A new initiative aiming to give people with a disability the chance to play snooker

Snooker for Health and Friendship first launched in September based at the YMCA East London in Forest Road, Walthamstow.

The club offers two-hour weekly snooker sessions open to people of all ages and experience levels and now has more than 20 members.

Thessa Mac, one of the club’s organisers, got involved after her son, David, discovered the sport.

She said: “It is a joy and inspirational to see people having so much fun together.

“Already we have seen some amazing stories, including players who are blind or have profound learning disabilities that have come along and actively wanted to be involved and to try snooker themselves.

“The numbers are continuing to rise and it is fantastic to see people with such a wide-range of disabilities coming together to play snooker.

“We are also especially grateful to their carers and the wonderful job that they do to support them.”

The project is organised by the Motivate East project, YMCA volunteers and funded by WheelPower, a wheelchair sport charity based at Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace of the Paralympic movement.

It is also being supported snooker’s governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), which has donated three tables to be used during sessions.

The WPBSA set up World Disability Billiards & Snooker (WDBS) in 2015 in a bid to offer people with disabilities more opportunities to play the sport.

The club hopes some of its members will qualify for WDBS events in the future.

WPBSA sport development manager, Chris Hornby, said: “It is great to see the development of this snooker group in the YMCA in Walthamstow.

“Thessa and David have been so passionate about the sport at our WDBS events so to be able to give them the opportunity to share the passion within their local community has been very rewarding for us all.”