Massive double sponsorship for 14-year-old

A PERSONAL letter from a 14-year-old snooker player from Eastleigh has tugged at the purse strings of two more Hampshire businesses.

Century breaker Connor Benzey, already helped financially by Pitman Training Winchester, has now been backed to the tune of £1,300 by Hillcrest Structural and £1,000 by GH Property Management.

In a bid to compete on the national under-21 circuit, the teenager wrote to local firms and included cuttings from the Southern Daily Echo.

“I couldn’t really believe it,” said the Cuestars Gold Tour player. “Thanks to all three. It’s really going to help me over the next year.”

This year, Benzey has increased his high break in competition to 102 and won the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Silver Tour. Last month, he won his first tournament on the EASB Regional Junior Tour – South West, which is a feeder for England’s Premier Junior Tour.

Both managing directors where impressed with the young potter’s letter.

Jamie Green, from Hillcrest Structural, said: “I liked Connor’s approach, that he wrote a letter himself. His portfolio was incredible.”

And Liam O’Sullivan, from GH Property Management, who plays snooker “very badly”, said: “We were very impressed with it.

“Although we get people asking for work, we don’t get very many people asking for sponsorship. We certainly don’t get letters like that with supporting photographs and evidence like that.”

Hillcrest Structural is based in North Baddesley but operates nationwide. A specialist in structural steelworks, among its well-known buildings in Southampton are SeaCity Museum, the new police headquarters and the Carnival UK headquarters. For more information, go to www.hillcreststructural.co.uk.

GH Property Management services and maintains blocks of flats, mainly in the Southampton and Winchester areas, from its headquarters in Fair Oak. For more information, go to www.gh-propertymanagement.co.uk.

Picture by Tim Dunkley. From left: Liam O’Sullivan, Connor Benzey, Jamie Green.

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By Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)