It's very rare that you get to meet a snooker legend but Bernard Bennett is just that - a pioneer of the game who relishes the future as well as the past.

Bennett is celebrating his 30th year as owner of Southampton's Castle Snooker Club, 15 of them also owning the 147 Executive club, and is embarking on a youth coaching scheme where he hopes to not just unearth a star but to help everybody enjoy the game.

His credentials could hardly be better - he was one of the eight players who originally formed professional snooker in 1969.

He remembers how it all started: "Rex Williams arranged a meeting to resurrect professional snooker and I signed up along with seven others - it was a big day for snooker," he said.

Bennett not only had an impact on professional snooker, but players everywhere, as the Castle club was one of the first snooker clubs as we know of them today.

"When I moved down here in 1969 there were no clubs so I used to travel up to London to play in Herbert Holt's club.

"It was only small and was opposite the Windmill Theatre and all the top amateur players and celebrities used to play there but it was very rare because it had a bar."

The match that he recalls as the highlight of his remarkable career came in 1975-76: "I beat an Australian player called Warren Simpson to get through to the last 16 of the World Championships but unfortunately I lost there to Alex Higgins."

In 1979 Bennett organised a huge Pro-Am tournament at his club with the draw reading like a Who's Who of snooker and he remains a registered professional today and says he wouldn't rule out a comeback.

He still revels in seeing the world's top players play and only recently had Jimmy White at his club for an explosive evening in which the 'Whirlwind' knocked in five centuries.

But Bennett realises the importance of youth for the future of snooker.

"We now run Saturday morning classes for under-16s between 9-12pm and we have Duncan Moore, a professional who has made a 147 break, coaching them - they are the future of the game.

"The sessions are really taking off - we started with only a few but now have over 30 and we only charge £3.00 for the whole morning and the coaching."

Any under-16s wanting to join in should go to the club (57-59 Castle Way, Southampton) on a Saturday morning - no experience is necessary.

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