Snooker club takes its cue from Santa

EMERGENCY services have pocketed a Christmas gift to remember thanks to the generosity of a local snooker club.

Staff at the Scottish Ambulance Service depot on West School Road had a visit from their very own Santa Claus in the shape of Chris Carroll of the Tivoli Snooker Club in the Hilltown.

Chris arrived at the depot with a new pool table for paramedics, ambulance drivers and other staff to use on their downtime.

He said: “I’m mates with one of the ambulance drivers, Alan McMillan, and I learned through him that the pool table in their off duty lounge was a bit the worse for wear.

“I was asked if I could maybe have it repaired but I was happy instead to donate them one from the club that was in much better condition.

“I just wanted to do this by way of a thank you.

“They are all frontline workers who have been working hard right through Covid-19.

“They deserve this for everything they have done for all of us throughout the pandemic.”

Robin Yule, acting patient transport services manager, said everyone at the station was overwhelmed by Chris’s gesture.

He said: “We are all over the moon at this amazing gift from Chris and the guys at the Tivoli Snooker Club.

“We just can’t thank them enough for the gift and for the support they have shown us.

“The pool table is regularly used by everyone when they get some downtime between jobs.

“The old one was in a bit of a state so it’s brilliant to get this new one to play on.”

Robin added: “Everyone in Dundee has been very generous and supportive of us throughout Covid.

“We have had lots of small gifts and thanks and it’s great to know that our efforts have been appreciated.”

Alan said: “I got a private message from Chris out of the blue asking if we at the ambulance service could make use of a pool table by way of thanks for our work throughout the pandemic.

“I told him we already had one but it was in a state of disrepair.

“I sent him some photos and he said rather than repair our old table he would replace it free of charge.

“This is an amazing gesture by Chris. We are over the moon with our new table.”

Davie Cumming, of Tayside Snooker Services, helped to install the table.

He said: “Chris said he wanted to donate the table to the guys at the station and we were more than happy to help out.

“They have worked so hard on the front line so it has been great to be able to give them this as a wee thanks for all their hard work.”