Woking Snooker Centre Gets Buzz as LHC Rolled in in 2021…

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SnookerZone’s Pick of the Weekend’s Cue Sports Action…

Ryan Mears on the left with the winning Byfleet side…(Photo screenshot from Club Manager Peter Ruddick’s Facebook page)

There was plenty of cue sports action over the weekend from both the amateur and professional scenes.

But SnookerZone is picking something closer to home this week.

After at least a six-year drought, proper tournament snooker returned to Woking Snooker Centre in Surrey over the weekend as the London and Home Counties Snooker Group came to the venue for the first time.

The LHC under Paul Ives set foot in the Surrey-based club on Saturday and Sunday as players from the Home Counties contested in both singles and team events.

Host Club Woking Snooker Centre was buzzing all weekend…

Not since 2016 has a ‘proper’ tournament been held at Woking when a Cuestars event was held there.

There’s been lots of changes going on at the club under the careful management of Peter Ruddick, including a new banner outside and the constant refurbishment of snooker cloths on the tables, as well as other minor changes.

There were some top amateur players on show, such as Ryan Mears, who is also part of the Woking Snooker Centre A League team which plays in the Byfleet Snooker League.

The London and Home Counties Snooker are events played around the London and Home Counties areas designed to promote and put snooker back on the map in the south of England.

SnookerZone soaked up the atmosphere and action on Saturday and it was great to see a buzz and the clacking of snooker balls on at least 16 tables in the club.

The match table, Table 1, was glistening…

The match table at Woking Snooker Centre saw its fair share of action over the weekend in the LHC event…

In the team event of the inter-league style competition, the Byfleet League team consisting of Ryan Mears and four others reigned supreme as the Byfleet League team won for the ninth time, the fourth in five years – despite it being a different team.

The Byfleet League chairman Kelvin Jones, commented on Facebook:

All credit for the weekend’s victories for BYFLEET in the team championship and RYAN MEARS in the individual Open Tournaments. When approached with entry details, I discovered that most of our usual automatic picks were unavailable. The entry fees had been increased significantly, and I wasn’t convinced that the format would be a success. How wrong was I? Woking’s GEORGE HEATLEY put together a team and, on their own initiative, entered the tournaments. RYAN MEARS, originally unavailable, joined up with GEORGE, JAMES CULLEN, ALAN HARVEY and PAUL GANLEY to play in the team and individual competitions held on Saturday and Sunday at the Woking Snooker Centre.”

They added: “Thanks to the efforts of Manager PETER RUDDICK and the MASON family WOKING SNOOKER CENTRE is now a superb venue for tournaments and with three teams in the league, there is a real buzz and excitement about the place. Other tournaments are already in the pipeline and anyone local looking to join a club should pop in and check it out. Coach BRIAN COX has started a Junior Coaching Club and can also be booked for one to one sessions for all aged players of all abilities. Congratulations once again to the team and to RYAN. A fantastic achievement and solely down to them.”

They defeated Eastbourne B 5 – 1 in the final.

When the LHC came to Woking, they commented on their Facebook page: “Here we go again, 5th year, and this time at a new venue. Old faces, new faces. No matter what though, it’s an almighty battle of the South East.”

Don’t forget, in December, the Under-21 events from Cuestars also return for the first time at Woking since 2016 with SnookerZone co-sponsoring the event with Hoff Aviation.