We only have a quick resume of the results of the Halifax Billiards Championship, which said Jack reached the final after narrowly beating Harold Burkinshaw in the quarter final and Albert Birkby in the semi final by 500 – 380. There were no century breaks in the match but Jack had more small breaks than his opponent with 63, 59, 57, 56, and 45 twice compared to Albert’s 52 and 75. This is Jack’s third final in three years, with one win and one loss (to his team mate Harold), and this time he would play the Snooker Champion Colin Abbey. The newspaper reports a high demand for tickets to watch the match as Abbey has a good following of supporters and they no doubt are hoping for a surprise for what would be an exceedingly popular victory. The final played at Kings Cross W.M.C saw a disappointing display from both players who blamed the very close atmosphere of the crowd which made it “hot and sticky” and made concentration difficult. The match was fairly close until the very end with neither player able to build a lead which meant that it changed hands several times. With the score 431 – 405 in Jack’s favour he redeemed his display by reaching his points with the highest break of the match, 69 unfinished, to clinch his second Championship in three consecutive final appearances.
The Halifax Snooker Championship first round draw gave Jack a bye into the second round which he won but we do not know who to or what the scores were. In the third round Jack played a young unknown, J. Jones, who upset the odds by beating the holder. Jones was beaten by Colin Abbey in the semi-final and he went on to win the title as mentioned above.
Due to the lack of entries into the Halifax Charity Tournament, the closing date had been extended, and one of the teams that had indicated they would not entering is Rastrick ‘A’. The reason for that was their dissatisfaction with the handicap committee in previous years. Whether it was the threat of them not entering, or because Rastrick would not have the services of Jim Broadhead, the committee have given them 75 start. This has caused adverse criticism amongst the rest of the teams as they think it is too much – only time will tell.
Lee Mount Club whose start was 250, were drawn against Rastrick in the first round and immediately rang the secretary to express their intention to withdraw from the competition. They were persuaded not to withdraw and in the first leg only lost by the narrow margin of 11 – not bad for a team that considered the handicap to be wrong. Unfortunately we do not have the score from the second leg, but Rastrick were in the draw for the quarter-finals and would play Ripponden Constitutional.
After the first leg, Ripponden led Rastrick by 48 and with a start advantage of 25 will be 73 ahead in the second leg. Again we do not have the second leg scores but as Rastrick were playing last years winners, Victoria Constitutional, in the semi final they obviously won.
Rastrick led by only 8 after their home leg, not helped by Jack losing (only by 3, but with a start of 125 Victoria on their home “boards” could make the final again this year). Jack losing was such a rarity that it made the headlines in the Halifax paper after the first leg. We do not know the scores but Victoria did beat Rastrick in the second leg and Jack lost to the same player, W. Shuttleworth – this time by 100, showing that even the best can have an off day.
The Halifax Blind competition closing dates for entries closes on January 14th after the final of the Charity Tournament. The only report we have is for the final so we don’t know if Rastrick entered and if they did, how they got on, other than to say they aren’t in the final.
The start of the Halifax Parish League began with some really good play and credit to the handicapping committee, which wasn’t the case later on in the season as mentioned above. In the first week, after 4 of the 7 games , the margin of victory was under 30. Jack was losing by 80 – 133 but “ran to his points” with a 70 unfinished break; the best break of the opening games. Rastrick won all 6 games but lost by 55 due to their opponents having a 375 start. The third game saw Rastrick win their first game by 11 thanks to Jack’s 150 – 24 win, which included a break of 68.
In the sixth game of the season Jack beat the unlucky T. Timewell 150 – 9 which included an unfinished break of 103. Rastrick won the match thanks to Victory Lounge only having 4 players. I wonder if they drew straws to see which two of the team wouldn’t get to play that night. The following week he beat W. White 150 – 30 and made a break of 102. All six players of the team won, resulting in a victory over Thornhill Brigg’s. This was the first time ever in the history of the league that a player had made century breaks in consecutive matches. Jack made another century in the new year when he ran up a score 119. His opponent J. Radcliffe also did well, scoring 81 and himself making a break of 40.
A couple of weeks later, he scored his forth of the season with a break of 122 unfinished while beating E. Ellis 150 – 10. That is yet another record for the Parish League, beating Albert Birkby’s three in a previous season.
Jack also made a century in one of the other Halifax competitions, making it five for the season which was another record. He extended his record by making his fifth century break in the Parish League, sixth overall, against G. Kerrod of Elland Liberal Club.
In the match Rastrick had five winners out of six with a team score of 884 – 631, but lost the game with Elland having a start of 300 thus giving them a score of 931. Elland finished joint top of the league with Halifax Cricket and Athletic Club, with the two soon having to play off to decide who would be crowned champions. Handicaps in the league have a big say on who can win it, and these two have between 250 – 300 depending on who plays for them on the night. Rastrick did fairly well despite their handicap, finishing fifth in the league of 14. Jack won the high break prize with his 122 unfinished to add to his other trophies.
Jack Mellor 