Newbury junior snooker club

THEY are the first members of a brand-new under-18’s snooker club hoping to make the long journey from the Crucible in Newbury to the Crucible in Sheffield.

A fortnightly midweek league was launched last month in a bid to promote junior cue sports within West Berkshire.

The Crucible Sports & Social Club enlisted the help of World Snooker community coach John Hunter to run the sessions, which take place every other Wednesday from 4-6pm.

A free soft drink is included in the £5 cost.

Hunter organises the young potters in a mini-league and works through the Cuestars Coaching Programme with them.

Players who reach the required standard and are keen to progress their games are encouraged to compete on the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour.

Promotion from there would take them to the Silver and then the Gold Tour.

In parallel to Cuestars, players can compete in national junior championships and on the Regional Junior Tour South – both run by the national governing body, the English Association of Snooker & Billiards.

Crucible manager Louise Trott already offers under-16s free memberships, free snooker between 10am-2pm on Saturdays and seven-and-a-half hours of pool for £5 from 11am-6.30pm.

The club is situated in Hambridge Rd, next to Newbury Racecourse railway station, and has ample free parking. For more information about the junior snooker league, ring Louise at the club on 01635 226920.

Picture by John Hunter.

Newbury juniors, from left: Harry Rice, Taylor Elliott, Jack Watts, Owen Humphreys, James Slade.

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Tim Dunkley (World Snooker coach)