Yet more Mid Sussex Heroes !

Congratulations to all those mentioned by Bob in his excellent report on the 2010 Berkshire Open.
The never-ending story for Mid Sussex continues ! 8-)

Had to dig a bit deep to find this thread, heroes have been a bit sparse since Chunky Monkey and the BB Warrior went off to ply their trade on the coast.......................

But a week ago, this happened at the 2011 Portsmouth Open:

Apr 10, 2011 23:01:34 GMT tommo III said:

So who won then?

When Margo and I left, as the Last Sixteen stage was commencing, these are some of the players we remember were left in:  K.T., Dave Ingram, Mark Trafford, Ian Lelliott, Martin Smith...........and Jenny Edwards! :o 8-) 8-)

To be in the Last Sixteen of an Open along with the top players in the country (give or take a few) is no mean feat for Jenny and she deserves our congratulations.

It was no fluke either, as in doing so she disposed of both G.Powells (Geoff of Oxford and Gary of Surrey) - both of whom feature in the Top 30 of the National Rankings.

The competition was eventually won by Oxfordshire's Leon Beer, with Curt Driver of Kent the runner-up.

Apr 17, 2011 22:05:04 GMT bobhall said:

congratulations to sandra race on winning the main competition and for mama hall (baby guinness) on winning the plate so well done x x x

Apr 18, 2011 7:44:00 GMT Chunky Monkey said:

Congratulations Sandra :-* am really proud of you xxx
Congratulations to Mum also am proud of you too :-*
A reverse result from two years back!

References to Lorraine Hall winning the Plate Competition in the 2011 British Isles Ladies Open Competition held at Horley on Sunday 17th April.
Lorraine overcame Oxford's Melissa Stanbridge 7050-6710 in the two-legged Final.

Once again Jenny Edwards had a good run, defeating first Sonia McIntyre and then Melissa in the first two rounds, before falling to eventual winner Sanda Race in the quarter-finals of the Main.  

Still occasional players in Mid Sussex though honing their skills more on the coast these days, Kevin Hall and Dave Ingram confirmed their pedigree in Opens, by once again reaching the Quarter Finals of the 2011 Sussex Open, both matching their recent achievements in the Surrey Open.

Kevin fell to World Number 4 Steven Sheard, whilst Dave went a stage further, losing to Number 1 and eventual winner Kevin Tunstall in the Semi Final.  Well done to both.

It's been nearly a year's wait, but Mid-Sussex have a new hero (from exploits in National competitions) in Andy Farmer-Wright: Andy made the Quarter-final of the 2012 Surrey Open, held yesterday at Merstham.

To reach this stage, Andy (Brewers Arms) had to overcome fellow-Mid-Sussex star Henry Brooks (Laughing Fish) in the Last Sixteen. The competition was eventually won by Oxford's Keith Sheard, with current World Champion Kevin Tunstall the runner-up.

An idea of the standard was that Dave Ingram had in an earlier round made a personal best break of 17,720 - which did not turn out to be enough as Berkshire's Paul Sainsbury made 18k in reply ! The Final was a worthy affair too, Kevin Tunstall's first-leg 16k also being overhauled in a table playout.

After early exits from the Main competition, Hurst B's Colin Robbins and Mill House's Clive Thompson had good runs in the Plate, both reaching the last eight. The competition was won by former Mid Sussex player Kevin Hall.

..........and now it's the turn of the youngsters !

Last held in 1993/94 as an Under-23's, Sussex County re-introduced the young player's competition, re-branded as the SCBBA Under-30s Championship.  The records show that in the 1993/4 final Horsham's Gareth Lloyd beat Mid-Sussex's Judith Skerman.

The first competition of a new era, staged at Roffey S & SC on 9/6/2012, was won by Hastings player Mike Daw, but our own Henry Brooks emerged as the Plate Winner, having beaten fellow Mid Sussex-er Bob Hall in the semi-final. Henry went on to beat West-Sussex's Martin Cole 7880-7020 in a close final.

[bobhall]

well henry kept up that form and went on two get to the sussex semi final before falling to steven sheard who was beaten by his dad.

also to baby guiness who got to semi of the plate before losing to
winner gareth lloyd

Some remarkable performances from Mid Sussex players in this year’s Sussex Open (played on Sunday 10th June at the Roffey Social & Sports Club:

Richard Jeffrey beat Horsham man-of-the-moment Jim Greensted in Round Two, and Bob Hall beat two England players Chris Reeves (Brighton) and Pete Sainsbury (Tunbridge Wells) – before both were accounted for by Worthing’s Roger Taylor, at the last 32 and last 16 stage respectively.

