SNOOKER players are set to take their cue in a bid to win a memorial trophy in honour of a player who died last year.

Scores of contestants are set to compete for the Barry Parkinson Memorial Trophy in the coming weeks.

Barry, 47, died last July after he collapsed at the home he shared with his fiancee, Sharon Crossley. He had suffered a brain haemorrhage.

Although he was treated at Salford's Hope Hospital for five days, Barry never regained consciousness.

Following his death, former football playing pals rallied round and held a charity match between Bolton Recreation and Arkwrights clubs, to raise money in his memory.

The cash helped buy the special trophy in memory of snooker-mad Barry, which is set to be competed for in the Bolton snooker league. Barry's sister-in-law, Norma Heyes, said: "The trophy is helping to keep his memory alive. He was such a well-known figure in the snooker world.

"There is no better lasting reminder of Barry than the trophy which they will soon play for."

The trophy was handed over to representatives of Bolton's snooker league during a special charity night which was held at Halliwell Conservative Club.

Barry's relatives used the remaining cash, raised from the charity soccer match, to etch a picture of Barry carrying his snooker cue, onto his gravestone in Heaton cemetery.

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