This week PJ Nolan visited Newbridge CYMS ( St Conleths) in Newbridge Town in his journey around all the RIBSA affiliated snooker clubs in Ireland
RIBSA International player Tony Thorpe from Newbridge CYMS met with our National Coach PJ Nolan this week and showed him around the club which contains 8 Snooker tables and 4 Pool Tables.
The club St Conleths is better known as Newbridge CYMS Snooker Club is one of the oldest clubs in Ireland with a great history of past champions who played in the club.
Two old photos provided shows the Burroughs & Watts Shield with some of the clubs members in 1936, the other photo is of CQMS Cunningham accepts the shield after the final in Newbridge C.Y.M.S. on behalf of The Curragh Command in 1940
Tony was delighted the club is holding RIBSA events this year and it is hoped that more Newbridge and Kildare players will play in the series this season.
Already this year Charlie Sweeney a junior from Newbridge won the first under 14 ranking event of the season as is ranking number 1 on the current rankings. Also Josh Boileau the current National Under 16 Champion is a member.
Tony explained some historic facts on the club that Snooker and Billiards have been played in St. Conleths since 1880. In the early years Billiards was the dominant game but since the 1960’s Snooker has taken over as the most popular game in the club.
The club is run by a committee on behalf of the membership, its main aims being the promotion and development of Snooker, Billiards and Pool in Newbridge and surrounding area.
As a non-profit making organisation we try to keep table rates as low as possible, currently €5/hour is charged. Membership fees are as follows Senior- €30, Junior and OAP’S €15.
The club has 8 full size Snooker tables and 4 Pool tables. Members can use the kitchen facilities to make tea and coffee and soft drinks and water are available from a vending machine.
An item of interest from the clubs past was in 1915 a two faced clock was ordered from Hopkins & Hopkins in Dublin which could be viewed from both the Snooker room and the Card room.
The delivery was to be in the spring of 1916 and when the clock didn’t arrive on time Hopkins & Hopkins were contacted and the club was told that our clock was in the GPO during the Rising and was most likely destroyed.
However, the clock was recovered from the GPO and was delivered to our club shortly afterwards.
If you need any more information on the club Contact Tony Thorpe 087 7709903
