Belmont A hosted champions Burton Cons A as the curtain came down on another snooker season in the Just Wood Premier Division. Fran McInulty was first up against John Shilton. The Belmont player was in good form and promptly won the first frame. McInulty had chances to take the second but Shilton snatched a draw to level things up. On the other table, Ian Archer played Mick Simpkins. Both frames were close but the Cons captain had just enough to win them both, aided by a 35 break. Josh Gebbie then began the second half of the match against Dareen Coady. Both players contributed to two good frames of snooker with Gebbie knocking in a 30 break on the way to winning his frame. Coady levelled it up by winning the second. Finally, Shaun Gebbie potted well against Owen Jones to win the first frame. Jones was struggling to get going but woke up in the second frame to take it with a break of 37 and leave the final score at 5-3 to the visitors.

Ivanhoe B finished the season with a 5-3 away victory against Swadlincote Snooker Centre A. Mark Satchwell and Jason Pickering won a frame each with both players performing under par. Ivan Birkin showed what a good season he has had by beating John Davis. Andy Goldingay then drew with Brian Lowrie in a hard fought draw. Goldingay won the first frame comfortably but Lowrie responded with some cracking pots to win the second. Chris Dewey won the first against Bren Mattley but the Ivanhoe player responded well to take the second frame and confirm the victory for the Ashby side.

Stapenhill A lost 6-2 at home against Rileys A. Chris Sheldrake had no answer to Tom Elliott’s potting and he put the visitors in front. Andy Gretton then also went down to Andy Spiers as the Riley’s side built up a commanding lead. Carl Jeffcoate then played out a draw with Ade Harper and Steve Ford shared the frames with Mark Stirling to complete the scoring.

Tutbury A played out a draw with Alrewas A. Dave Powell and Roy Sherratt won a frame each with both players potting well. Steve Mabbott then played well to win both frames against John Sharpe. Steve Hathaway and Will Sherratt both potted well at key times to win a frame each. Pete Shaw needed a frame to win the game for the hosts but Alan Wilson had other ideas as he won both to pinch a draw.

Willington A hosted Belmont B and it was the visitors who left with the victory. Michael Lomas potted very well to win both frames against Bill Stewart. Rich Goldby also showed some good form as he beat Alan Davies, aided by a 31 break. Gaz Barker shared the frames with Miffa Smith and finally Jan Pawlazych won both frames against Zaheer Hussain to close out the match.

The Ken Shipton Memorial Trophy took place on Easter Sunday. The competition sees the top ranked players in all three divisions for the season come together in a straight knockout which is decided on the day. Belmont club in Swadlincote was the venue and a superbly organised event was eventually won by Owen Jones of Burton Cons A who played Andy Bloor from Swadlincote Snooker Centre in a well contested final. A special mention goes to Fran McInulty, Mark and Arron Vaughan from Belmont for helping to make the tournament a great success.

The Champions of the Division Burton Cons B put their last two games behind them with a solid performance in beating the in-form Alrewas C 5-3.  Dave Shipton and Karl Hancox shared the frames in two close games with both players making a number of good pots.  Simon Smith was in very good form on the night as he beat Rob McMeecham fairly comfortable.  Simon knocked in a number of small but damaging breaks.  These two frames enabled Simon to take the Averages Competition by the nearest of margins.  Dave Plunkett was back to something like his best as he beat Tommy Wright with a mixture of good safety play and potting.  Tommy also made some nice pots.  John Richardson for Alrewas finished the season on a high note as he beat Tom Egginton in a tight match.

In a tight finish for the second promotional place there was only two points separating second and fourth. 

Congratulations to Willington C who despite finishing their season the week before they just managed to hold on to the runners-up slot by a thin sheet of bronco paper from Swad Cons A.  The Cons had a difficult away match against Newhall A but they managed to get through that after a struggle.  Andy Grainger who has had a great season led from the front as he beat Martin Hicks in two entertaining frames with both players playing some solid snooker with Andy having the edge in both frames.  Sam Hicks got Newhall’s first frame on the board as he drew with Mark Hadley in an honourable draw with both players getting a number of fine pots.  Callum Gray and Paul Slater drew in a tense match with both players not being able to stamp their authority on the match.  Carl Glover and Lee Wood battled it out with both players looking for the two frames but as it happened the match was shared and what a vital frame win that was for the Cons as they scraped into the final promotion place.  

Willington B despite a superb display away at the Woodville Triangle where they whitewashed the home team 8-0 they missed out on the final promotion place by one point after a superb display which condemned the home side to the lower division.  This was a great second half of the season performance because at Christmas they were in the relegation zone.  In the match between Jim Marcer and Steve Gaunt it was Steve who was in great form as he knocked in an excellent 44 break missing a fairly easy red to the middle bag to keep the break going and to take the first frame.  Steve also took the second frame with more good potting and easing himself ahead early on and stayed there to win it easily.  The first frame between Alan Orpwood and Andy Jenkins was a frame where neither player got going but with Andy winning it. The second frame was a lot better with Alan knocking in a fine 32 break after a poor break-off by Andy with Alan mopping up some of the loose reds.  However Andy hit back with a nice 29 break of his own.  Andy capitalised on Alan’s bad luck and leaving him reds over the pockets for him to win the frame and put Willington 4-0 ahead at the turn.  The good work continued as Trevor ‘hot shot’ Heath won both frames with Tony Coleman.  Both players managed to pot some good balls but not enough to make any decent breaks.  Trevor won the first on the black.  The second frame was also won by Trevor as he benefited from a number of in-offs by Tony.  Tony Clements continued his rich vein of form as he took both frames against Pat Ryan.  Tony’s potting and safety play in both frames was too hot for Pat to handle.

