British Open Championship 1987

In about 1987 The Simonis Cloth company Sponsored The British Open Pool Championship to the tune of £10,000 needless to say some Sheppey players Fancied their chance’s, At that time my self and Malc Fisher represented Sheppey on the KCPA committee and obtained some entry forms, The EPA were allocated 37 places for the finals of this event to be shared between the seven regions, The other 59 places were shared between WPA, SPA, NIPA, BAPTO, And the PPPO. The event started at County level on a home & away basis, Ray Farbrother, Tony Gray, And Rob Montgomery had all won a place in the Kent Finals to be played at PooLLand Ramsgate, It was around about Easter time on a Sunday morning A day i will never forget and not for the Quality of the pool played, I took the three Sheppey men down to Pooland in my Ex army mini bus albeit was now painted white, This bus had been used to ferry around squaddies not much different than pool players, It doubled up as a van, The long bench seats down both sides could be folded up to make a large floor space, We get to Poolland the players register and the draw was made, The three Sheppey lads were drawn into different groups, And as expected All three players went on to win their group and so qualify for the Region 7 finals To be played at Portsmouth in June,

Now anyone that had been to Poolland will know they served a wicked cottage pie in individual ceramic dishes top with baked beans, They were moreish and T.G & R.M had consumed some of the said pies over the day, Along with a large amount of larger, No sooner had we got in the bus to come home when T.G let one go closely followed by one from R.M now i knew these two were very competitive, But Jesus, What ensued i can only describe as an horrendous FARTING CONTEST, We had only gone a few miles when i was over come by toxic fumes and had to stop and get out of the bus, I tried to drive with the window open but that made it worse for me as the fumes were drawn to the open window, My eyes were watering and my nostril’s were burning and those two were on the floor of the bus (probable the best place to be) Rolling about laughing and seemed to be Farting on demand, By the time we got back to Sheppey my mini bus was like a methane gas bottle on wheels, Farbee was slumped in the corner at the back of the bus his head buried in his pullover, I have never known anything like it, They bloody near killed me and Farbee.

JVA's “The pool years”