1951 – 52

The Huddersfield Billiards Championship had reached the quarter final stage, and some of the players who made it through were Harold Burkinshaw, Ronnie Kershaw, Harry Sisson and the Dyers and Finishers player Jack Mellor. Jack and his family had left the North Ward Liberal Club and were now living at Lower Brow Road, Paddock. Jack Brindley, Jack’s team mate from the Huddersfield Yorkshire Inter-District side, was playing at the Dyers and Finishers, so perhaps that’s why Jack had gone there. Jack played Jim Broadhead in the quarters and was 19 behind after the first away leg. However he was in great from in his home leg at the Dyers and Finishers club, and won comfortably with breaks of 104, 96 and 40. Jack’s semi final against Cyril Cadwell, his old club mate from Meltham, was a close affair as can be seen by the report.

Jack’s final opponent was Ronnie Kershaw, who was also in the snooker final against Trevor Sisson which had been played the night before – as both finals were to be played at the revived Huddersfield “Billiards Week” at the Dyers and Finishers club. Jack would have no advantage however, as they were to erect a new table, along with tiered seating for the large crowd that was expected. The billiards final was a bit of an anti-climax as neither player really performed at their best. The match was saved from “mediocrity” by the narrow margin of victory, which saw a win for Jack by 600 – 558. With that, Jack wins his first of many billiards titles and poor Ronnie becomes a double runner up as he had also lost the night before to Trevor Sisson in the snooker final.

Jack also entered the snooker competition but lost to Trevor Sisson, the eventual winner, in the last 16.

Below are the known results for the season, and the stand out result was this particular one identified in the article. Albert Birkby was the “star” of the Halifax side and had reached the final of the Yorkshire Area of the English Billiards Championship to play Leslie Driffield. Jack and Albert would cross swords many times in the coming years, with this result setting the tone for future meetings, with Jack winning most of the matches in which they contended.

Both the billiards and snooker teams won their sections and qualified to play in the Inter-District final; both against Bradford. The snooker side were trying to retain the trophy they won last year, while the billiards team were trying to win for the first time. In the first leg at Dyers & Finishers, presumably because both Jack’s play there, Huddersfield led 560- 435 as Gladney Hoyle and Jack won – giving them a lead of 165. Jack Brindley was not at his best after being ill in bed the night before, and lost by 40, reducing the lead to 125. In the second leg at Great Horton Conservative Club Gladney lost by 19 but Jack won by 27, leaving Jack Brindley only needing to score 72 to win the match; which he did we ease as he won by 66, giving the Huddersfield side victory by 1141 – 946. Unfortunately the snooker team couldn’t repeat their win of last year, losing by 2-4 frames in the first leg and 2-3 (the last frame wasn’t played) in the second leg – an overall loss of 4-7 frames. Frank Fisher, who had written the Huddersfield reports for many years, presented the trophies and prizes in his capacity as Yorkshire Association Chairman.