I have been over in Derby this week working on a few tables in the Cueball club .
Danny has got hold of some second hand Riley cushions that are much better than the current cushions on some of the tables woodwork wise and bounce wise
so we have been stripping down the old tables and improving them by means of a re-cover in match cloth and these upgrade of cushions.

The first table to receive cushion upgrading and brand new Hainsworth Match Cloth

Second table stripped down and ready for new bed cloth

The second table finished new Hainsworth Match cloth fitted , and better Riley cushions with silver slide in panels on this set
A new set of nets and leathers where also required for this table .
Ongoing improvements are being carried out to the tables at the Cue Ball Derby during the summer by  GCL Billiards .
We have another table to do tomorrow and another three sets of Riley cushions  to fit to other tables throughout the club before the Winter league starts up
Cue Ball Derby are not standings still or stagnating , they are improving the tables as a long term investment , nobody likes to play on slow none responsive cushions and bed cloths
So Danny has invested in a roll of Hainsworth Match Cloth which is a thin fast cloth , much thinner and faster than the normal 30 oz that you see in most clubs

Although this Match cloth on all tables  is costing the Club more money ,it is all part of the plan to give the Cue Ball Clients the best possible playing conditions
most clubs have the standard cloth fitted to most of the tables with just Match cloth fitted to a couple of match tables , the Cue ball Derby wanted to offer their clients the best on every table and still charge the standard rate for normal thickness cloth !
the Air Con which had been off line for a few days  has also been fixed and I must say it was most welcome when I was fitting the cloth .

so if you fancy a game of snooker in an air conditioned club this summer playing on top class cloth and cushions visit The Cue Ball Derby
sited under Roller World on Mansfield Road DE21 4AW , tel o1332 360924

The Cueball Derby also have a superb Pool hall , where the tables are well used and maintained to a high standard .

We have been to West Bridgford Arena to day to work for Rushcliffe Council
the Rushcliffe Arena is closing for two years , they are knocking the old Arena complex  down and rebuilding a New one that will take two years to build
Snooker has been part of the old Arena for many years and Rushcliffe council still wants to put the two tables back in the New build in two years time.
So it was decided to put the two tables into storage at one of the Councils works Yards in a disused office.

The snooker room at Rushcliffe Arena , with two modern 1980/ 90’s  Metric sized Thurston snooker tables .
Cushions taken off and bubble wrapped and bed cloths now about to come off too .

Now the bed cloths are off we can take the shades down and bubble wrap them too

one table on plus a set of cushions off the other table and the two shades , and we are just about to take them the 2 miles down the road to where we are storing them
This van will take 1.6 ton including Driver and passenger so we are still under weight
one of these metric snooker table weighs 1 ton exact.

all we left for our second trip later that day was to finish the dismantle and bubble wrap of the other  frame and load with slates onto van

Both tables where put in a disused office in the council works Yard , stacked neatly and ratchet Strapped for safety ,
I am returning tomorrow Morning  to put another ratchet strap and two eye hole screws in the wall
To give extra safety in making sure the boards stay in front of the parts  .
and if we have two old dust sheets we will also place these over the entire two tables and tape them up .
The tables will be here for two years storage and will not be put back together until July/August 2017
Rushcliffe Arena have used GCL billiards in the past for re-covering work so we where the local natural choice to Dismantle move and store of these tables in the correct manner.
Geoff at GCL Billiards has been moving and storing tables for 40 years
if you have a table that you require collecting and storing or even set back up , then contact
GCL Billiards for a quote.

I have been over to a Club which has 5 full size snooker tables in Ashby de-la-Zouch  Leicester .
they have Ken Doherty flying in from Ireland today to give an Exhibition of snooker playing 8 local snooker players .

A photo of Ken in his recently opened Snooker Club / Academy in Ireland click on the link for more details.
http://www.kendoherty.ie/snooker-club.php

This is the table that has been selected for Ken to play on , I have removed the cushions and bed cloth , and have re-stretched the cloth to take all slack out of it .
the string  line is to center for spot marking out , the table will play faster now it has been re-stretched .

the table has now been put back together and I have started to re-stretch the next table to it

2nd re-stretch done and the lads are practicing on the exhibition table to get to know it’s speed .

