Young darts players from Blackburn went head-to-head against professional player Daryl Gurney at a charity event this week.
Blackburn Youth Darts Academy hosted ‘An Evening of Exhibition Darts’ with the Northern Irish PDC player Daryl Gurney, also known as ‘Super Chin’, who attended the event free of charge to raise funds for the local organisation.
The Director of Blackburn Youth Darts Academy, Keith Brunt, organised the night to help after Daryl visited last month and was so impressed with the players and the club he eagerly said to MC Paul Booth, “we have to do something for them.”
The event started at 7pm on Wednesday at St Pauls Working Men’s Club and saw more than 100 people gather for an exciting evening supporting a community organisation.
Keith Brunt said: “It’s gone really well, we’ve had a fantastic turn out especially for a Wednesday night.
“With everything going up in price we’ve got to beat our running costs but we’re also getting new shirts which Daryl said he’s going to help us with.”
The atmosphere on the night was exhilarating as MC Paul Booth, who also made a special appearance, played Daryl’s iconic walk on song, ‘Sweet Caroline’ as Super Chin high fived every person before taking his place on the stage.
Each Youth Darts Academy member had the opportunity to play up against Daryl in a competition where he would create a ‘magic number’ target on the board which the young boys and girls would have three chances to land on target.
A raffle and an auction were also held on the night where attendees were able to purchase tickets for the chance to play Super Chin himself as well as an auction where all the funds raised go directly to the academy.
After multiple rounds on stage, and even being beaten in a thrilling game of 501 by one of the nine-year-old academy members, Daryl shared how impressed he once again was by the Blackburn organisation.
He said: “I was amazed by how good of a turnout we had, especially after just being given less than two weeks to organise this so it’s great.”
The Academy launched as a non-profit organisation in 2017 and since then has promoted darts to the children and young people who are the next generation of the sport.
The club’s recognition and support they’ve received means a lot to everyone Keith said.
He added: “I couldn’t be any prouder of the kids. They’re absolutely fantastic, they act professional all the time and they’re playing absolutely brilliantly.
“They’re just constantly progressing so, yeah, we couldn’t be any prouder.”
Blackburn Youth Darts Academy are currently looking for more sponsors and volunteers, and for more information you can visit their website.
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