Charity Fundraiser Knock Out.

Ladbrokes as a company support local charities and a member of staff of the local Rugeley branch, decided to organise a Blind Mixed Doubles Darts knock Out Competition as a fundraiser, on the understanding that any money raised would be doubled by Ladbrokes, before being handed on to the charity. Several of the shop team had some connection with a Staffordshire based charity called Jigsaw, so this was the charity chosen for the event. Jigsaw provide support for parents and families whose children suffer with Autism, Aspergers, and ADHD. (See TreeHouse Web-site)

The Knock Out was 501 straight start, best of 3 legs and the entry fee for the competition was £5 per person with a total of 36 players entering. Unfortunately there were not enough Ladies to go round so some of the men had to play with each other! (No comments please!) Needless to say I was one of those that had no Lady to play with and so I played with a young team-mate who put in a fine effort. At least I had a partner to play with, usually I end up playing with myself! Someone asked which one of us was the bitch (as it was supposed to be male and female), but the choice of words for my version of the question was unprintable!

The competition attracted several competitors who were not real darts players which meant that BDO rules were not strictly observed, including the dress code. I saw one girl who definitely did not play in regulation foot-ware! In fact she did not play in any foot-ware at all as she had bare feet! I’ve never seen a darts player compete in bare feet before in a pub!

Several of the ladies hit some very good scores during the night including one young lady who is one of the regular Libbys darts groupies, as she hit a 140 in the course of the evening.

In an attempt to keep the matches more evenly balanced the non-mixed pairs were selected to play against each other as far as they could throughout the evening. The two non-mixed pairs who got through to the Semis really produced some show stopping darts with 2 of them hitting a 140 each in the first leg and another a 180 in the second. The third leg saw 2 more 140’s and another player doing his bit following up with a Ton. A 180 was just missed in the third as well, when the player’s third dart fell out.

Before the final the League Secretary and the Ladies did the draw for the raffle. Donated prizes included over one dozen bottles of booze and some other more serious prizes donated by local businesses. These were as follows; -

Tickets for Drayton Manor. 
Tickets for Wolverhampton Racecourse. 
Tickets to a Wolves Football match. 
Tickets to Mon More Green Greyhound Track at Wolverhampton. 
Meals from Pappa Pizzeria. 
Meal from The Spice Bazaar. 
Various other gift vouchers. 

Throughout the raffle draw one player was getting concerned because he wasn’t winning any of the prizes. The Secretary kept trying to encourage him not to give up hope until there was only one prize left. He won it. With great jubilation and much applause he went up to collect his prize, which was……………….. A Gift Bag Full Of Make Up!

Then, after the commotion died down the final was played. The first couple of legs were not particularly spectacular, but with the score level at one all, the male player in the mixed pairing upped his game hitting another 140 and his young lady partner started throwing her darts without the flights in and still managed to get them to stick in the board! The final ended with a nail-biting climax of a finish as the male pairing were in the Madhouse on double one and their opponents had chances which they missed and then suddenly it was all over with the mixed pairing crowned as champions until next year.

Everyone enjoyed the night and agreed that it was a great success. As far as raising the funds for the charity, the evening was a resounding success as well, because nearly £500 was raised. The girls that organised everything, said they would round it up to exactly the £500 and that Ladbrokes would double the sum for the charity.