Drinking friend’s poignant memento of snooker ace

A DRINKING pal of Hurricane Higgins clasped a hand-written note from the snooker ace yesterday as he toasted his friend and hero.

Scribbled on the back of a crumpled betting docket, it was a list of shopping the ailing snooker star had asked Noel Cairns to get for him only days before he died.

With tears in his eyes, his childhood friend said: “Close to the end he couldn’t speak, he had to write everything down.

“He signed the note ‘Your pal Alex’.

“This will always be very special to me now.”

Mr Cairns joined other local people inside the Royal Bar to raise a glass by the empty seat where Higgins spent so many nights.

The pub is in the heart of the Sandy Row area of Belfast where the mercurial legend of the game grew up. It stands opposite the sheltered housing block where he was found dead yesterday.

Those inside knew the controversial Higgins through the good times and the bad.

“He will be remembered as the greatest snooker player that ever lived. He was a great friend of mine, a great friend,” said 65-year-old Mr Cairns, who used to play snooker with Higgins in the old Jampot club off the Donegall Road before the snooker ace hit the big time.

Ravaged by cancer, Higgins still signed autographs for fans as he drank in the Royal on the traditional Twelfth of July holiday less than two weeks ago.

Darren Betty, another local man, said: “He was George Best with a snooker cue.”