Today we have been collecting a Full size snooker table from Litchfield from a town house in the ground’s of Litchfield Cathedral .
I have worked on this table before when we first installed it in a house in the village of Somersal Herbert near Uttoxeter in 1987 for Mr smith who owned a very large Country timber framed Elizabethan house that was built in 1564 . and we have moved the table a couple of time’s since then to other properties for Mr & Mrs Smith.
I was contacted by Mrs Lesley Smith to try and sell the table for her as Mr Smith had sadly passed away some years back .
After a Free advert was placed on GCL Billiards web site , we had one enquiry about the table , we passed on the details to Lesley, and I am pleased to say the Buying client ( Adrian ) agreed to buy the table and may I say he got a very good deal and got the table at a ridicules low price , which is all down to the current market for full size snooker tables of supply and demand , demand is low , and supply is flooded with second hand tables .
The high prices for tables in the boom years of snooker which where the 1980’s are now a thing of the past , if time is on your side you may get a reasonable price if you require the table out quicker then expect any offers you can take.
and time was more important than price on this particular sale.
When we started to dismantle the table we found it had the 2.5 inch thick slates on which I forgot about , this table was modelled on a table used in a billiards championship in 1903 and is called the Roberts Table .
A name of the famous Billiard player of the Day .
Take a look at the following photo’s to see the quality of this fine billiard table made by Burroughs and watts around the turn of the Century circa 1903/1910
You may be mistaken that the second slate has a crack running through it , but this is just a marble grain running through the slate and is normal to see this on many tables we take apart
the upper photo’s are the table in the room at Litchfield and being dismantled . as you can see it has the upgraded Steel Block cushions , a new type of solid cushion invented in 1896 and patented by Burroughs and watts .
the slate is extremely thick and heavy , we had to trolley the five sections of slate to the 5 steps outside and slide them down on cardboard and plywood to the pavement as they where too thick for our custom made slate slide .
The van looking rather low on it’s suspension due to the extremely heavy slates , I can honestly say this is the thickest slate I have ever handled in nearly 40 years as a Billiards fitter.
the slates came from the door opening on the left of the first photo and down those steps , there where only two of us to manhandle these monster slates out of the building and onto the van , lucky for us the offer of an extra pair of hands at the storage unloading part was most gratefully taken later on in the day .
One out one in , we unloaded the table at our storage partner’s premises , Jonhills Removals of Nottingham have nice Dry warm storage which is ideal for storing wooden items that may absorb moisture if not stored correctly
In fact next to the slates there is a Grand Piano in storage that has been here for around 4 years , Jonills Removals are experts at dry storage of your prized possessions and that’s why we use them .
No damp low price premises for storing our clients tables . when we can just refer them to Jonhills Removals !
we do not aim to make any money from storage, the price you pay for storage is direct to jonhills with no middle men fees added.
We can also refer Jonills to any customer as good reliable household removers.
We had another table in storage for a client that is being delivered to south of London on Friday so took the opportunity of unloading this heavy monster of a table and then loading a more lightweight 2 inch Italian slated modern table on the van ready for Friday .
So a very productive Day for us a table brought into storage for a couple of months and one we have had in storage for 11 weeks being re-loaded onto the van ready for installation this Friday .
but I know my back is now going to suffer from lifting this heavy table , I have informed the new owner of just how heavy these slates are for just two men to handle , and I am happy to say he says he will provide a little extra help at the installing process in around 2 months time .
Above cartoon of how my arms felt today after lifting these heavy slates.
back pain is a common problem with billiards fitters , so it baffles me why snooker players sometimes suffer from it by just laying or bending over on the table , They should try lifting one then they will know what back pain is .
here is a link to snooker players who have stopped playing or even retired due to back pain http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/NewsArticles/0,,13165~3825629,00.html