Pete Edwards beat Oxford star Tony Martin and Horsham ace Steve Eely to make the last 32 before losing to Berkshire’s Geoff Pitt – who had earlier defeated Lorraine Hall in the First Round. Lorraine however had a great run in the Plate, beating Ros Appleby and then Tony Martin, followed by Dave Hampton and then her England captain Pauline Withey in the quarter-final before falling to eventual winner Gareth Lloyd in the Semi.

But the undoubted star of the show for Mid Sussex was Henry Brooks, who covered himself with glory with convincing wins over Colin Southouse (including a leg of 18250); England No.2 Nigel Senior (including a break of 16820) and Kent star Curt Driver (including a leg of 16010). This propelled  him into the Quarter-Final where he beat Dave France to land his first Semi-Final appearance in an Open. Here he finally fell to Oxford’s Steven Sheard who landed a dream Final against his own father – who promptly beat him !

[H]

Might have to take a year off after all that - I'm knackered!!

Jun 11, 2012 17:03:55 GMT H said:

Might have to take a year off after all that - I'm knackered!!

Nice payoff, though. 8-)
Should keep you in Olde Trip for a while. ;)

[JB]

Your knackered! Lol x

[H]

Fair comment. Thanks for the hard work this weekend Jean. I did wonder if you'd actually gone home and to bed between the Saturday and the Sunday!!

[JB]

only joking xx you did have a rather busy weekend. Serves you right for being good lol x

Latest Mid Sussex hero is none other than new Competitions Secretary Bob Hall for his exploits in the 2012 Berkshire Open.

From a strong original line-up of 80 players, Bob was one of six Sussex players to make the Last 16, the others being Nigel Senior, Dave Ingram, Martin Cole, Tony Jenner and eventual winner Ian Lelliott.

Lorraine Hall, Henry Brooks, Ron Sheridan, Ros Appleby and Andy Farmer-Wright also flew the flag for Mid Sussex, Henry scoring a good win over Oxford star Dennis Atkins before losing to another in Jon Bamsey, and Lorraine, though losing to Mark James, scoring a ladies highest score of 5000 in the first of the two legs.

Latest icon for Mid Sussex has to be Henry again for achieving these three recent milestones:

1. SemiFinalist in his first 'go' in the Grand Prix:
www.aebba.org.uk/results/2012/Grand_Prix.htm

2. Selection as a reserve for England in the recently-named 2013 Squad;

3. First-ever 20k break, made this week at the Smugglers Return, Worthing. For which he wins a "Sussex 20k Club"
t-shirt.

At this rate H will be running out of targets. :o

Feb 9, 2013 22:26:34 GMT Baby Guinness said:

Feb 9, 2013 15:39:58 GMT bigjimsilverfox said:

Kev Hall out to Ron Sheridan also 1ST round :o

But went on to win the Plate, with a table run out in the final with 19,200 against England player Lorin Clough, well done Kev xx :)

Congratulations to Kevin Hall, who cut his teeth in Mid Sussex and who was today the winner of the Oxon Open 2013 Plate.

And a special mention to Ron Sheridan, sole flyer of the flag for Mid Sussex, and victor over Kev in the first round - the only player to beat him on the day !

Incredible news comes through of another 20k break by Henry Brooks.........

Mar 14, 2013 23:16:14 GMT BB Warrior said:

Duke of Wellington 3 Atlas 2

Some tremendous games at the Smugglers tonight...

...and so to the decider...

Henry Brooks v Ian Lelliott
Henry clearly has a love of this table as he ran it out with a terrific break of 20,460 to set Ian a very tough target.  Ian started well and was about on track to get close to the target when he left a split short on 7.6k in just under 7 minutes.... the right hand roll up the middle came into play and he clipped the black peg.... game over.

