Jack started his own scrapbook this year, sticking newspaper cuttings into an old magazine before he gave up and just kept them loose. I’ve left the ones he did stick down in their makeshift scrapbook, out of respect.
At the start of the season, plans were being made for Kingsley Kennerley – the former English Amateur Billiards & Snooker Champion, now a professional – to spend a week in Huddersfield playing exhibitions against local players. He would play at Meltham Liberal Club over two nights, along with I.C.I Rec Club, Dyers and Finishers, Greenside WMC and Leeds Road Con. on other nights during his week-long visit. At Meltham on the Monday he would play Jack at snooker and Cyril at billiards, and on the Thursday it would be reversed. Kingsley beat both of them at billiards and snooker but both of them won one of the three snooker frames played on each night.
The two up and coming players to meet Kingsley Kennerley in the exhibition matches to be played at the start of 1946-47 season.
Jack entered the English Amateur Billiards & Snooker Championships (Huddersfield Area) for what I believe was the first time, and had a bye into the second round of the billiards. In the snooker, because of the number who entered, he had gone straight into the semi final to play either H. Todd of Accrington or Clifford Percival of Huddersfield. Before those games, he is playing for Meltham Con. in the Non-Political Billiards League. I presume it’s called the Non-Political League because there are Liberal and Conservative Leagues, with only those types of club allowed to compete in them. As you can see on the right, there are all kinds of clubs in the Non-Political League, Con. Lib, Inst, including clubs with no political persuasion at all. Jack is regularly making breaks over 50, as is his team mate Cyril Cadwell.
Jack lost his second round game of the English Amateur Billiards Championship against Gladney Hoyle, who then went on to beat Victor Muff in the semi-final. Hoyle’s final opponent was E. Evans of Rochdale who he also beat, taking him on to play in the Championship proper at Burroughes Hall, London. Jack lost his semi-final game in the English Amateur Snooker Championship to Clifford Percival who went on to beat F. Elton of Normanton, and now joins Hoyle in London.
Inter-Town games at the moment seemed to be organised by each Association without any league structure. Jack was selected for the Huddersfield snooker team to play Leeds at Leeds Road Conservative Cub, which I suppose, as Huddersfield Snooker Champion, he should be. They won the game on aggregate 359 -261: Jack lost one of his games but Gladney and Selwyn won both of theirs.
A different type of Inter-Town game was arranged for the Derby visit, in order to involve more players and clubs – this will be 15-a-side game. One player will play a 600 up game of billiards and then six will play 300 up, along with eight playing three frames of snooker. Jack was selected to play snooker and Cyril Cadwell would play billiards; needless to say they would be playing at Meltham Con. The result of this was Huddersfield winning the billiards by 2247 – 1618 and the snooker by 1250 – 1119. Victor Muff had a break of 188 and Gladney Hoyle one of 135, while Jack won two of his three games of snooker.
The Huddersfield Billiards and Snooker Championships are by invitation only, so to be invited is an achievement in its own right – only 16 players have that honour. Jack got revenge over Clifford by beating him 990 – 623 with breaks of 102, 86, 82, 81, 80 and 79 in the billiards first round. The second round saw him play his club mate Cyril and beat him 930 – 619 to go through to the semi-final. Here he met Victor Muff and unfortunately I do not have any score for the match, but we know that Victor won as he went to play and beat Gladney Hoyle in the final. Jack was unlucky to be drawn against Gladney in the first round of the snooker championship and even unluckier when he lost on a re-spotted black, after the match ended all square. Gladney went on to win his first Snooker Championship so Jack had some consolation in the fact that he lost to the winners of both competitions.
New Zealand professional Clark McConachy was in England touring and playing exhibition games against local players, and visited Huddersfield at the end of February. Clark was renowned for his ability to screw and stun, and showed this after a game by screwing the white ball back from the pink spot into baulk. He played Muff & Hoyle at billiards and Jack, Percival, Bradley & Kershaw at snooker. Jack won one and lost one but was given 42 start, so the one he won would have been a re-spotted black without the start. Clark claimed his position by making what was believed to be the first century snooker break in Huddersfield. He took 13 reds with colours and then the colours up to and including the blue. At billiards he had a break of 313 against Victor in an afternoon session but beat that record in the evening with a break 398 against Gladney.
If you have read the year before page, then you will know that Jack played in Blackpool in a competition. All he said was that “Huddersfield won the Cup” playing against Blackpool and Derby. Well, putting two and two together, it’s reasonable to assume that this is the same competition and as the headline says, Oxenham Cup Retained. The tournament was played over three days, 13th, 14th & 15th of March, beating Bradford in the quarter-final, Blackpool in the semi-final and Sheffield in the final. The side was Jack, Clifford Percival and Selwyn Bradley who all received solid silver cigarette caskets. The sponsor, Mr. S Oxenham, has decided that who ever wins the trophy the following year will keep it as he is to provide a solid gold cup for the 1949 winners and they will receive gold watches as prizes. Jack saved the programme from the competition and this can be viewed on the Memorabilia page.
Although Jack didn’t win any individual trophies, he was part of many Huddersfield teams that won Inter-Town games, with the Oxenham Cup being the most prestigious. He also played with and against many of the top local players in league and cup games, plus two top professionals which will have helped him develop his game. It is noticeable that he had a foot in both camps this season, and I think it was a year that he changed from a snooker player to a billiards player.
His hand written records show he had 31 century breaks from June 1946 until the end of February 1947, three of them were double century breaks of 217, 225 & 230 – all in practice.
Jack Mellor 