With the tables either side boarded over and covered and the shades removed for easy viewing , chairs have been placed around the table for seating of the select few who have paid a higher price to be on the front row.
The Ivanhoe club in Ashby is one of those little gems of a club , in that it has 5 full size snooker tables with plenty of space around the tables and high Bench seating to the sides and ends of the tables .
a normal club will have one or two tables then it is a jump up to 10 to 18 tables for large snooker clubs , so this club fits in between that with 5 tables you can almost be sure of a table being free for a casual game of snooker .
You may notice the new lighting over the table with 4 coffin shades over the other four, I have been informed that all the lighting will soon be the new strip lighting with more light and less shadows .
The Ivanhoe club really look after their tables they get regular brushing and Ironing and do not want for anything really as they also get a re-cover every 2 years by GCL Billiards and re-stretched bed cloth at 12 months after the re-cover.
My last job of the day was to check on levels of the table , and I found that the Exhibition table was pulling off from Black spot to middle pocket really bad. a simple jack up and shimming of the legs and the problem was solved , the table is now level and ready for Tonight’s Exhibition with Ken Doherty .
this is not the first time I have had to get a table ready for Ken to Play on , I also maintain a table at Dunston Retirement complex in Northampton , they have Ken on a regular basis to show them the finer points of snooker .

Ken with the Members of Dunston Village retirement complex .

We have been up to Worksop this week to re-cover a pool table for a Church youth club
The Vicar asked for a durable cloth as youngsters would be using the table
So I recommended Strachan speed cloth the super pro type
this has 30% man made fibre and 70% wool , this is tougher to rip than normal napped all wool cloth

Start of re-cover , cushions off and just sorting cloth size for slate bed

The registered  brand trade mark of Strachan super pro speed cloth

The finished table , we supplied two new cues and a Triangle
We gave them two sets of second hand balls free of charge , these where one’s we had just hanging around spare in the workshop .
I do try and help out Church Youth clubs with any secondhand balls .

I have just dismantled this very nice oak ornate table in Dorsett.
the table is stored in it’s own lock up trailer in dry conditions so could be picked up by a van and two strong men who know how to handle snooker slates .
the woodwork is bubble wrapped .

as you can see this a very desirable looking table , the cloth is almost as new and hardly played on
there is a couple of marks and chips on the legs , cussed by x rest falling on them or maybe a vacuum cleaner rubbing against them ?
But nothing to worry about and could be touched up with a bit of stain .

the table comes with Iron and Brush balls cues rests , cue rack and triangle , plus shade , on packing the lead was not there to the iron though so a new iron lead will be required .

the Smith and Nelson plate , this was the firm who renovated the table , I think this table is a Burroughs and watts table .
beveled slide in panels would have prevented a name plate being put on the cushion.

good thick 2 inch Slates coming off Frame

Scoreboard is also included , this table is ready to be picked up from backing up to storage container and loading .
I recommend a trolley though and a ramp to get the slates to a parked up van about 10 feet away .

Please be aware the collection and delivery plus erection of this table is not included in the price , please contact Geoff for costing of this by email to GCL billiards
Email and telephone number details in our contact section details .

Today I have been over to two tables one was a pool table based in roller world in Derby ,
and the other was fitting a set of upgraded second hand cushions to the cue ball club which just happened to be underneath roller world.

The supreme  winner at roller world had  a few problems with level
This was down to the last cloth being fitted underneath the slate on the edge and packing with beer mats
the main problem with these type of tables is people sitting on them , this results in sagging cabinet
We have a simple solution to fix this

If you look closely you will see that I have stapled two strips of cloth on the inner slate support , this was done both sides ( Click on photo to enlarge)
this lifts and supports the center of the slate and helps to eliminate the sagging slate and out of level effect this can have
we also clean out the entire inner of the table and wash down the ball runs of grease and sweat and dust build up , close attention is also given to the ball release system and workings to make sure they are working correct and clean .
a clean inner workings helps to keep the balls running freely , GCL billiards do a thorough job of getting your table playing correct and level using best quality cloth

the finished table checked and adjusted for level , recovered in Strachan branded 6811 pool cloth .

My second job of the day was to go around the corner and visit Cue Ball club which is just underneath roller world where I re-covered the pool table .
Cue ball has been running under different names for many years and the tables where bought in the 1980s
I gave some advice when the recent management took over about three years ago , and that was to change the cushions over to better standard ones made much more stiffer and out of good Mahogany .
The chance came to replace the cushions when another snooker club closed down and around 11 sets of Riley mahogany cushions and pocket plates came up for low money .
The photo above is the removal of the old cushions

The same table with those newer Riley cushions fitted , we also re-covered the cushions before we fitted them in Hainsworth Match cloth
the table had a recent re-cover just a couple of months ago so the bed cloth is as new .
We have around 10 more tables to upgrade , this will improve the tables vastly . and I am sure the members will notice this
Cue ball Derby has an on going improvement policy to improve the club in decor and equipment and this will put it above the average club who lets there premises stagnate
I am sure with this attitude , The Cue ball club Derby will be a very busy club for many years to come