Hastings & Bexhill Bar Billiards league

Top three pick up first week wins
Tuesday 7th October
​The 2025/26 Winter league started with all of the top three from last season picking up wins.  The reigning champions the Old King John beat the Cutter B 4-1, The Cutter A overcame the Ashburnham Arms 3-2 and The Jenny Lind B won the Jenny derby 3-2.
Old King John 4 Cutter B 1 - Report by Andy Ellison.
It was a low key start to the season with OKJ entertaining Cutter B as the visitors could field only 3 players and the pub was quieter than usual. Dave opened for Cutter against OKJ skipper Nigel and both players found it difficult to settle. Nigel made his presence felt though as the game progressed, knocking in a break of 2830 in a winning total of 4280. Garry for OKJ and Phil were next up and both found break-building difficult. Home advantage helped Garry home in a low scoring encounter. In the third game Andy helped settle OKJ nerves with an opening break of 1500 and added another of 2200 which meant little table time for Sam and a best of the night 5340 winning total for Andy.  Phil returned after the break and his encounter with Roger for OKJ also took time to ignite. Eventually Roger found his groove and a break of 2630 proved decisive, giving OKJ a 4-0 lead. Sam returned for the last game for Cutter facing Chris for the home side. Chris played steadily in the early part of the game, creating a clear lead. However Sam was becoming more familiar with the table and as the bar threatened, he built a break of 2020 which took him to a winning total of 4510, the best for Cutter on the night, leaving a 4-1 scoreline in favour of OKJ.
Jenny Lind A 2 Jenny Lind B 3 - Report by Ray Norton
The eagerly awaited opening match in this year’s 3 pin competition drew the local Jenny Derby as the first fixture. Jimmy is absent this season owning to his shoulder problems. After the draw, Paul and Steve opened up proceedings. Steve started impressively and on his second visit amassed a 2.5 k break. Paul did not manage to recreate his Monday club form and left the table with smaller breaks. The frame progressed with each player making reasonable scores and despite all of Paul’s hard work Steve’s early break remained pretty much the difference. Paul did manage to score well, as the frame ended with a total score in the 9000’s and not a peg dropped at all. Next up was home captain, Ray vs Rob. Not managing to make a good start from the break shots, Ray however stuck to the table and made sure that on each occasion a good score was kept. Rob started well and was soon within 500 points, although it seemed that Ray was hogging the table time but with not massive scores. Ray managed to drop the first peg of the season, but that was followed shortly afterwards with Rob inexplicably taking out the black peg. With over half the frame to go, there was time for Rob to come back, but Ray’s stay on the table at all costs play, and some good shots, and then Rob’s urge to catch up with more risky shots, the scores moved further apart. Ray missed the chance to score a 3000 point overall frame total with a wayward corner shot, and at the bar Rob cleared up the table only to drop the Black on the last shot, losing his 220 points. Next up was Matt vs Alex. Alex opened up with a small break and Matt’s dependable break eluded him to start with a ball drifting past the 50 hole, and he spent some time retrieving balls to the break shot. Alex took over a briefly went into the lead, before Matt slotted a 2.7 break on his next visit. The scoring went back and forward between the players, and again, the high break was the decisive difference. Both players made reasonable scores with minimal peg action. At the Sandwich break it was 2-1 to the A team, After the break, excellent sandwiches as usual, Andrew and Jez started the second half. Andrew started and was making good progress to a 1k break when the Jenny poltergeist struck, we’ve seen the white ball wobble on a break shot, but this was the first time we had seen the red throw itself sidewards off the spot. The righthand peg received the errant white and the break was lost. Undeterred, Jez started with a match winning opening break of 4.6K, at no point did it seem risky or that he was not in control, a combination of good early one-ups and then going for and getting the split kept Jez on the table for maybe half the frame. Andrew by this time had realised that the writing was on the wall, and the Bar Billiards gods also firmly continued to put the boot in. Not content with already finishing off the frame, Jez then returned to slot in another 2.3 k Break, and Andrew completed the frame with an impressive 200 shot. All even going into the last frame. This time last year Kaz was our new player, and she started against Andy. Neither player made the start breaks, and the frame continued with an attempt to not get the scorer involved, weird shots, miscues and lack of scoring was demonstrated by both players, until seemingly mid frame, some kind of switch went off in Andy’s head and he scored a 1k break which left the scorer behind, let alone Kaz. Karen had no answer, and continued with her minimal scoring and a few chances later Andy repeated the feat with another swift 1k break, putting the frame well outside of Kaz’s reach. Karen redeemed herself with a well-aimed 100 shot to complete the frame. The close derby encounter finished Jenny A 2 - Jenny B 3, exactly the same score as last year..
Cutter A 3 Ashburnham Arms 2 - Report by Colin Southouse
Week 1 saw Sutter A host to The Ashburnham, both teams fielded 4 players only  and the match went as follows. Dave White opened for the Ash but was off early, Dave Dow for the Cutter didn't fare much better but kept slightly ahead, plenty of chances were squandered by both for the rest of the game but Dave D maintained a small lead and was too far ahead at the bar for the valiant Dave W to catch up.
Peter Payne for the Cutter took on Sandy Harmer in the second again the opening bid from Peter fell short of the requisite lead and Sandy took advantage and gained an early lead of nearly 2k, it looked curtains for peter but a 1900 break near the end gave Sandy something to think about with the BB Gods not helping out and Peter keeping a few small breaks was enough for Peter to come out on top. Dave Pearce opened in the 3rd against Colin Southouse but was off early leaving Colin to pick up the break and make a steady 5K+ leaving too much for Dave to do with a few extra small breaks from Colin ending on 9880 final score Dave had no time to make any sort of recovery. Chris Aldridge opened in the 4th Against Mike Osborne Mike Opened steadily and Chris found plenty of opportunities to find ways of give Mike more chances and a nice 2k break mid game was enough to take the game. A draw was made for the last game to see Dave White opening for the Ash play Chris Aldridge, Dave White kept ahead for the whole game with Chris continuing has bad fortune for the duration leave Dave White the deserved winner. A nice evening with the Ash as ever nice to see the old warrior Dave White still willing to take up the cue and sink a few pints.
Scores