So, rather like London buses, you wait for ages and then two come along at once ! Same League (Worthing Chairman's Cup) and same table (the Smuggler's which we know from the old days as the Ham Hotel)

[Q]

Latest Mid Sussex hero is our very own Tommo, runner up (to Curt Driver) in the inaugural 4 pin Open
Well done Clive

Photo courtesy of Nigel Senior

Apologies appear to be in order to Ros Appleby and Ron Sheridan for failing to mention their great achievement in the AEBBA British Pairs Championships that were played at the Queens Hotel in Bournemouth over the weekend of 9th-10th March. They reached the last sixteen and received smart trophies for their efforts. In the same tournament Henry Brooks teamed up with former Mid Sussex player Dave Ingram, and they were losing semifinalists in a close-run thing.

There are also some recent exploits to report in Sussex competitions. and this is taken courtesy of the Sussex website:

17 April 2013
Ros Appleby and Nigel Senior reached the Final of the Sussex Mixed Doubles Competition beating defending champions Hayley and Kevin Tunstall 2-0 on a tricky Limeburners Table on Monday 1st April.  Ros and Nigel will now meet Colleen Park and Dave Ingram in the Final which means that there will be some new names on the Trophy this year.  Dave Ingram reached the final of the Sussex Captains Cup thanks to a 2-0 win over Ros Appleby at the Watermill in Burgess Hill and will now meet Jim Millward in the Final

Congratulations to Andy Farmer-Wright, who made it to the Quarter-Final of the inaugural British National Off-the-Spot Open played in Tonbridge on Sunday 19th May. He was defeated by finalist Mark Trafford, who in turn succumbed to fellow Oxon player Leon Beer in the Final.  

Extract here from the Mid Sussex Website:

"HENRY WINS HIS FIRST GAMES FOR ENGLAND, WHILST COLIN WINS SUSSEX MASTERS AND ROB IS RUNNER-UP IN THE PLATE"

14 Jun 2013
A full weekend of bar billiards at the Roffey Club in Horsham on Saturday 8th and Sun 9th June, with local hero Rob Hall (Hurst A) a semifinalist in three competitions.

On the Saturday, Hastings’ Mike Daw retained his Sussex Under 30’s title beating Kevin Hall in the Final.  With 15 entries again this year, Mike won all of his matches in Group C and then beat Group D winner Rob Hall in the semi-finals while Kevin had won both of his games in Group B including hitting the highest break (12,310) to defeat Martin Cole and then beaten Group A winner Henry Brooks (Laughing Fish) in the other semi.

Colin Robbins (Hurst B) emerged as the surprise winner of Sussex Masters played on the same day, beating Jean Brackenridge in the Final.  Colin had won both of his Group D matches before beating Group C winner Martin Cole in the quarter-finals and Group A winner Kevin Tunstall in the semi-final.  Barry Holt won the Plate, beating Rob Hall in the Final after beating Dave Ingram in the semi-final and Colin Southouse in the quarter-final with Rob beating Alan Brackenridge and Kevin Hall at the same stages.

A number of Sussex players were called up for the England Team that hosted Guernsey during the evening.  Dave Ingram & Henry Brooks won their doubles match 3-0 and 3-0 wins in the Singles for Jim Greensted and Henry Brooks contributed towards a 44-16 overall win for the England Team.

Sussex players had a torrid time on the Sunday in the 20th Sussex Open,  with only Dave Ingram making the Semi-Final, along with a player each from Northants, Surrey and Hampshire: 23-y-o Stephen Coleman (Northants) beat Surrey’s Tony Cross in the Final. Rob Hall was Semi-finalist in the Plate, beaten by Phil Collins who lost to Nigel Senior in the Final.    - Abridged version of a report from Dave Ingram, SCBBA Website Administrator.  

[BB Warrior]

Jun 14, 2013 9:13:15 GMT tommo III said:

Sussex players had a torrid time on the Sunday in the 20th Sussex Open,  with only Dave Ingram making the Semi-Final, along with a player each from Northants, Surrey and Hampshire: 23-y-o Stephen Coleman (Northants) beat Surrey’s Tony Cross in the Final. Rob Hall was Semi-finalist in the Plate, beaten by Phil Collins who lost to Nigel Senior in the Final.    - Abridged version of a report from Dave Ingram, SCBBA Website Administrator.  

I certainly didn't say anything about Sussex players having a "torrid time" in the Open last weekend on the Sussex Website Tommo so have to say that (apparently) accrediting that to me is somewhat misleading..... >:(

In fact, with 7 players in the last 16 of the main competition.... as well as the Winner, a semi-finalist and quarter-finalist in the Plate Competition.... oh, and not forgetting the winner of the Highest Break award..... all coming from Sussex I don't think that is too bad at all! :P

For clarity, here is the brief report that I wrote on the Sussex Website....

