And the fifth name is Ashton

So it was no surprise that the fear of God was put up an opposing captain when Ashlett Club came calling and chalked their order of play on the blackboard.

Frank Ashton, now playing for Hythe & District Club B, recalled: “The first name the captain put up was Hallett, the second name he put up was Parrott, the third name he put up was Wilson, the fourth name he put up was Reynolds.

“The other captain said ‘you’re having a b***** p*** on us, aren’t you?’ He said ‘no, the fifth name is Ashton’.”

Suffice it to say, the cream of world snooker had not decamped to the old mill on the edge of Ashlett Creek. The surnames were purely coincidental.

Ashton, 70, who played the 1979 world champion Terry Griffiths in exhibition - one of the highlights of his snooker career (Ashton’s, not Griffiths’) – remarkably has only ever had two tips on his 54-year-old JP Mannock cue.

Ashton admitted the old tip which lasted 52 years “was flat”. Teammate Mike Street, who was tasked with the re-tipping operation, said it was “c***”.

Hythe Club B, formerly the C side, finished runners-up to local rivals Esso Fawley in Division 3 in 1991. The following year, they won Division 2 – ahead of Esso Fawley.

Brian Street has turned out for the team for about 45 years. But during its dark days, the team was held together by a wing and a prayer.

He said: “At one stage, so that we kept a second team, there was just me, (son) Michael and another chap. We were going away with three of us.

“The rules were that if a team dropped out (of the league), they couldn’t come back in again for two years.”

Mike, who has clocked up 27 years playing alongside his dad, said: “We’ve always stuck with the team - no matter what.”

Brian described the standard of the top teams nowadays as “phenomenal” and he said the greats of his era included Hythe clubmate Brian Price and Shirley Warren’s Chris Holland and Dave O’Brien.

Hythe B skipper Steve Moore said: “Brian’s been an asset to the team.

“He enjoys his night out. He doesn’t like it if we have to go home early. We have to stay right to the very end. The same at home, they have to kick us out.”

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