June 2010

(See Archived News on Left for previous news items)

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(Other latest News HERE ) - updated daily                Summer Grand Prix Tables Week 4 

Previous Month May (if you missed it)  HERE

Quality season celebrated. -   Invitation League Darts:

Last week saw the conclusion of a successful 2009/10 winter season with the Presentation Night and Summer league AGM. It was an historic night as a records fell all around in a season of high standards and achievements.

377 maximums were hit in league matches by 62 players and a further 8922 scores of 100 or more in singles matches. A record payout of over £2600 was made to 14 teams from Champions to the wooden spoonists, (thanks to sponsors Brian and Maggie Jenkins), two of the sixteen registered Academy lads were members of league winners in their debut year and the Ladies were voted in for a very first season at the Summer AGM.

 League winners: Mingers £230. 2^nd: Wolves A £210. 3^rd: Porkys Piemen £200. 4^th: Frogs £190. 5^th; Out of Towners £180. 6^th: Young Guns £170. 7^th: Lamb Brants £160. 8^th: Magicians £150. 9^th: Lardicake £140. 10^th: Royal Oakers £130. 11^th: Swallow Flyers £120. 12^th: Lamb Rams £110. 13^th: Boro Brigade £105. 14^th: Legionnaires £100.

Cup winners Mingers £50, Runners Up Frogs £25. Tons Winner: Sam Rooney £30, 2^nd: Mark Thorne £20, 3^rd: Jeff White £10. Highest Check-Out: 170 – Chris Witts £30. Maximums winner: Mark Thorne (26) £30, 2^nd: Kevin Ede (21) £20, 3^rd: Sam Rooney (19) £10. Most Wins: Sam Rooney (111) £30. Fastest Leg: Sam Rooney (10 darts) £30.

Singles K.O. winner: Arron Monk £30, Runner Up: Paul Reidy £20, 3-4: Sam Rooney and Darren Barnes £10. Blind Pairs winners: Ivor Andrews and Glen Dawkins £40, Runners Up: Kevin Ede and Keiron Sloane £20. 3-4: Peter Lisle and Steve Shadwell, Steve Cox and Darren Barnes.  

The summer league starts Tuesday 29^th and queries contact Glen Dawkins (01264) 358394, Colin Pimm 07879 490 364 or Mark Thorne 07795 515 403. 

The John Taylor 2 Player Team Event 2010:

JOHN TAYLOR MEMORIAL

John Taylor Memorial - Left to right: Mark Cox Mick Savvery Jeff White (sponsor) Paul Cook and Tony Clark

Paul Cook and Mick Savvery completed a hat trick of wins at the J.M. White Plastering sponsored John Taylor memorial last Saturday.

It was a hard fought victory over a very competitive Entertainer field with many of the ties going down to last leg deciders. Cook and Savvery collected £300 for their efforts after defeating the gallant Mark Cox and Tony Clark who in turn picked up £150 for their second place finish. Andy Deavall and Van Krippel were Andover’s most successful players on the day making the semis as did Wiltshire pairing of Shane Harvey and Kevin Morley. Losing Board finalists were Berkshire’s Dan Woodcraft and Craig Griffiths, Rob and Steve Higginson from Swindon, Andover’s Adam Major and Ali MacDonald and Wiltshire Youth Craig Cox and Josh McCarthy who look exciting prospects. 

Academy News:

Hampshire Youth, which included 7 Academy players, experienced the highs and lows at the weekend at the national Champions of Champions finals. There was ecstasy for the under 18 boys who were crowned British champions but agony for the girls who after being told they were champions had their hopes dashed when the they were told they had lost the championship by a single leg instead of winning it by matches won.

Gavin Howard, Gary Thorne, Jordan Edmonds, Dan Read, Conner Bevis, Sam Pike and Harriet Raynsford take a bow, we are all very proud of you.