Stephen Coleman (Northants) won the 20th Sussex Open that was played at the Roffey Club on Sunday 9th June beating Tony Cross (Surrey) in the Final.  Both players had played well all day with Stephen beating Lee Radford (Hants) in the semi-finals and Steven Sheard (Oxon) in the quarter-finals and Tony beating Dave Ingram and Dave Reeves at the same stages with Barry Radford (Hants) and Leon Beer (Oxon) the other quarter-finalists.  Dave Ingram won the High Break Award with 19,820 and Pauline Withey won the Ladies High Break Award with 7,300 on her way to the Last 16 while Steve Eely, Ian Lelliott, Martin Smith, Bill Kerr and Jim Millward also reaching that stage.  Nigel Senior won the Plate Competition beating Phil Collins (Oxon) thanks to a superb 20,350 table play-out in the Final, Nigel having beaten Ian Gordon (Oxon) in the semi-final and Colin Martin (Oxon) in the quarter-finals with Phil beating Rob Hall and Gary Powell (Surrey) at the same stages and Sid Ponting (Oxon) and Mike Daw the other quarter-finalists in the Plate.

.... together with a link to the latest news page which has information about other matches played within Sussex during the last few months:-

www.sussexbarbilliards.com/Sussex/Sussex%20News/Latest%20News%20Home%20Page.htm

Sorry if I have offended you or anyone in Sussex, but with my news reporter hat on I have to do a slant from a different angle for each particular league.  For Billingshurst for instance I have only reported on Steve Eely and Jim G.

But I do think that 2 in the last 8 was a rather disappointing yield for Sussex, especially with their top players having had the benefit of playing the tables the day before, some in more than one competition. Also, some of the tables used were Tarratts. So from the point of view of a neutral, I stand by the comment and as far as Mid Sussex is concerned feel that I have correctly identified the three perfomances of the weekend.

[BB Warrior]

Jun 14, 2013 22:59:48 GMT tommo III said:

Sorry if I have offended you or anyone in Sussex, but with my news reporter hat on I have to do a slant from a different angle for each particular league.  For Billingshurst for instance I have only reported on Steve Eely and Jim G.

But I do think that 2 in the last 8 was a rather disappointing yield for Sussex, especially with their top players having had the benefit of playing the tables the day before, some in more than one competition. Also, some of the tables used were Tarratts. So from the point of view of a neutral, I stand by the comment and as far as Mid Sussex is concerned feel that I have correctly identified the three perfomances of the weekend.

Clive, you are obviously welcome to give your own opinion on either the Forum or any of the websites that you run, however I do not believe that when you state that you have provided an "Abridged version of a report from Dave Ingram, SCBBA Website Administrator" that you should then add your own opinion on top of that and make it read as if they are my words and you have simply shortened them, when that is clearly not correct. >:(

Please would you therefore either remove my name and any reference to the Sussex Website from your report on the websites that you run or add a link to my report stating something similar to "here is a link to the report about the weekend on the Sussex Website by Dave Ingram, SCBBA Website Administrator" as soon as possible?

Many thanks, in anticipation.

Point taken, Dave, I will of course moderate my submission as you have suggested (it was always my intention to do so) and put a link up to your official SCBBA report on the event.

I would have done this already but had to turn into my bed after a torrid day on the websites shuffling pages and links (HDBBL and BBBL share computer space and overlaps sometimes occur). And as a webbie yourself, you will realise that the business server does not always respond as quickly as you would like.

tommo

[gandalf the untidy]

Jun 15, 2013 7:59:32 GMT tommo III said:

Point taken, Dave, I will of course moderate my submission as you have suggested (it was always my intention to do so) and put a link up to your official SCBBA report on the event.

