Snooker
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Hello,
I want to bring to your attention a snooker story that you may all be able to change. One that could have ramifications throughout Brighton & Hove and potentially the county of Sussex.
The place where I play snooker in the UK is under threat, and this threat comes from an unexpected source.
My local club, St Matthias Snooker Club, is an institution in the Brighton & Hove snooker scene. Built in 1929, on the grounds of St Matthias Church, in the Five Ways area of Brighton, it has been part of the community for 97 years.
Sadly, in 2026, without warning and without honouring long-standing commitments, St Matthias Church is attempting to evict the Club, putting its future and a vital community space at risk. This means that not only will club members (overwhelmingly male, many of whom are elderly) be left without a significant social outlet, but the community as a whole could also be deprived of a valuable resource.
Why I Am Posting This:
As members of the global snooker community, your love for the game (I hope) is pretty much eternal. Any injustice that the game faces (in all its forms) affects us all. You guys hold the power to change things, maybe without even realising it. This is why I am asking for your help. While this story may not be relevant to everyone, it is certainly critical to those who love and participate in the game. Snooker clubs do indeed go out of business every day, but this is different. St Matthias Snooker Club has maintained a good relationship with the church since its inception. In fact, the church and the club were built at roughly the same time. The Snooker Club has never defaulted on the rent, and there has never been an incident of drunkenness or antisocial behaviour in the 97-year history of the club.
This decision comes completely out of the blue and contradicts the community values espoused by the Anglican Church. The repercussions of the club being lost (even part of it) could reverberate through the county for years to come. The good work that local youth coaches, such as WPBSA Accredited Coach Kai Michael, could be significantly curtailed, and for many of the older gentlemen (some of whom have been members for more than 30 years), the church's stance could be catastrophic.
How You Can Help:
The club is reaching out to local news outlets in the hope that our story will be picked up. In the great scheme of things, this is a minor dispute but an important one nonetheless. If this club is allowed to close, or even have its facilities reduced, the entire structure of league snooker throughout the country may be affected. St Matthias currently operates five teams with various county leagues (and performs pretty well in some of them). Any change to the structure of the club reduces the number of teams we can put out, which weakens the league and excludes some members.
Brighton is famous within the UK snooker world because we currently boast the English Amateur Snooker Champion, Zak Richardson, and the English Under-14 Amateur Snooker Champion, Adam Abbas, both of whom have played at St Matthias Snooker Club. Several other up-and-coming snooker stars play at St Matthias, including Matthew Jameson, who, at just 11 years old, won the Brighton Under-18 Snooker Championship. Matthew recently made his first century break (113), proving his status as one of the area's top junior prospects.
Below, I have collated some valuable research material for your interest. I strongly urge you to read through the attached links and build a picture of the situation we are currently facing here in Brighton. I respectfully ask that you consider disseminating our plea to your snooker-playing friends. You may want to do this by announcing our predicament through your social media outlets and asking people to SIGN OUR PETITION on Change.org (listed below), and by forwarding this email to others in your circle.
We already have 1100 signatures, but that is not enough. With your help and the standing you have in the snooker community, our voice will be heard by church leaders. You may be sufficiently motivated to write to them yourself. I have posted their email addresses below. You may want to explain who you are, why this is a concern and why this decision could have far-reaching consequences on UK snooker in the future.
Please give this final point some thought. St Matthias Snooker Club may be small and relatively insignificant, but once it is gone, it is gone. Haven't we lost enough snooker clubs in the UK already? The fact that it could be lost due to the whims of the Anglican Church is, quite frankly, outrageous. We cannot allow this to happen.
We already have the local community on our side, but with your help, we could galvanise snooker fans throughout the country (and beyond) to take a stand.
Many thanks!
[If you need further clarification, please DM me]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read the full story on the Argus (local Brighton media outlet) website: https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/2608...hton-put-risk/
Sign the petition: https://www.change.org/p/save-st-mat...0-561d5371be0b
Contact St Matthias Church: The vicar at St Matthias is Tom Holbird; he is an approachable guy, and can be contacted by email: info@stmatthiasbrighton.org.
St Matthias Church official press release: https://www.stmatthiasbrighton.org/press-release
Contact the Anglican Diocese of Chichester: The head of the diocese is the Bishop of Chichester, The Rt Revd Dr Martin Warner: bishop@chichester.anglican.org
Contact The Archdeacon of Brighton & Lewes: The Venerable Martin Lloyd Williams: archbandl@chichester.anglican.org. The PA to the Archdeacon of Brighton & Lewes is Marc Sacher, who may be contacted by email at: Marc.Sacher@chichester.anglican.org
View the EPSB English Amateur Snooker Championship Final 2025, featuring Zak Richardson, on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIktTrPpJho.
Read about English Under-14 Amateur Champion Adam Abbas on the EPSB website: https://www.epsb.co.uk/adam-abbas-is...r-14-champion/
I want to bring to your attention a snooker story that you may all be able to change. One that could have ramifications throughout Brighton & Hove and potentially the county of Sussex.
