Mark Aspinall has high hopes for Rossendale darts next season - he even plans to hit the double.

For Mark, at 30-years-old the youngest ever committee member on the Rossendale Darts and Dominoes League, is building a solid base to kick start the Thursday night winter league next month.

After years out of the limelight, Mark has steered his local darts scene through one rough and tumble season - and he reckons the next will be twice as good.

"We only had eight teams in the league last term, but to be fair we had to basically start from scratch - now we have built up some cash reserves and were hoping to grow to 12, maybe even 16 teams - enough for two leagues!

"The quality of darts in the area has improved too - we had 19 people notch up at least two 180s last season."

I n addition to the league, Mark also had a hand in the Rossendale Superleague - although the ride was far from smooth.

"We used several venues last season, but now we have settled at one, the Progressive WMC in Crawshawbooth. It's a great set up with a camera for ease of scoring, a full stage - the works.

"Compared to where the we were a few short years ago the local darts scene is in much better shape. Here's hoping it improves with time."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.