I would have done this already but had to turn into my bed after a torrid day on the websites shuffling pages and links (HDBBL and BBBL share computer space and overlaps sometimes occur). And as a webbie yourself, you will realise that the business server does not always respond as quickly as you would like.

tommo

Think its time for a Flobalob ;D :o

Jun 15, 2013 9:44:22 GMT gandalf the untidy said:

Think its time for a Flobalob ;D :o

I've just had to amend my oddle poddle about bobble, having been handbagged by Tinky Winky! ::)

[BB Warrior]

Jun 15, 2013 9:49:48 GMT tommo III said:

Jun 15, 2013 9:44:22 GMT gandalf the untidy said:

Think its time for a Flobalob ;D :o

I've just had to amend my oddle poddle about bobble, having been handbagged by Tinky Winky! ::)

You handbagged yourself.... :o .... it must be a side-effect of playing too much 4-pin oddle poddle! :P

Thanks for making the changes to the Mid-Sussex Website Tommo. 8-)

This write-up now on the website, top billing for the Chunky Monkey:

11 Nov 2013
Back on terra firma, and no doubt with tales to tell of the experience…………those who made the Jersey trip to take part in the 2013 World Championships. The 2013 Pairs Championship went to Brighton’s Nigel Senior and Marcus Chipman but our own Ros Appleby paired up with Worthing’s Steve Hawkes and they made it to the Last 16.

The Singles was all about surviving to play again on the Sunday, and in order to do this players had to qualify from their round-robin group of 4 to reach the Last 64: And our very own League President Andy Farmer-Wright covered himself in glory with a Last-32 place whilst Bob Hall and Ros and Trevor Appleby were consigned to the Plate along with Lorraine Hall (who despite finishing second in her group failed to make the ‘cut’).

Here Lorraine really got it together, making the Quarter-final with wins over Tina McGraine (Jersey), Charlie Gildersleve (Bucks) and James Whittle (Worthing) before finding Surrey’s Geoff Jukes just too strong.

Meanwhile, Andy Farmer-Wright embarked on his ‘glory run’……..having earlier won his group decider against Richard Wooton by 5080-3690, he went on to beat Brighton’s Alan Brackenridge before going out to the eventual Champion – both of these being extremely close games.

HHUSC B regular Colin Robbins and Brewbells player Neil Higgins found themselves in opposition to each other in the last 64 having both qualified from their Groups (25 and 28) in second place: It was Neil who prevailed by 7620 – 3350, but in the next round he was accounted for by Jersey’s Keith Vibert (5440-9200). Earlier in the groups Colin had beaten Worthing’s Mark James but had lost to Brighton’s Terry Race, whilst Neil would even have topped his – but for a game lost by just 10 pts to Kent’s Chris Saville which made all the difference !

A former Inter-league player for Mid Sussex Bernie Lawrance (now based in Cornwall) made it over after a few years of vacillation and proved he could still wield a cue to good effect by qualifying from his group before losing to Guernsey ace Trevor Gallienne on the Sunday. And prior to that he had partnered Chris Saville in the Pairs and put out England pair Curt Driver and Gerry Fitzjohn before finding the two Kevins (Tunstall and Hall) too tough a test……..

Which brings us on to the star of the show, another of our former players (now playing in Brighton) Kevin Hall (son of Lorraine and Peter and brother of Bob). Young Kev made it all the way to the Semi-Final, his only loss being to the new World Champion Mark Trafford. Here is a full record of his progress in the competition: (Group stage) bt Chris Oakley(Wor) 4490-0; bt Michelle Baden(Bri) 4500-1700; lost to Steve Hopkins (Hor) 2780-2850 (Group winner); Last 64 stage bt Colin Southouse (Eas) 10120-3340; Last 32 stage bt Terry Coughlan (Bri) 7910-6600; Last 16 stage bt Keith Vibert (Jer) 6990-6850; Quarter-final bt Trevor Gallienne (Gu) 13530-12570; Semi-Final lost to Mark Trafford (Oxon) 1140-10200. Surely an England call-up must by now be overdue for young Kev ? - Clive Thompson, November 2013

On Mid-Sussex website:

10 Mar 2014
The AEBBA Pairs was played at the weekend in sunny Bournemouth: Kent pairing Curt Driver and Mark Brewster won the main event, beating Witney’s Jon Bamsey and Tony Willis 3-1 in a high quality final. Youngsters Stephen Coleman (Northants) and Mike Daw (Hastings) teamed up to win the Plate. Surprise package in reaching the Quarter-Finals of the main competition were our very own Ros Appleby and Andy Farmer-Wright who had beaten Steven Sheard and Pete Phillips (champions in 2011 and runners-up last year) to reach that stage. – adaptation of a report from Dave Ingram.