Search for more ‘lost’ trophies continues
A cup named after a Hull snooker stalwart has been returned to his daughter, poignantly on the 39th anniversary of his death. Patricia Dyble was delighted to have the silverware back in her keeping, albeit temporarily, as the Stan Dyble Trophy may once again be competed for in the city.
The custodian of a number of old snooker and billiards and cups, Ian Greaves, of west Hull, previously told Hull Live how the collection was “too beautiful to scrap”. His story about finding a suitable, permanent home for the cups sparked lots of interest and brought a host of responses and suggestions from readers.
Ian said: “After the story in the paper Pat Dyble contacted me about the Stan Dyble Trophy. Pat is the daughter of the late Hull Daily Mail employee Stan, who sponsored one of the Hull Independent League snooker competitions.
“Pat was delighted to be reunited with the cup, as the memories of her father’s snooker flooded back to her. It was especially poignant as the day the cup was returned to her was the 39th anniversary of her father’s death, a lovely Christmas present for her.”
Ian said: “Pat has asked that she keeps the cup for the time being but will return the cup to the snooker fraternity in Hull, who are looking to rekindle interest in competitions for the cups that have been returned to their keeping. For the time being, the plan is to build a separate trophy display cabinet in the Clarence Snooker Club for all the cups.
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“Meanwhile, we continue to search for many of the other cups that have been ‘lost’ over the years.” The cups for snooker and billiards, some dating back more than 100 years, came into the hands of custodian Ian after their caretaker, Malcolm Acaster, moved away from the area.
Ian, a long-time employee and snooker columnist for the Hull Daily Mail, said previously: “I had a wonderful few years covering our local players playing in amateur tournaments across the country and even running our Hull Daily Mail Snooker tournament with Malcolm Acaster – who was the only player to hold the Yorkshire champion and the Yorkshire Handicap titles at the same time. For a number of years I wrote a snooker column in the Mail, alongside Malcolm.
“He recently moved away from the area and he asked me to take care of some of the snooker trophies from, mainly, the Independent snooker league.” Ian was concerned that the trophies, with huge historical value because of their links to the sport of billiards and snooker in Hull, should not end up in the melting pot.
His fear was that, with the decline in the number of snooker clubs locally, there might not be “much of an appetite to hold obscure historical artefacts”. He set out to find them a permanent home, with the help of local author and historian Paul Gibson and Hull Live readers.