It was another excellent Handicap night at the Academy with honours being shared around the boards. On 1, Harriet Raynsford and Adam Major won 4 from 5 and Gary Thorne checked out on 97. On 2, mighty minnows Nathan Richards and Ray Lockington were 4 from 5, Richards 91 out. Ellie May was outright winner on 3 with 4 from 5, Sam Ellis had a good 84 finish while on 3 Dan Read was in excellent form. 14 year old Read won all 5 including a 21 dart 701 which culminated in a 123 finish. There were maximums for Read and the consistent Josh Lambell and an excellent 74 finish from Beck Chilton who won 3 from 5. In the junior mixed pairs, Kelly Paine and Keiron Lebrun and Charlotte Raynsford and Gordon Wombwell were in good form winning four from five matches. Shane Reidy and Dean Rocker won three with Rocker hitting the top score with 111. 

Grand Prix:

Week 4 tonight at the Entertainer, register by 8.15pm for 5 legs of 801 costing just £3 per player.

18th June

JT MEMORIAL TOMORROW.

 The John Taylor 2 Player Team Event:

The JT memorial sponsored by J.M. White Plastering takes place at the Entertainer tomorrow with entries being taken up to 11.30am.

This is the fifth running of this popular event for the legendary John Taylor Andover and Hampshire fame.

JT once won a county fixture against Essex with double seventeen double top in one leg and double nineteen double top in the final leg against an upcoming Bobby George!

It’s the last chance to win an outright place for this year’s Classic and with a handful of points separating half a dozen places it will be a keenly fought event.

The format is two singles playing best of 5 legs 501 followed by the best of 3 legs 601 in the Pairs. Entry fee is £7 per player; winners collect £300 with prize money paid to the last 8.

Academy News:

It was a sombre evening at the Academy last week as players had Conner Bestford in their thoughts. It seemed to galvanise even greater effort with some of the best darts of the year so far being thrown.

It was Darts-Athlon night and in the Juniors, Ryan Morgans won the highest score on 469, Kyla Tobin was top girl on 418. Stan Dunn and Shane Reidy tied tops on Bulls with 6 apiece and Charlotte Raynsford was top girl on 5. Keiron Lebrun won the shanghai with 21 points and Charlotte again top girl on 17. Finally in the golf Amy Thorne topped the leader board with 55 from Ryan Rowe on 59.

In the seniors Dan Read was in hot form sweeping board 1 winning the highest shot 884, Bullseyes 21, Shanghai 54 and Golf with 36.

Board 2 was dominated by another Dan this time Dan Brown. Brown won the highest score with 576, Shanghai 43, and Golf 45 while the ever improving Sam Ellis won the bulls with 15.

On board 3 Ray Lockington won highest score on 532, followed it up winning the bulls on 6. Jack Morris topped shanghai with 34 and Sam Pike took the golf with 56.

Scott Burton Pye ran away with top score on board 4 with 477, Dead Evans and Dominic Baker each hit 5 bulls and Evans won the shanghai with 21. Baker concluded the board by excelling in the golf with 59.

Finally everyone at the Academy are wishing Connor Bestford a speedy recovery as he starts his fight back to fitness, we all look forward to the day he is well enough to get back to the Academy.

Grand Prix:

Week 3 was won outright by Steve Barnes who went nap on the evening – Round 4 tonight at the Entertainer with England on the big screen to while away any spare minutes, register by 8.15pm for 5 legs of 801 for £3.

11th June 2010

Academy News:

There was more devastating news for the Academy last week with the news of Connor Bestford being hospitalised.

Conner has  recently shown great attitude and improvement winning the player of the month award for May.

Major sponsors Unicorn were very upset to learn of the news and personal ‘get well’ wishes have been made by managing director Edward Lowy and 15 times world champion Phil Taylor.

Everyone involved send their love and best wishes for a speedy recovery and cannot wait to see him back playing darts at the Academy. 

Arron at the UK Open:

Arron Monk’s profile reached a wider audience last week with an excellent showing at the UK Open in Bolton. Arron showed plenty of talent, character and bottle to comfortably win his televised tie 6-3 against Nick Fulwell without ever hitting top form. Arron included 3 maximums, a ton plus finish and a cool two-dart 70 checkout to clinch the match. Arron was to bow out next round with a creditable performance against Dennis Ovens. His 10-5 defeat against The Heat’ was put into perspective with the veteran’s form, widely acknowledged as the best of his career. Oven’s was only stopped by eventual winner Phil Taylor in a brilliant match in the semi finals which puts master Monk’s performance in proper context.

