Letter to the editor: My husband Archie Wood, also known as Arthur, passed away in June after a long illness. He had Alzheimer’s disease.

He was a well known butcher in the Orpington, Bromley and Mottingham area.

When Arthur was young, he was a keen speedway enthusiast and later took up snooker and billiards.

When he came out of the Army he took up Latin American dancing and was a member of Frank and Peggy Spencer’s formation team and enjoyed every minute of it.

When we met, he gave up dancing and went back to snooker and won many trophies and then became a referee for both snooker and billiards.

The Kent County Billiard and Snooker Association was formed in 1979 and, with the help of the current chairman David Jenner and the secretary Richard Field, a book of membership details was produced in the late 1990s. There were 361 names who had at some time or other been active.

The fact that Archie’s entry was number five indicates his rating as one of the longest serving referees and, indeed, as a competitor having won the referee’s competition in 1989 and coming runner up in 1993.

The current billiards trophy bears Archie’s name in recognition of his prowess.

When he retired from that discipline in 2011, he was one of only two certificated billiard referees in the county.

He served on the association’s committee for many years and was elected to the office of vice president, a post he held until his passing.

Archie was well known in national billiards circles, as he always travelled away with the inter-counties team, very often to Nuneaton and Cambridge.

He also officiated at all international matches in the south east, which included Kent, East and West Sussex, Surrey and sometimes Essex.

Arthur enjoyed sports of all kind and lived life to the full. He is sadly missed by me and all of his family.

BRENDA WOOD, Orpington