The Durham County teams opened out their programme in the Region One Inter-Counties Championship when they entertained the very strong South Yorkshire sides at Chester-le-Street and were rather unfortunate to finish with only one victory from the three games.

However, new ladies captain, Clare Tritton spoke for the County Association and said: "It was a good start where a few first match nerves affected the results. However, on behalf of all the County organisers, I would like to congratulate everyone for their performance. Now it's up to us - let's keep it going!"

The men's' A team put up a very strong fight and were just unlucky to go down by a couple of frames at 21-23. However there were very pleasing results from Adrian Daniels and Ian Staines, who both made three wins from their four matches.

The men's B team scored a convincing victory by 26 frames to 18 over their very competent South Yorkshire counterparts. Darren Jones proved the star of this win when he took all four points from his four outings. Lee Holdsworth, Barry Patterson, Andy Seal and Andrew Morley, who all made three wins from their four matches, ably supported Darren Jones' maximum.

The Ladies team got away to a very slow start in the first two rounds of matches but made a recovery in the latter two to indicate that they have the potential to be successful as the season draws on. Vicky Fleming, who complained of new season nerves before the match, pulled out all the stops to win all four of her games. The second half recovery by all the team closed the gap but left Durham trailing by 24 frames to 20, a very good performance in the circumstances.

Bishop Auckland Area League

Ferryhill Station Eldon Arms announced this week that they are unable to continue in the league as they cannot guarantee that they can muster enough players each week to make a team. The league will continue as normal and those teams who are scheduled to play the Eldon Arms will have a free week. All those teams who have already played them have had the scores for those matches deducted.

The leading places in the race for the Player of the Year title has Dean Mains of the Voltigeur with 22 wins from 26 played; Darren Briggs from the Voltigeur 20 from 26; Steven Webb from the Manor 18 from 20; Andrew Tuesday from the King's Head 16 from 22 and Phil Young from the Grand B 15 from 19.

The above statistics do not include the latest results: Bishop Auckland Grand B 3 (2) Bishop Auckland Derby 10 (8); Bishop Auckland Green Tree 4 (3) Bishop Auckland Bay Horse 9 (7); Spennymoor Voltigeur 11 (8) Spennymoor Hillingdon 2 (2).

Willington League

Hunwick Quarry found their new name, having dropped the Burn at the end, a lucky omen as they travelled to the Prospect Club and took all three doubles points to clinch their victory after the singles had been shared. The Quarry raced into a three points lead by taking the first three singles through Alan Dobson, David Edmundson and Dave Alderson but Lane Sample, Ces Atkinson and Keith Hirst took the next three for the Prospect before the visitors began their doubles blitz.

Hunwick Club entertained Sunnybrow Brown Trout and edged through to an odd point victory. Ian Richardson, making a welcome return after a long injury kept him out, put the Club ahead but the Trout then took three in a row through Alex Simpson, Harry Sewell and Ian Stoker. The Club pulled up level with wins from Jimmy Wragg and Tommy Stott and went to victory when they took two of the three doubles.

Willington Brewer's Droop A lead the table by 15 points from Hunwick Club, who have a match in hand, and Hunwick Quarry. Willington Lion and Unicorn are a further five points adrift.

Results: Willington Brewer's Droop A 8 Willington Brewer's Droop B 1; Prospect Club 3 Hunwick Quarry 6; Hunwick Club 5 Sunnybrow Brown Trout 4; Willington Cottles A 6 Willington Cottles B 3.

Bishop Auckland League

The annual meeting of the League will be held in Bishop Auckland King's Head at 8pm on Tuesday, January 28 when all former members are invited to renew their membership. There are also vacancies for any new teams interested in joining.

The league plays to the World Rules with matches on Thursday evenings. The format of the matches is ten singles frames, one doubles frame and two captain's frames. Besides the standard league fixtures there is a team knock out cup, a singles championship and a doubles championship.

Any team requiring any further information should contact the league secretary, Russell Place on 01388 603643. All teams intending to compete in the league must be represented at the Annual General Meeting.

Spennymoor League

The new season started with eighteen teams competing and the first match saw a great clearance from Jeff Brown of Spennymoor Football Club. The footballers were entertaining newcomers, Spennymoor Hillingdon B when Steve Hunter broke off for the visitors. This proved his only shot as Jeff pulled out his best to clear the table.

The footballers went on to complete a very good victory with Billy McAloon, Ian Dixon, Colin Casey and Shaun Wall adding to Jeff Brown's singles. Keith Waterhouse and Keith Main took the first doubles for the Hillingdon but Steve Horner and Jeff Brown took the second for the home side. Steve Hunter won the captain's for the Hillingdon when he beat Billy McAloon.

League secretary, Steve Roy wishes to remind all teams, particularly those in their first season, that scorecards have to be into the Half Moon by noon on Saturday following the match.

Results: Spennymoor Pit Laddie 0 Spennymoor Quinns Inn 8; Ferryhill White Horse 3 Spennymoor Railway A 5; Spennymoor Football Club 6 Spennymoor Hillingdon B 2; Spennymoor Half Moon 4 Spennymoor Victoria 4; Spennymoor Hillingdon A 4 Spennymoor Voltigeur 4; Spennymoor Railway B 2 Spennymoor Salvin Arms 6. There were no results from Spennymoor Ash Tree v Spennymoor Black Horse; Spennymoor Crown v Low Spennymoor Victoria or Spennymoor North Eastern v Coxhoe Red Lion.

Teesdale League

sponsored by Newcastle Breweries

Division One

Ancient Unicorn 4 Montalbo Hotel 5; Bowes Moor Hotel 7 Rugby Club A 2; Coach & Horses 3 Jersey Farm Hotel 6; Glaxo Club 2 Cricketer's Arms A 7; Langdon Beck Hotel 6 Fox Hall Inn 3; Rose & Crown 3 Folly's Club 6.

Division Two

Barnard Castle WMC 2 Black Horse 7; Bowes WMC 4 Blacksmith's Arms 5; Bridge Inn 5 Four Alls 4; Cricketer's Arms B 6 Rugby Club B 3; Golden Lion 5 Smallways Inn 4; Royal Star 6 Three Tuns 3.

Durham and District League

Results: Coxhoe WM Club 6 Framwellgate Moor Marquis of Granby 7; Daisy Hill 8 Cooperage 5; D.L.I. 8 Ushaw Moor Catholic Club 4; Esh McKenna's 3 Hare and Greyhound 10; Bowburn Oak Tree 8 Woodman 5; Durham Snooker Club 10 Three Horse Shoes 3; White Tun 4 Stateside 9. Ushaw Moor Flass Inn v Winnings postponed.

* The next League Meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 7, when all teams must be represented.

Durham Ranking Tournament

Oagain the Ranking Tournament will be held on Sundays in Durham Snooker Club. The dates have already been worked out with an aim to avoiding all major pool events such as County matches and the Reighton Sands weekends. Unfortunately, some of the dates will clash with Superleague matches, although players involved could be finished in time to play in this league. There is a clash with events in the International Pool Tour, which includes North-East players Michael Rhodes, Chris Bowran, Dave Hodgson, David Craggs and Stevie Thompson.

The dates organised for each months qualisfier are January 26, February 23, March 30, April 20, May 25, June 29, July 27, August 31, Spetember 28 and October 19.

This year's event will be sponsored by Carling with the total amount being arranged in the near future.