Another highlight was the hilarious interview with Sky TV at the Entertainer with father Colin and Arron enjoying banter and some darts practice. An ironic fact was that if the two had won through they would have met each other in the very next round. 

Invitation Darts

Ivor Andrews and Glen Dawkins defeated Kevin Ede and Keiron Sloane in the final of the Blind-Pairs, the penultimate competition of this year’s winter league. Steve Shadwell and Peter Lisle and Steve Cox and Darren Barnes made it to the semi finals. With just the team knock final remaining the Presentation Evening and Summer League AGM takes place on Tuesday 15^th March at the Entertainer.

Any teams wishing to participate must be present at the meeting that starts at 

The John Taylor 2 Player Team Event:

Entries are now being taken for this popular event which takes place on Saturday 19^th June at the Entertainer. Genial John Taylor was a legend in his own lifetime in these areas and is still sorely missed by many.

The format is two singles playing best of 5 legs 501 followed by the best of 3 legs 601 in the Pairs. Entry fee is £7 per player

Entry fee £7 per player, winners collect £300 with prize money paid to the last 8. Entries will be taken on the day up to 11.30 and players toe the oche at 12.15. 

Grand Prix:

Week 2 had 5 winners successful in four of their five outings; Sean White, Martin Hitchins, John Gaffney, Steve Barnes and Adam Major all coming out on top.

Major recorded the fastest leg in 25 darts, young Shane Waters enjoyed the highest finish with 110 and there were 10 maximums including a very first for Claire Clackson!

Round 3 tonight at the Entertainer, register by 8.15pm for 5 legs of 801.

"...DARTS - OUT IN THE OPEN. 

Andover Darts' Unicorn Youth Academy took the sport to the public over the May bank holiday. Members of the academy manned a unique stand where boards were hung on a 'cage'. The multi panel cage is ideal as a portable platform that can be taken almost anywhere. With 18 panels the cage can be used as a six board (chalk + board + blank panel) facility. 

Following the tragic sudden passing of local teenager and Andover Darts Youth Academy member Jamie Gentleman, a sporting trust was set up as a legacy to the popular lad and his love of sport.

May bank holiday saw the first Jamie G Sports Fayre when more than 30 local sports clubs put on a great day in the town's central park with the aim of raising awareness of the huge variety of activities available in the small Hampshire market town. This may have been the first time darts has been exhibited outdoors (certainly one of the few occasions). The weather wasn't the best, in fact it rained almost none stop, but the Academy's stand was full up throughout the six hour event.

With four boards in use, members of the public were able to move through a series of four stations. Starting with the 'Lets Train Darts' junior board they then moved to the senior trainer, on to a standard board and finished on the tricky 'half size' professional practice board. Their scores were gathered and prizes given to those with the highest scores. 

Dave Kane, Sports Development Co-ordinator for local social landlord Testway Housing said: " ...I secured funding for the cage a couple of years ago with the aim of taking it to hard to reach areas as 'cage football' - a diversionary activity. Since getting involved with the darts Academy I've realized the cage can be 'multi functional'. Speaking with Academy coaches about how darts can be taken to the masses, the idea of using the cage was an obvious winner. We are putting together a program to take darts into schools, the cage will enable the academy to build a darts arena in the sports hall, how cool is that. The Jamie G sports event proved how popular this could be. The boards on show were different and people, young and old, all wanted get involved. Brilliant!"

Glen Dawkins, Chairman of the Academy said “We all know the benefits linked with darts and maths so this was our first step in taking Darts to the community, into schools and other such local events and with our partners, Unicorn Darts, Let’s TRAIN Darts and Testway Housing we are excited about the opportunities and development of youth darts in Hampshire.  

Glen Dawkins

Chairman

Andover Invitation Darts &

Unicorn Darts Youth Academy