Category Archives: News

We are off to Belfast for a long weekend 12 am Friday to late Monday .
we will be out of office from Friday March 10th   until Tuesday 14th of March , no telephone calls or Emails will be answered during these 4 days .
Myself and my family are ice hockey followers and full season ticket holders at Nottingham Panthers , and we have not been to an away game in Belfast as a Family for years, so decided to do it this year and go watch our local team the Nottingham Panthers take on the Belfast Giants , the weekend is a double header meaning  two games one on Friday evening and the other on Sunday afternoon .

as you can see when the Nottingham Panthers are in town the rink is normally a sell out at the Odyssey Arena  in Belfast .

sometimes a fight breaks out , I have been watching Ice Hockey since 1980 , you do get fights and scuffles it is very rare to see an all out bench clearance these days but it does occur now and again
A player normally gets a 5 minute penalty for fighting , if one is adjudged to be the instigator he gets an extra 2 mins .
you get 2 mins for roughing , but things like checking to the head gets you an 5 + match and you are thrown out the match , a team member has to take your 5 min penalty
a panel sits during the week and that player who checks to the head  can get an extra 5 game penalty .
if blood is on the ice the game stops the ice machine ( zamboni ) comes on and cleans the ice before it can resume .
now come on ,  tell me this is exciting than watching football ?

I was actually at this match in Belfast a few years ago now, this kicked off after the game on the hand shakes . ( no that is not a ghost in the background but some sort of advertising mascot )

Nottingham Panthers already have a very highly prized trophy this season in the continental Cup winners 2017  ( its actually a shield )
no other club in UK hockey has won a European trophy , Panthers are the only team to win a European Trophy and they did it this year in Italy .
It looks like Cardiff Devils will win the league this year but chasing them all the way to the end of the season are the Belfast Giants so we expect a tough two matches this weekend .
Cardiff have already won the League Challenge Cup ( normally panthers win this every season ) .
so whats left is the Play off trophy which always takes place in Nottingham the home of the panthers .
10 teams in the league top 8 go into a play off 1/4 finals , last 4 teams meet in Nottingham to play two semi finals on the Saturday and the last two teams in the final on the Sunday
all the fans from around the UK come to the play off finals it is like their Wembley .

When you win the big three and that’s a grand slam in ice hockey .
Winning the Continent cup this season must go down as an equal to lifting all these three trophies in 2012 -1013 season.

I have been out to Glen Parva near Leicester yesterday
my clients where looking for a cloth that was more in keeping to their modern designed home furnishings .
Their choice of Cloth to be Grey , and I was able to source the higher quality Strachan 6811 tournament in Grey as a special order .
we only carry the main three colours of Green /Blue / and burgundy in stock , any other colour is a special order and postage to us is extra for this ,

I had previously called in and took the cushions back to our workshop for new rubber fitting and profiling .
so got straight into applying the glue to the slate bed  with contact adhesive around the outside edge only .
The burgundy red is the old cloth laid over the new Grey cloth to protect it from accidental glue spillage or over spreading of glue.

with our clients neutral colour scheme they wanted a neutral coloured cloth .

My clients are delighted with cloth choice and quality of the work carried out .

Been over to Skegness in Lincolnshire to re-cover four full size snooker tables and also fit new nets and leathers and general check around the other tables for faults and rectify .

In this photo we have three tables side by side that have had the full works of Re-cover plus new nets and leathers on all pockets

Looking much better when they have new nets and leather fitted with a new cloth re-cover
the problem with old leather sis they split on the face side this then chips away at the balls hitting the unprotected brass pocket plate .

the other table that was due a re-cover was on the other side of the room .
Again a full set of new nets and leathers fitted .

a general check over of all the other tables ensured the coming season that all tables are in use and fully operational until the  next child or adult rips one or swing on the ball rails .
Butlins do keep a check on things though and do call me in on a regular basis over the year , we also do the Hot shots  american pool tables too .

I had a job the other week to dismantle and relocate an 8ft American Titan pool table .
the table had been put together in a very bad way , cloth was not fitted good and gaps around the pocket plates
I suspect the old owner had set his table up himself .
here area few Photo’s explaining what was wrong about the table on strip down .


