David Smith Collection
At the end of June 2017 the Snooker Heritage Collection received a call from Peter Smith to say that his family had a lot of Billiard and Snooker memorabilia that they would like to donate to the Collection.
The items had been collected by their Snooker ‘mad’ father David Smith who had sadly passed away earlier that month. He was described by the family as ‘a man of many talents, David was a retired police officer, driving instructor, snooker player, coach, referee. Chairman and champion as well as a genuine friend to many’.
Ray Reardon and David Smith at the Eastbourne Police Club in 1988
David Smith being presented with a medal for his Referring services by (whispering) Ted Lowe
Peter Clare was pleased to offer a home for all the items, which include numerous books, coaching aids, snooker board games, match programmes, mugs, videos, autographs, even a small radio made to look like a billiard table and a ‘Timeframe’ unit.
Shown here are a couple of interesting items selected from the boxes of memorabilia that was collected from Eastboune in July 2017.
The first item is a bit of history as it records the first exhibition match played by Ronnie O’Sullivan in January 1994 . The event was organised by David Smith.
Another item records Watney’s association with Snooker – this autographed programme is circa 1975 when Rex Williams and Fred Davis along with Sydney Lee travelled round the country playing matches at local clubs providing an evening of snooker matches and audience competitions.
The ‘Timeframe’ unit is quite large and heavy and it was Peter Ainsworth who was able to provide some information on the machine. These were just electronic snooker scoreboards which also had a timer feature. They were introduced in 1992 for a variation of the Pot Black TV series in which players (the top 16 pros) would play at least one or two frames of snooker against the clock (each show lasted at least 20 minutes), the final being longer. The scoreboards were probably made available to the public from this date, although I can’t personally recall having seen any advertised. The company producing them were based in Dundee, Scotland and called “Timeframe Snooker”. Not sure, yet, if it works but it is intended to be set up in one of the display rooms. For further information on the Timeframe unit click on this link
The above is just a small tribute to David Smith and his family and their help in preserving more of the history of the great Cue Sports of Billiards & Snooker.
Acknowledgements – Peter Smith ; Peter Ainsworth
© E.A. Clare & Son Ltd. 2018. © Peter N. Clare 2018
Reproduction of this article allowed only with the permission from E.A. Clare & Son Ltd.
Please do not hesitate to ask should need any advice on snooker, billiards or pool or wish to make a purchase. Thurston has the most comprehensive range of Snooker, Pool & Billiard accessories available. Visit our e-shop – www.thurston.co.uk
email – thurston@eaclare.co.uk or Phone – 0151 482 2700
The Snooker Heritage Collection is free to enter BUT as the rooms are just part of a working office and factory a Guide is required. So please make an appointment giving at least 72 hours notice. The maximum number that can be shown round is limited to four. To access the Colle
