Talent Spotting
The Pontin's famous Lt. Col Sir Walter Rowley Junior Festival is taking place for the next week at Pontin's Prestatyn Holiday Centre.
The event, which dates back to 1977, always attracts hoardes of hopeful youngsters with dreams and aspirations of reaching the top of their sport.
They are split across three age groups, 8-11, 12-15 and 16-20. They will play round robin groups, which gives the players real value for money and plenty of snooker on the table.
The qualifiers progress to the knock out draws and whoever comes through to win will have earned his title and may well be a name to watch for the future.
The original event was an Under 16s and the first winner in 1977 was Tony Meo, who beat his friend and practice partner Jimmy White 3-2.
Jimmy White bounced back to win the title the following year.
The Roll of Honour reads like a Who's Who of snooker with many illustrious names winning one of the titles down the years.
1981 saw a lanky John Parrott win and moving on 1987 Rod Lawler beat a young Ronnie O'Sullivan 3-0 to take the honours. O'Sullivan, in turn, beat a diminutive David Gray in 1990.
Mark Williams (pictured with Matthew Stevens) got his hands on the trophy in 1991 and in 1994 another future world champion, Shuan Murphy won.
Recent winners have produced some tips for the future including Jack Lisowski and Michael White.
Last year's Under 16s winner was Irish lad Jason Devaney, who went on to win the Junior Pot Black title at the Crucible, beating the same opponent, Duane Jones.
in 2008 the 16-20 winner was Adam Duffy, currently the Paul Hunter Scholar at the WSA Academy in Sheffield, and in the 8-11s, Shane Castle (Pictured) is the title holder.