Very badly fitted top cushion surround with gaps up to 3/8ths thick between surround and pocket plate .

Badly fitted bed cloth

so we dismantled the table right down to the base

Transported it to a our new owners Home
slates on top of sub frame level and joints filled in ready to sand as one unit of slate .

and yes I even managed to refit that badly fitted cloth but only just !

and got the plates to fit without gaps !

a very happy client at the end of the Day

Been a bit late posting some work on the web site due to me being too busy with hands on work and not enough time to sit down in front of a PC.
So here is job one that I did a three to four  of weeks ago .
The Phoenix Snooker Club in Eastwood Nottinghamshire ,  is a busy venue in the Nottingham Pool leagues and snooker .
now under the appointed manger of Ron Sharp who has some good experience in organizing Pool and snooker tournaments in the local area .
it was Steve the owner who booked me in for a return visit to this busy club .
My work this time around was to re-cover three full size Karnehm and Hillman tables upstairs and have a general check round for nets and leathers straps , and leveling of tables .
here area  few photo’s of the Snooker tables .

All the tables are Karnehm and Hillman manufacture circa 1980s

I had worked in the past on all of these tables bar this one , but I got it this time
I think because it is near the door it is the last one to be booked out .

all of the tables where re-covered in top quality Strachan 6811 tournament cloth 30 oz weight
The secret about this club is , it is very well known for it’s pool tournaments and has a huge following in that area
many county pool team matches are played in this club .
leaving the snooker tables ticking over upstairs in what I would describe as a quiet peaceful environment just the sort of room you would want to play snooker  , so if you are struggling finding a club where a table may be available for booking on ?

Give Ron and Steve a phone at the Phoenix club 0n 01773 760 459  plenty of car parking across the road  .

 

I have been over to Kedleston Golf club near Derby
This very upmarket Golf club is in the Grounds of Kedleston Hall
I once dismantled and moved a full size table in the main hall around 18 years ago and relocated it in North Yorkshire.
The General Manager of Kedleston ( Robert ) called me to arrange a re-cover and maybe new nets and leathers .
I arranged to carry out the improvements to the playing surface in February .

The table when I arrived looked like this , a re-cover around 6 years ago by another billiards firm who used some very poor none branded cloth
and some of the leathers had split and the brass pocket plate was showing through which was damaging the balls on impact .

pocket leathers look OK  from above and the rear , but it was the inside part where the ball makes contact that was wearing badly and splitting
and because Robert had mentioned the club where going to buy a new set of high standard balls , it was important to replace these leathers at least to protect those new balls from chipping on the exposed brass pocket plate .
a new set of nets where also recommended as it would look bad to have new cloth and new leathers yet have stained smoke nicotine stained nets from before the smoking ban still left on

the finished Snooker table , New Strachan 6811 Tournament branded cloth fitted , and looking good with new nets and leathers to compliment and show off that the table has had a thorough renovation of it’s playing surface .
I also checked and adjusted for level as part of the Service .

the very smart upmarket club house of Kedleston Golf club , one of the best Golf club house facilities that I have visited , and I do many Golf club snooker tables in my time

When I visited I was impressed that in the club house they had a TV on in the lounge area,  going through all the holes in simulated video .
here is Hole 18 as a demo .
unfortunately Kedleston Golf club is limited to 300 members and I was informed they are pretty much booked up , but you can get day guest tickets now and again , a very nice course with the back drop of Kedleston Hall .
a very good car park and club house facilities .

I have been over to the New Rushcliffe Arena Leisure Centre this week to deliver their old snooker tables back .
the two tables where dismantled and taken into store and bubble wrapped two years ago .

the old snooker room of the now demolished old Rushcliffe Arena from 2014 , tables being dismantled and bubble wrapped .
this week we returned the tables to find a Large new Leisure Centre had been built on the old site of Rushcliffe Leisure Centre.

we rebuilt the frames and leveled them , then placed the slate on , then leveled again and set the joints correct and skimmed with filler .
the tables have 5 sections of slate around 2 inch thick .
these two tables where built around the late 1980s , and are actually metric sized , made by Thurston when the governing body was going to go over to metric sized tables .
they are around a couple of inches shorter on the length and width to a normal full sized table .
the governing body then refused to change over , I think Thurston must have made a couple of hundred of these metric tables around the 1980s/90s , and I have another on my rounds in a British legion club in Derby .
You have to be careful when marking out as all the measurements are different to a normal full sized table .

