There is a distinct lack of newspaper clippings or other items of interest for this season: in fact there is only one of them, so this is going to be a short read. As I said previously, it could be due to the lack of success, or his new found love and the impending arrival of his first son, my older brother.
In March 1949, Jack was selected to play for a Yorkshire team that would play the old foe, Lancashire, at Houldsworth Hall, Manchester. The six man team was drawn from all parts of Yorkshire, Huddersfield, Shipley, Bradford, Sheffield, Bingley and Leeds. Each man played two frames of snooker, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Jack won both of his games, against two former English Billiards Champions, Arthur Wardle 64 – 41 and Mendel Showman 74 – 60. Lancashire won the match by 626 – 601 despite only winning four of the twelve frames: the reason for this being that the Shipley player was out of his class and lost by a combined total of 45 – 177. The Yorkshire Association presented the players with a White Rose badge, which Jack had sewn on to a jacket and which he wore with pride.
This was the last year that Frank Fisher was to provide the Examiner reports, as Leonard Oldham took over and then held the role for over 30 years. Frank was to become the Yorkshire Association Chairman in a year or two’s time.
With no reports to talk about, I decided to use the saved Billiard Player magazines as a possible source of information on the year. I couldn’t believe what was on the front page of the first one I picked up; a picture of Houldsworth Hall as just mentioned above. Inside, it goes on to say that a member of staff of the magazine declared it to be “a splendid appointed billiard room, representing for him a sanctuary, and that is an ideal term for a billiard room like this one, where the lover of the game can indulge his hobby with every appurtenance of comfort and concentration.” It was to be the venue for the Manchester and District Association gala week of this organisation, which will be celebrated in March. I therefore presume that the above Inter-County match was part of that gala week. The Hon. Sec. of the association Mr. J. Foster-Kershaw stated that “it should be a big inducement to bring out the best of those cue men who earn the right to appear there.”
These appeared in February 1949, issue No. 338 of the magazine, and refer to the area games of the English Amateur Billiard and Snooker Championship.
It is nice to know that Huddersfield and its players are mentioned in a national magazine and shows that the Town can produce players of quality to compare with the rest of the country.
Like the newspaper reports, Jack has either not bothered to save them – unlikely – or they have been lost during the coming years, as I only have a few of the magazines for this year.
Jack Mellor 