About ICU Snooker

Before you can play snooker, you need to join the club and have a membership card. Your card will have a unique membership number on it that is required to obtain two keys to the equipment lockers in the snooker rooms. The keys are kept in the security office at the entrance of Beit Quadrangle.

Obtaining a set of keys

If you wish to play, ask the security guard on duty for the keys to the table you wish to play on. Hand your membership card to the security guard and sign out the keys by filling in your details in the book provided.

The key numbered 1, 2, 3 or 4 will open two lockers in the snooker rooms: one containing cues and rests, and the other containing a set of snooker balls and chalk. The key labelled 5 will open a further locker containing other equipment.

In the interests of security, please ensure that you are playing on the same table as indicated by the set of keys. No member may play on a table without first signing out a set of keys even if he/she uses his/her own equipment, except committee members for designated tournaments and events. The committee and patrolling security guards reserve the right to ask you to stop playing if you have not signed out a set of keys.

Returning the keys

When you have finished playing, please return all club cues, rests, snooker balls and chalk to their respective lockers, ensuring that the lockers are locked before you leave. Hand the keys back to the security guard in the security lodge, who will return your membership card, and sign your name against the details you wrote in the book earlier to indicate that you have returned the keys.

If the security office is locked and there are no security guards nearby, you may drop the keys through the letterbox on the door to the office and come back later to collect your membership card.

Swapping membership cards

Frequently, members will wait for a snooker table to become free before they can play so it is inconvenient to then return to the security lodge to collect and sign out the keys to that table.

In these instances, the member who wishes to play next should give his/her membership card to the person who is leaving the table. That person should then go to the security office, swap the membership cards with the security guard on duty, sign in the keys as above and sign out the keys again using the membership number of the person with whom you swapped the keys.

This way, only those playing on the snooker tables have signed out a set of keys and the security guards can easily check whether or not the tables are being misused.

If the security office is locked, please wait for a security guard to arrive. Please avoid leaving without swapping membership cards as this causes problems later on. If you have waited for a while, you may phone the main security office using the phone next to the door of the security lodge to ask for an officer to return.

Equipment

In the snooker rooms, you will find all the equipment you need: cues, rests, spiders and even a swan. Please take care with club equipment! Show courtesy to other club members by not damaging the equipment—it is expensive and the club may not have the funds available for replacements. The club does not charge a lot for membership because we trust you to be responsible in your use of equipment, so please be fair to everyone who uses the facilities.

Booking a table

Tables 2, 3 and 4 can be booked in advance. There is a booking sheet on the wall by each table where you can write your name and membership number in the slot you wish to play in. To be fair to all players, you may only have two outstanding one-hour slots booked at any one time. Abuse of this facility will result in your booking privileges being revoked.

The snooker rooms get very busy at lunchtimes and Wednesday afternoons during term time. To ensure that you play when you want to, it is recommended that you book a table in advance, especially in the case of League matches!

Table 1 cannot be booked. Committee and team members may use the table at any time. Other members may play on Table 1 when it is free but if a committee or team member is waiting to use it, we ask that you please finish your game as quickly as possible.

Lockers

There are a limited number of tall and short lockers available for members who have their own cue and wish to keep it at the club. Members may rent one for £5 for the year. Please contact us to check availability and arrange key collection.

So that everyone can enjoy playing snooker, we ask you to observe a few rules when in the snooker rooms:

• Please only strike the white ball. Striking the other balls makes them dirty and can damage them.
• If a table has been booked and there is someone waiting to play on the table you are on, please finish your game as soon as possible and within five minutes of the booking time. Remember that people book tables to play when they want to!
• Please respect all the players in the snooker rooms by keeping noise at a reasonable level.
• You may eat and drink in the snooker rooms but please keep food and drink away from the tables.
• The Union is a non-smoking building, so please do not smoke in the snooker rooms.

Table covers

We also ask that you cover the table you are playing on after you have finished if nobody is waiting to play on it. Replacing the table cover only takes a few seconds but it will extend the lifetime of the cloth greatly, making it better to play on.

The cloths have a nap, the direction of the fibres that comprise the baize surface, similar to a carpet. To maintain the quality of the cloth, the tables are brushed or ironed in the direction of the nap. It is the same principle for removing and replacing the table covers: the covers should be pulled down the nap towards the top of the table, at the black spot end. If the covers are pulled against the nap—towards the baulk end of the table—the cloth may become damaged, so please avoid replacing the covers in this way.

When you remove the covers from the tables, please ensure that they are folded neatly and placed on a chair—not on the floor—so that they can be replaced quickly and with ease.

Please remember to cover the tables after use. The covers protect the tables from accumulating dust and help to maintain a good playing surface for everyone.

You can subscribe to the ICU Snooker mailing list by entering your email address or College username in the box below!

Email address:

 

Please note that club members are automatically added to the mailing list.