always take note of your surrounding walls and fixingswhen deciding on which end to break off from or the Baulk end as we call it .
The cloths where laid on with the D end ( Baulk end ) to this end , and that is because we have a wall of glass to the right of this photo , if we where to place the D end at the other end then from a break off if hit hard some balls may come off the table at speed and break the glass wall .
This was a concern to me , and I often wonder if architects play snooker ? if they did then they would know low down glass is a hazard for snooker balls flying off tables .
have you spotted the other obvious mistake they have made ? the lighting is for a 6ft pool table , too small and the wrong type to have above a full size snooker table .
don’t worry I put them right , they are either going to hang the old shades back up or fit new modern twin tube high frequency units up .

Table one all done sporting new Strachan 6811 tournament 30 oz cloth and New high quality nets and leathers and fitted  too .

now you can see the hazard of glass going all the way down to the floor .
This is not the only sports centre to have this design , I recently did the Nottingham University sports centre with three table in a very similar room using the same type of glass wall .

Nottingham university sports centre Glass wall to left of tables .

the new sports centre will look like this , Rushcliffe Arena I am sure will be a huge asset to the surrounding area
with new swimming pools gym , volley ball sports hall , snooker and indoor bowls to name just a few of the activities on offer .
I would like to thank Helen Penniston of Rushcliffe Borough council and Arena for putting GCL Billiards bid forward and securing the work for us , Helen worked closely with GCL Billiard to make sure the refitting of the tables was a smooth operation .
We worked to a date and time schedule and the work was carried out without any problems , access was sorted for hassle free installation .

Visited Butlins in Skegness last week for a three to four day stopover to re-cover 6 american 9ft Brunswick pool tables
Rob and Wayne booked me into accommodation for the week of which we are most grateful for .
Rob chose the cloth design again for this years new format of Printed Artscape Budweiser with stars background .
This year he went for three different colours of the same design rather than have all the tables in one colour like last year .

Myself and Steve get stuck into stripping the tables down ready for the new cloth design

I prefer to get the cushion retaining slips out and fit the new cushion cloth first ,
then turn over and strip the staples out before fixing new cloth into place on cushions
this makes for less turning over of the top surrounds.
the cushion cloth also has a pattern that must match up like wall paper to the bed cloth so careful fitting to make sure it all aligns must be done .

once the cushions are done we strip the bed cloth from the slate bed removing all the staples
Speed or cowboy fitters leave most of the old staples in and cover over the top , what the eye cannot see is their motto .
GCL billiards works to a standard and that means every old staple out .

The cloth colours where Purple  / Green and Gold . here is the Purple version , the faded in rings of light is the printed pattern it is made to look like a spot light is shining on it
note the shading goes into the cushion cloths , Artscape pattern cloth is designed like wall paper the cloths are colour coded so we know which cushion and what position on the tbale to fit , so that we get the matching pattern blending into the cushions too .

all 6 tables completed , alternate Green /Purple corner tables and gold in the middle all sporting that Budweiser logo with stars background pattern

a photo with no flash , this really shows up the pattern in the cloth
the tables are getting on a bit now , so next year they may be replaced with 9 supreme winner type tables , Rob is undecided yet
he may get another few years out of these , spares are now getting hard to find for these old tables but we still manage to keep them going .
and these 9ft American pool tables take some hammer in the 12 months that Bultins are open .
Sticky hands ice cream coke and other stains will appear over the coming months , but lets look at these newly re-covered cloths freshly recovered , I always get a buzz out of fitting cloths like these
.
I also popped into the green baize at Butlins , which has a round 16 full size snooker tables , I fitted some nets and leathers and made a few quick repairs , I am due back in February to carry out some re-covering work in there and other bits and bobs .
Albert who is in charge of the green baize is constantly looking to keep all 16 tables in use , and he regularly phones me up to keep me up to date on repairs required over the year .
as does Wayne for Hot shots .