TRIBUTE: Peterborough's '˜Mr Pool' passes away

Ron Nesbitt pictured at a Peterborough Pool Association sponsorship presentation at Rileys in Eastfield Road. From the left are Sarah Cook, Ron Nesbitt, Tom Hall, Jamie Stokes, Liz Disney and Carly Smith.

Ron, who was 69 years-old and lived at Longthorpe, dedicated 40 years of his life to pool and the last 30 of them were spent in Peterborough.

After retiring from the police force in the North of England, Ron and his wife Pauline entered the licensing trade and he soon became passionate about the game of pool.

His first pub was the Painted Wagon in Sunderland and from there he helped form a league in the town.

Ron Nesbitt is pictured at the donation of a new pool table to the Young Persons Foyer in Peterborough by Steve Drinkwater. Ron was chairman of the Axiom Residents Association at the time and Carly Smith was the European ladies champion. From the left are Steve Drinkwater, Carly Smith and Ron Nesbitt.

When he left the area in the 1970s to move south to Cambridge they named the league after him. It became the Ronnie Nesbitt Friendly Pool League.

When he arrived in Cambridge only one pub had a pool table. That was the King’s Arms.

Ron, who managed The Still and Sugar Loaf, soon set about changing that and a Cambridge League was quickly formed.

In the early 1980s, Ron took his passion further and joined the English Pool Association (EPA) committee. In 1986 he became their Region 4 Director and was the driving force behind the Cambridgeshire county team.

His next move took him to the Eastfield Club in Peterborough and he joined the Peterborough Pool Association (PPA). He served the PPA as chairman for many years and helped develop it into a massive league comprising over 100 teams.

He continued to work with the Cambridgeshire teams and became county chairman.

He also spent a great deal of time establishing Peterborough and county youth teams and many of them, including England international Becky Watkins, are still playing at the top of their game today.

Ron is survived by his wife Pauline of 49 years and his daughter Patricia along with six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

His funeral is on September 23 at 10am at Peterborough Crematorium followed by a wake at The Court, Peterborough.

The Court will be holding a charity cup competition in Ron’s memory on October 23. More details are available at the club.