The place where I play snooker in the UK is under threat, and this threat comes from an unexpected source.
My local club, St Matthias Snooker Club, is an institution in the Brighton & Hove snooker scene. Built in 1929, on the grounds of St Matthias Church, in the Five Ways area of Brighton, it has been part of the community for 97 years.
Sadly, in 2026, without warning and without honouring long-standing commitments, St Matthias Church is attempting to evict the Club, putting its future and a vital community space at risk. This means that not only will club members (overwhelmingly male, many of whom are elderly) be left without a significant social outlet, but the community as a whole could also be deprived of a valuable resource.
Why I Am Posting This:
As members of the global snooker community, your love for the game (I hope) is pretty much eternal. Any injustice that the game faces (in all its forms) affects us all. You guys hold the power to change things, maybe without even realising it. This is why I am asking for your help. While this story may not be relevant to everyone, it is certainly critical to those who love and participate in the game. Snooker clubs do indeed go out of business every day, but this is different. St Matthias Snooker Club has maintained a good relationship with the church since its inception. In fact, the church and the club were built at roughly the same time. The Snooker Club has never defaulted on the rent, and there has never been an incident of drunkenness or antisocial behaviour in the 97-year history of the club.
This decision comes completely out of the blue and contradicts the community values espoused by the Anglican Church. The repercussions of the club being lost (even part of it) could reverberate through the county for years to come. The good work that local youth coaches, such as WPBSA Accredited Coach Kai Michael, could be significantly curtailed, and for many of the older gentlemen (some of whom have been members for more than 30 years), the church's stance could be catastrophic.
How You Can Help:
The club is reaching out to local news outlets in the hope that our story will be picked up. In the great scheme of things, this is a minor dispute but an important one nonetheless. If this club is allowed to close, or even have its facilities reduced, the entire structure of league snooker throughout the country may be affected. St Matthias currently operates five teams with various county leagues (and performs pretty well in some of them). Any change to the structure of the club reduces the number of teams we can put out, which weakens the league and excludes some members.
Brighton is famous within the UK snooker world because we currently boast the English Amateur Snooker Champion, Zak Richardson, and the English Under-14 Amateur Snooker Champion, Adam Abbas, both of whom have played at St Matthias Snooker Club. Several other up-and-coming snooker stars play at St Matthias, including Matthew Jameson, who, at just 11 years old, won the Brighton Under-18 Snooker Championship. Matthew recently made his first century break (113), proving his status as one of the area's top junior prospects.
Below, I have collated some valuable research material for your interest. I strongly urge you to read through the attached links and build a picture of the situation we are currently facing here in Brighton. I respectfully ask that you consider disseminating our plea to your snooker-playing friends. You may want to do this by announcing our predicament through your social media outlets and asking people to SIGN OUR PETITION on Change.org (listed below), and by forwarding this email to others in your circle.
We already have 1100 signatures, but that is not enough. With your help and the standing you have in the snooker community, our voice will be heard by church leaders. You may be sufficiently motivated to write to them yourself. I have posted their email addresses below. You may want to explain who you are, why this is a concern and why this decision could have far-reaching consequences on UK snooker in the future.
Please give this final point some thought. St Matthias Snooker Club may be small and relatively insignificant, but once it is gone, it is gone. Haven't we lost enough snooker clubs in the UK already? The fact that it could be lost due to the whims of the Anglican Church is, quite frankly, outrageous. We cannot allow this to happen.
We already have the local community on our side, but with your help, we could galvanise snooker fans throughout the country (and beyond) to take a stand.
Many thanks!
[If you need further clarification, please DM me]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read the full story on the Argus (local Brighton media outlet) website: https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/2608...hton-put-risk/
Sign the petition: https://www.change.org/p/save-st-mat...0-561d5371be0b
Contact St Matthias Church: The vicar at St Matthias is Tom Holbird; he is an approachable guy, and can be contacted by email: info@stmatthiasbrighton.org.
St Matthias Church official press release: https://www.stmatthiasbrighton.org/press-release
Contact the Anglican Diocese of Chichester: The head of the diocese is the Bishop of Chichester, The Rt Revd Dr Martin Warner: bishop@chichester.anglican.org
Contact The Archdeacon of Brighton & Lewes: The Venerable Martin Lloyd Williams: archbandl@chichester.anglican.org. The PA to the Archdeacon of Brighton & Lewes is Marc Sacher, who may be contacted by email at: Marc.Sacher@chichester.anglican.org
View the EPSB English Amateur Snooker Championship Final 2025, featuring Zak Richardson, on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIktTrPpJho.
Read about English Under-14 Amateur Champion Adam Abbas on the EPSB website: https://www.epsb.co.uk/adam-abbas-is...r-14-champion/
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If you are willing to help, the petition can be found here: https://www.change.org/p/save-st-matthias-snooker-club-c21b5f64-c4a9-45c5-b920-561d5371be0b
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Good luck Mr berger.
I was down in Brighton last month, great to see the place thriving Local community activity is important to folks well being, and seems a shame to be faced with loss of such a community asset, going way beyond just the snooker community. |