Burton Cons C ended the season with a draw against Rolleston A.  The Cons who had been hovering around the promotion area all season seemed to have lost their way towards the business end of the season.  Lee Louch and Richard O’Dell shared their frames with both players making some fine contributions in an entertaining match. Mick Buckland the Master Break Builder was not at his best as he lost both frames to Anthony Rushton who has had a very good second half of the season with a number of notable scalps and being the first person to take both frames off Andy Grainger springs to mind.  Mick Buckland had a superb 89 clearance to win the highest break competition this also turned out to be the be highest in all three divisions which is no mean fete but it only wins you one frame.  Craig Finch who has played well when called upon again did well as he drew with Joe Docksey in a couple of tight frames which could have gone either way.  Skipper Ian Shrieve played some of his best snooker of the season with a number of cracking pots to beat Bobby Cliff who could have had some kinder running.

Willington D ended their disappointing season on a low note as they lost 7-1 at the Willington Arena to Ivanhoe C with both teams having nothing to play for.  This meant that both sides played some very entertaining snooker especially in the match between Dave Budworth and Gaz Dolman who displayed what quality potters they both are when on-song.  Dave got Willington’s only frame of the evening with the draw being the fairest result.  Jerry Cook was in good nick as he fairly comfortably took both frames against Steve Williams.  Graham Measures rounded off a fairly good second half of the season for Ivanhoe with a solid display to beat Stanley Holloway!  Daz Wilson had a very quiet end of season match as Willington for the second week running could only muster three players and Daz was the unlucky person to miss out.

Relegated SDSC D lost to their fellow club side SDSC E who have had a great first season back in Division 1 losing 5-3 leaving the E side the bragging rights over the summer.  The away side were given a great start by their player of the year Nick Harcombe as he won both frames against John Chambers who put up a great fight but was not good enough on the night to take a frame.  Andy Bloor got the home team back on level terms at the turnaround with a solid display against the never say die attitude of the grinder Ray Bancroft by winning both frames which included a smart 34 break.  Garton Bloor lost both frames in a very good safety battle with Andy Jefferies whose potting on the night had the edge.  Brian Bloor shared the final frames of the season with Ray Stretton with Brian looking very sharp in the first frame especially. Ray deservedly took a frame with a number of good long pots.

All change in the Forever mobility Division two table, the last week of the season produced an exciting climax and a first league match win for the ladies of Riley’s B; Stapenhill B who have sat at the top of the league for the majority of the season had the title in their own hands but were being chased hard by Rolleston C and Belmont C.

Third placed Belmont C faced a tricky game against the divisions early pace setters Tutbury B, Terry Bosworth got the home team off to a great start beating John Peto which was added to by Dave Press who drew with Paul Atterbury, Jeff Siddalls got Tutbury back in the match by beating Doug Lees leaving the result hanging on the last match between Belmont floating player Mark Press and Graham Fisher, Mark took both frames with the help of a 44 break to lift Belmont temporarily to the top of the league.

Stapenhill B also faced a tricky fixture away to Swad Cons B, Andy Tomlinson got Stapenhill off to a perfect start by defeating Bob McInulty and team mate John Sherriff drawing with Paul Hollis, Bryan Sharratt ensured the draw by drawing with Swad’s Jake Mole, leaving Stapenhill captain Greg Britton to face Vince Draper, in two close frames it was Vince who potted well to take both to drag Stapenhill from the top of the table to a third place finish.

Rolleston C have had a better second half to the season and have proved the saying it’s not how you start it’s how you finish, but could only muster 3 regular players and a floater for the last match in the form of Mark Bennett who played well, but it was his opponent Mark Gallagher who won both for Woodville, John Harvey got Rolleston back in the match by defeating Wayne Allen, the second half of the match was all Rolleston, Kev Norris and Rob Sanders winning all four frames to take the match and the title with a fantastic 6-2 win.

Belmond D went to Ashby Ivanhoe D without the team’s best performer of the season, Micky Morris who has taken both the high break and averages prizes, Ashby too were without Warner Collins who has taken up a role as a stuntman and is currently injured, Belmont called again on stand in Glyn Holland who played well against Keith Bale but narrowly lost both to some excellent potting, Brett Craddock put two frames on the board for Belmont potting brilliantly to beat Ashby’s Jack Bale, Jason Collins got the better of Belmont captain Mark Vaughan winning the first on the pink, Mark winning the second also on the pink, it was Tim Bale who won the match for the Ashby side, taking two excellent frames from Tom Holland who made a 24 in the last frame.

The girls have done it, in a great first season the ladies team of Riley’s B have made many friends with both a fun and competitive style of play, let’s hope in the next few season’s more ladies take the game up, this week at home to Swad Cons C, Pete Fearn got the Swad side off to a good start narrowly beating Claire Roulstone, Marie Bridges got Riley’s back in the game defeating John Griffin. Yvonne Spendlove then drew with Paul Griffin; it was Kate Stirling who secured the win with the help of a 22 break against Jon Petcher for a 5-3 home win which was celebrated late into the night.

Swad Cons D ended the season with a 6-2 defeat at home to Burton Cons D, Ian Protheroe and Paul Brooks winning al there frames and Nathan Brooks and Al Munnien chipping in with a frame each.

Alrewas D ended well with a 6-2 win against Rolleston B, Shaun Tubbert and Brian Ecclestone winning all there frames and Dave Riley and Tom Smith taking one each.