Woking Snooker Centre is an important community hub – and it is vital it stays that way.

So said World Professional Billiards & Snooker Association chairman Jason Ferguson, who was at the club for the World Disability event.

The 54-year-old, who can often be seen on television dishing out the trophies to elite players such as Ronnie O’Sullivan, remembered playing at Woking Snooker Centre in pro-ams during the late 1980s.

And Ferguson said it is great to see the club is still running and how it has gone from strength to strength over the years.

Ferguson believes clubs such as Woking are few and far between and should be kept as they are for the local community, as well as hosting events. 

People come to Woking Snooker Centre to mingle with friends and family and play in tournaments.

Ferguson said it was a delicate balance between hosting external tournaments at the club and keeping the regular members happy.

He said: “We thank the regular members for inviting us here. 

“But it’s important that there are activities like this for people. It’s a balance.”

More than 80 players took part in the World Disability event at Woking. 

Ferguson was there to mingle with the regulars and external players.

There have been at least three World Disability events at the club since 2015.

Under the management of Peter Ruddick and his team, Woking Snooker Centre has put on handicap and scratch tournaments for regulars since 2021, having reopened after the pandemic.

Ferguson said that clubs such as Woking need to keep going in the interests of the local community and beyond.

He agreed that snooker clubs are the first places in line to be knocked down to make way for housing.

Six-times world champion Steve Davis, now retired, held an exhibition at Woking Snooker Centre  in the 1990s. 

Davis is now pursuing a career as a DJ alongside his role as a snooker pundit and a much-loved figure on television.