40 years at Alcocks for Tim Lowe
Alcocks marks 40 years since master craftsman Tim Lowe joined the company as an apprentice on February 4th 1981. While learning the skills of a billiard table maker and mechanic including woodworking, billiard table design, manufacture and finishing, in 1982 Tim began creating a miniature (36″ by 18″) Duke of Edinburgh billiard table as an apprentice piece, numbered #1982. This beautifully proportioned table, accurate in every detail, features eight canted legs with scalloped fascias on the framework, matching knee panels and cushion panels, and show timbers in vividly figured Tasmanian Blackwood. Amazingly, about 20 years later, Tim worked on the actual Alcock & Co table #1982 – it was a full-size Duke of Edinburgh model manufactured in the 1880s. Over the past 40 years Tim has been involved in the manufacture and restoration of thousands of billiard and pool tables. His design skills have been of enormous benefit to Alcocks, not just in creating traditional and modern billiard table designs and custom billiard table designs for clients, but also in designing and commissioning specialised tools and equipment for use in the Alcocks factory. In addition Tim has been responsible over the years for training dozens of apprentices in all the wide-ranging skills of the billiard trade. Tim has a passion for Alcocks and billiard table history and created and maintains a remarkable inventory recording the number, model, timber, location and notes on hundreds of Alcocks tables dating from the 1860s to today. Tim remains with Alcocks today as Factory Manager, but his hands-on approach means he maintains his skills at the factory, in the showroom, and on site visits. Congratulations on a wonderful career Tim, Alcocks is so lucky to have you as such a highly respected and treasured member of the Alcocks family.