A DARTS club in Basingstoke raised more than £1,000 for a charity by organising a competition in memory of darts enthusiasts who have sadly died. 

The annual Tribute and Memorial Darts Competition, previously known as the Brian Fox and Bob Anderson Senior Memorial Darts, was hosted and sponsored by The Academy club, in aid of the Heart of Darts charity.

The competition was held after an absence of two years due to Covid restrictions. 

Event organisers John and Tracey Bartlett said the idea of the day was to bring the darting family together “in memory of and to pay tribute to those who are no longer with us”.

“It is a great day of darts while raising money for charity, to help those less fortunate than ourselves,” John said. 

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He also thanked everyone for joining the event and taking a few minutes to pay their respects to loved ones, family and friends. 

As a mark of respect and remembrance, everyone joined a round of applause while John read out the names on the roll of honour. 

This year, in addition to those already on the roll of honour, he paid tribute to those we lost during the last two years, including Geoff Riddy, Steve Bruce, Graham Skipp Junior, Venetia Merritt, Colin Pritchard and Keith Oliver.

In the Tribute and Memorial Pairs competition, the winners were Mark Rowland and Kevin Windebank who beat Rob Bruce and Richard Oxlade 3-0 in the final.

The losing semi-finalists were Arron Bruce and Jade Oliver, and Mark Thorne and Anthony (Pants) Dean.

Basingstoke Gazette: Single winners of the competitionSingle winners of the competition (Image: Newsquest)

In the Tribute and Memorial Singles, Anthony (Pants) Dean defeated Jason Waite 3-1 in the final.

The losing semi-finalists were Rob Bruce and Dave Gregory.

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The club raised £850 for the Heart of Darts charity from sponsorship, entry fees, prize money, raffle and sale of Heart of Darts pens, key ring torches and pins.

Also, all the winners and runners-up donated their winnings to the charity.

The club also raised £150 from the auction of a signed Michael Van Gerwen shirt which was donated by Les Miller.

The organisers also thanked The Academy snooker centre and the staff involved for their continued support of the event.