Keith Auld
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Tim Dunkley Reports.......
Keith
Auld
SURROUNDED by wood shavings
and half-finished snooker cues in a First World War Nissen Hut in Locks Heath,
Keith Auld says he feels like a 20-year-old again.
A
life-threatening illness forced the Hampshire cue expert to sell all his
equipment and dispose of his premises in 2007.
But
a new specialist and a change of medication gave Auld “a new lease of life”.
He
said: “After one week I thought ‘what a waste of time. This is another load
of rubbish that they’re shoving down my throat’.
“After
two weeks, I felt a whole lot different. After three weeks it was like the magic
bullet.
“I
felt like 20-years-old again. It was just incredible.”
Reflecting
on his illness, the 59-year-old, who has been making, modifying and repairing
cues for 30 years, said: “I got to the stage where I could make cues but I
couldn’t finish them.
“I
wasn’t going to turn out shoddy stuff so I decided it was time to retire.
“I’d
got rid of my workshop; I’d got rid of all my equipment. It was horrible. It
was 30 years of my life going down the pan.”
But
now, thanks to a chance meeting with old friend Bob Jones in Park Gate Royal
British Legion, Auld has set up shop again in a fully fitted out wooden Nissen
Hut heated by a log-burning stove just round the corner from his home in Locks
Heath.
Jones,
a keen wood turner, offered Auld the use of his workshop.
Auld
said he was “absolutely amazed” when he saw it.
“It’s
fitted out to the gunwales,” he explained. “It’s bigger and better than
any workshop I’ve ever had in my life.
“That
joy countered the feeling of horror and disgust when I gave it up. I’m making
cues better than I’ve ever done.
“He
said ‘Keith, you can have it for as long as you like’.
“He’s
a gem. I’ve made him a cue as a ‘thank you’.”
_____________________________________
CUE doctor Keith Auld has
had professional snooker players crying down his phone in the middle of the
night.
Originally
based in Wimbledon, South London, Auld moved to Locks Heath in 1990.
He
has made cues for Jimmy White, Stephen Lee and many other top players.
In
fact, Tony Meo won the 1989 British Open with an Auld cue.
“A
cue is very personal,” he said.
“If
you break it, you’re going to miss it. It’s something which becomes an
intrinsic part of you - like having an arm.
“I
used to get them phoning me up in tears at two o’clock in the morning.”
Auld,
who featured on BBC TV’s South Today in 2006, advises players not to leave
cues in their cars.
He
said: “If you leave them in extreme temperatures, cold or hot, the joint will
fall out or the ferrule will become loose.
“The
wood will react to the temperature in a different way to the metal.”
Auld’s
son Danny, now an estate agent, was a professional in the 1990s. His other son
Jimmy was also a fine player.
Auld
himself has played a couple of matches (won one and lost one) this season for
Park Gate RBL B, who lead the Southampton & District Social Clubs League’s
Premier division.
Team
captain Paul Tavender said: “Keith’s a nice guy who tries his hardest when
he has helped us out.”
_____________________________
IN THE mid 1980s, Dave
Mumford turned up without his cue at Chalkies in Eastleigh for a game with Dave
Ashley.
The
late Jim Watts leant him a one-piece ash cue.
“I
made a 120, 101 and 90 in the first three frames,” Mumford recalled.
He
bought the cue for £30.
Years
later, after problems with the ferrule, Mumford asked Keith Auld to lengthen it
and turn it into a three-piece.
He
said: “The cue was special to me and Keith knew that. To this day, it has
never let me down. He is thorough and a good craftsman.”
___________________
THERE’S not much that
Keith Auld can’t do to a snooker cue.
As
well as hand-making them and repairing splits, he can lengthen, shorten,
straighten and re-joint cues.
Auld
prefers meeting clients face to face in his Nissen Hut in Locks Heath.