Champions kick off defence with a win, but Baggeridge are the early leaders

Snooker returned to the region this week as the 85th Staffs & West Midlands League season kicked off after the summer hiatus.

Baggeridge Social Club are the early leaders in Division One after a thumping 5-0 whitewash victory over Shifnal War Memorial B.

Jamie Spence made a 44 break to kick off the proceedings as he won alongside Dan Petch, Eliott Bastable, Ade Ojelay and James Hill.

Defending champions Hotshots opened with a tricky tie at home to 2024 champions Stafford Institute, with the big question being can they retain the title after the loss of last year's Individual Championship finalist Paul Deaville, who moved to Wednesfield Cons in the summer.

Visitors Stafford got off to the perfect start as Callum Kendall and Mitchell Lowbridge drove them to a 2-0 lead, but Hotshots are champions for a reason and came back to win the match thanks to Karl Ashmore, Callum Downing and Jamie Brown.

The highest quality match in Division One last week was at Shifnal War Memorial.

Tom Maxfield made a 30 break to win the opening frame as Shifnal A faced Landywood A, and Matthew Davies made it 2-0. Bal Sembi won the next frame on the black as the score moved to 2-1, before a 48 break from John Fallows sealed the match for Shifnal. The final frame was a cracker as Michael Brezwyn made a 49 break as he looked to make it 4-1, but a 44 break from Adrian Rosa was enough to win the frame on the black as the match finished Shifnal A 3 Landywood A 2.

Newly-promoted Beaconsfield got an early taste of how tough the top flight will be after losing 3-2 at Pennfields, who narrowly avoided relegation last season.

The opening frame was a high-scoring affair as Beaconsfield's Billy Lanham made a 32 break, however it was not enough as Colin Reade made a 40 break to secure a 1-0 lead for the home side. Wins from Jason Hickman and Simon Thomas secured the match for Pennfields before Kelvin Li and Mike Beasley won their frames to make the scoreline respectable at 3-2. Beasley made the league's highest break of the week as his effort of 60 accounted for the final frame.

It was an August Bank Holiday start for snooker teams as the Challenge Cup marked the return to action after the summer break, and it was Paul Geary who provided the performance of the evening as he made breaks of 46 and 39 to lead Landywood B into the next round at the expense of Poets Corner C.

Elsewhere in the Challenge Cup, Division Four side Goodyear stunned Division One's Beaconsfield in a dominant display to emerge 453-315 winners.