The Colwyn and Aberconwy Snooker League

History & Archive

League Results Archive      Individual History

1967    2004-05    2005-06   2006-07    2007-08  2008-09

Summer League

    Arthur Horsfield, a league legend, currently still plays in the league for Colwyn Bay Legion. He started playing back in 1951 for Llandudno Crosville when they were situated in Oxford Road, Llandudno. This Crosville was the coach depot and the counterpart of the main bus depot on Mostyn Street. There were three snooker tables here side by side which occupied the upstairs of the building which is now used as a tile supply shop on the corner of Builder Street opposite Llandudno police station. The Billiard League nights then, as with the snooker now, were always on a Thursday night and because of this the league became popularly known as the `Thursday League`.

    Another local snooker league, the Conwy and District Snooker League play their matches on a Wednesday evening and are popularly known as the Wednesday League. This league was formed in 1967 as an additional league in the area and was started off with a financial boost to get them going from the `Thursday League`. Since then the two leagues have always held a healthy rivalry between themselves.

    Billiards was extremely popular between the 1930's and 50's and venues like the hall above the old Burtons store in Abergele Road, Colwyn Bay were well known and used (Burtons is now the NatWest Bank and  gift card shop opposite the Central Hotel). This hall had seven tables and was graced with exhibitions by the likes of the great snooker and billiards world champion Joe Davies. It was here that some of our leagues best players performed such as Bill Whale, for example, who started his playing career in 1951 for the Burtons Billiard Hall. He later moved house and started playing for his local side, the Churchmens Club, Old Colwyn  in 1961-62 alongside the late Don J. Oakes. Bill has stayed faithful to the Churchmens ever since. Don, in later years moved on to the Crosville Club in Llandudno Junction before sadly passing away in 2001.

    League history is difficult to trace but certainly the Churchmens Club, Old Colwyn, may have been a founder member as the scan shows them as winning the Orme Shield in 1939-40 as part of the Colwyn Bay and District Orme Billiards League.

    Also in Old Colwyn was the famous Young Mens Institute situated in Beach Road where there now stands a Jehovas Church. A well known local billiard player and legend from here making regular century breaks at billiards was affectionately known as Bob Y. M.

    In the 1960's the league became known as the Colwyn Bay & District Snooker League and it kept this title for over 30 years through to the 1990's when it then changed to its current name of the Colwyn and Aberconwy Snooker League.

    In about the early 1980's the league started to take on a main league sponsor who would have the league named after them whilst they remained the main sponsor.

Main league Sponsors known to date have been:   

1997-98 ..... Graphic Tiling (courtesy of Ronnie Dunne)

1998-99 ..... The Colwyn Sandwich Co. (courtesy of Simon Roberts)                                                                   

1999-2000 to 2001-02 ..... Junction Autopark (courtesy of Simon Roberts)

2002-03 ..... Plas Gwilym Building Supplies (courtesy of Gerald Hughes)

2003-04 to 2004-05 ..... Meister Motor Engineering (courtesy of John McCarthy)

2006 - ... Gap-personnel (courtesy of Paul Thomas)

Snooker taken a bit of a fall in the 1990's. This was due to many factors, not least was the fall in popularity of the game in general possibly due to over-exposure at the time. Clubs were also finding it increasingly difficult to keep afloat in hard times and large spaces with snooker tables were becoming less and less cost effective in an increasingly competitive world. As a result team numbers started to fall in both of the local leagues as the decline hit them. Around 1998 rumours started going about regarding a merging of the two local leagues and Wednesday League officials came up with a set of proposals which they tabled at a meeting between the two leagues outlining plans for a merger. The talks broke down with several issues not being agreed upon and, as a result, the two leagues remained as they were.