Day 1 – and it’s snow joke getting to North Wales
A record 12 strong playing force, and five dads, headed off for the annual test to see how Chandler’s Ford compares on the national stage at Pontin’s Prestatyn - but disaster nearly struck just a mile from home.

Like the country yokel character from ‘The Fast Show’ might have said: “This week I will mainly be watching snooker”. But as we stopped at Tesco, for petrol and money, a car raced around the corner, lost control, and did a full 180 degree skid – stopping just ten yards from me.

We picked up ‘The Otter Potter’ Nick Jennings from his palatial pad in town and, perhaps more importantly, a bag of goodies for the trip supplied by Nick’s mum Pauline. We met driver Arron McIntyre, John Smith and Will Baird (who had decided to save on shampoo by shaving his head) at the club and headed for Warwick services where we fleetingly met Lee Ashbolt and Scott McGaw.

Next stop was Keele where Billy, Shane, Derek and Jeffery Castle were tucking into a Burger King. Steve Hildyard, with sons Dan and Jason, was already an hour ahead and Chris and Jordan Winbourne were an hour behind, so a three-car convoy led by Alex Dunkley headed across country into Wales. We ran into blizzard conditions on the A55 and arrived at Pontin’s after a six-hour journey.

I said hello to Andy Voyce and Janie Watkins and we all crowded into the Queen Vic for the draw. Over 200 of Britain’s top juniors were split into three age groups. And there was good news for our younger lads as the U12s were split into groups of ten and nine. The U19s were in groups of 11 but the U16s were disappointed to be in groups of seven.

To celebrate our safe arrival; Tim, Steve, Derek, Jeffery and Chris had a couple of beers in the Queen Vic.