: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Jack Tulley 6 Reds Runner-Up: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 winners Mobberley A drew with Division 2 winners Wilmslow Cons)
Derek Parmenter Bowl: Bruce Tulley (47) Mobberley A
Division 1 best performance: Mike Roylance (Mobberley A)
Division 2 best performance: Dan Jackson (Mere B)
Division 1 high break: Mark Newall (49) Mobberley A
Division 2 high break: Dave Rainford (35) Mobberley C

2019-20

The 69th season saw another radical change with the top division players competing off handicaps and Brook Street’s teams and players moving to Tatton. There was a welcome return to the league of another team at Wilmslow Cons club but many teams were scraping around for 6 player on most weeks as the league continued to suffer losses of players through illness / old age and a lack of youngsters joining at the other end.

In the competitions, League Secretary Tony Crompton added a 4th Jack Tulley Memorial 6 Reds title in a repeat of the 2018-9 final against Bruce Tulley while 80 year old Arthur Hasford beat Mark Murphy in the Taylor Jones Legends for the over 60’s title and to further lengthen his record as the oldest player to win a league trophy. Mark Newall won the Redwood Hire Champions comp for the 4th season running and ..........

Division 1 Winners: Mobberley A
Division 1 Runners-Up:
Division 2 Winners: Mobberley C
Division 2 Runners-Up:
Team KO Cup Winners: Mobberley B
Team KO Cup Runners-Up: Mere B
Jay Trophy Winner:
Jay Trophy Runner-Up:
Rotary Cup Winner:
Rotary Cup Runner-Up:
H.Astles Pairs Winners: Gary Long & Bob Jones (Tatton)
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up: Mike Sullivan & Sanjay Anand (Wilmslow Cons)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner: Mark Newall (Mobberley)
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Runner-Up: Sam Jackson (Shaw Heath)
Taylor Jones Trophy (Over 60’s only) Winner: Arthur Hasford (Mere)
Taylor Jones Trophy (Over 60’s only) Runner-Up: Mark Murphy (Tatton)
Jack Tulley 6 Reds Winner: Tony Crompton (Mobberley)
Jack Tulley 6 Reds Runner-Up: Bruce Tulley (Mobberley)
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 winner’s v Div 2 winners):
Derek Parmenter Bowl:
Division 1 lowest handicap
Division 1 best performance:
Division 2 best performance:
Division 1 high break:
Division 2 high break:

2020-1

The 70th anniversary season

Division 1 Winners:
Division 1 Runners-Up:
Division 2 Winners:
Division 2 Runners-Up:
Team KO Cup Winners:
Team KO Cup Runners-Up:
Jay Trophy Winner:
Jay Trophy Runner-Up:
Rotary Cup Winner:
Rotary Cup Runner-Up:
H.Astles Pairs Winners:
H.Astles Pairs Runners-Up:
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Winner:
Redwood Hire Champions Trophy Runner-Up:
Taylor Jones Trophy (Over 60’s only) Winner:
Taylor Jones Trophy (Over 60’s only) Runner-Up:
Jack Tulley 6 Reds Winner:
Jack Tulley 6 Reds Runner-Up:
Presidents Charity Trophy (Div 1 winners v Div 2 winners):
Derek Parmenter Bowl:
Division 1 best performance:
Division 2 best performance:
Division 1 high break:
Division 2 high break: