Darts history Part 2: The golden years!
In the early 1980’s, a new order started to appear with some of the older members retiring from playing and others embracing the new players.
One of the first and still one of the youngest players ever to win the individuals was the late John Bellerby. Playing for the Crown, Wellington and latterly the Grapes, he was a well-known player of the time.
Then came the likes of Mike Ridgeway playing from the Wellington; Jimmy Chave from the Naval Club; Stephen Proctor also of the Naval Club; Chris Evans playing from The Grapes; Clive Jones (Ircol) from the Grapes amongst others who I have probably missed.
This new order made their names by winning leagues, cups and individual trophies as the older order took a back seat.
Under the captaincies of Clive James and Dave Proctor, the Naval Club competed with the best with the likes of Chave, Clive (Jimmy) James and the Pryce brothers (all 4 of them).
Graham Lewis started a team at the Westwood which included, for the first time in the league, Brian Pickstock, and also Geraint Edwards, Lawrence Herbert, John Bellerby, Mike Rooke, Steve Proctor, myself, Rich Buckley and Clive (Ercol) Jones.
Jimmy Chave completed a hat-trick of individual wins in the years 1983, 1984 and 1985 whilst playing for The Green Dragon, The Pinewood Tavern and the Grapes A, so the league took the decision to present Jimmy with the original trophy as this had never been achieved before.
A new trophy for the individual winner of the league was presented to the league by Mr Alan Ashley, Grapes Inn, Mr Bert Proctor, a local businessman and Kevin Makepiece, from the local trophy shop.
This trophy is still the one played for today. Speaking from Australia where he now lives, Jimmy says winning the individuals three times on the run was amongst the proudest times of his sporting career and has cherished the trophy to this day. He is now a representative for the Gold Coast Darts Association in Australia.
In his last season here, Jimmy won every trophy he could in the league. Individual Champion, Doubles Champions with Clive Jones, Trebles with Steve Proctor and Graham Lewis, Division 1 Champions, Richard Cup and Bagshaw Cup. He then left for his new life in Australia.
Then, something happened that the league had never seen before, Steve Proctor, playing from the Grapes A in 1984, got his Welsh call up. A very proud moment for the league as it was the first time that a player from the league got to play for their country.
Steve commented: “I found out by letter from the Welsh Darts Association and was over the moon. I went straight around to my mates Graham Lewis and Keith Gamble who were pushing me all of the way at that time.”
He then played all around Wales in competitions with his playing partner Byron Wozencraft from Abbey-Cwm-Hir, winning the Powys Doubles and other competitions.
Steve then got to the final of the Welsh Winmau, beating Welsh internationals Malcolm Davies and Eric Burden but narrowly losing out to fellow international Ceri Morgan.
When interviewed, he said youngsters today should just enjoy the game and always be gracious in defeat. His hero then was Alun Evans, who he said he had never met a man so patriotic to Wales, especially against England, but darts players nowadays will have to go a long way to beat the great Phil Taylor. His shared his admiration for Luke Littler who has introduced darts to a new audience.
Call ups then followed for Scott Dockerty, Neil Astley, Mitch Butler, and this year Steve Pryce and, in the ladies Welsh team, Katy Bellerby who is also a formidable player in the league.
A player of note in this period was Mark Jones. He established himself in the Welshpool league by the time he was 20 and then defeated Welsh international Allan Morris in the final of the Powys National Title at Dolfor.
Welshpool’s Chris Brennan also reached the semi-final but lost out to Morris in the same tournament.
Unfortunately, Mr Welshpool Darts himself, Ken Parkes, became ill and due to the fact he was running the league almost single-handedly, the league folded for 12 months.
The baton was picked up by three people who wanted to see the league start up again: Graham Lewis, who was the instigator, assisted by myself (Steve Lloyd) but we needed someone who knew how to organise a committee correctly. Mr Pete Kelleher fitted the bill being a keen dart player himself and knowing how to run a committee correctly.
We put together a committee including Brian Pickstock and, with the blessing of Ken Parkes, took over the league.
This is when the format changed to allow a team of five players to form a team instead of the nine previously, to encourage teams into the league.
A format of five singles and two doubles matches to be played as best of three legs 501 straight start, double finish.
A year later the Llanfair league folded at this time so with the help of Erfyl Thomas (Graigwen) coming onto the committee as chair, we encouraged the remaining Llanfair Caereinion teams to join the Welshpool and District Darts League.
Unfortunately, with pubs closing and interest waning the league lost a few teams. Public houses lost included The White Lion, The Eagles, Welshpool Social Club, Welshpool Naval Club, Welshpool Conservative Club, The Crown (Restaurant), The Angel (Pottery shop), The Cross Foxes, The Boot, The Vaults (Dillons shop), The Powis Arms (Salop Road).
This resulted in multiple teams playing from pubs which helped them during the quiet winter months.
The restart of the league took a couple of years to get going properly again and got stronger for a few seasons. A series of new committees took charge (Hon. Sec. Matthew Evans) and the league held its own, averaging between 12 to 16 teams per season.
The Berriew Talbot was a formidable team in the league with Roger Speake, Ronny Williams, John Jones, Jim Andrews, Brian Pickstock and Paul Gales winning the first division on a couple of occasions. Forgive me if I missed anyone.
Also, a team from the Social Club which included Scott, Adrian and Carl Dockerty, Steve Bates, Wyn Gittins, Matthew Evans and Paul Evans. Welsh international Mitch Butler later joined them.
During this period, Brian Williams put a team together from the Crown Welshpool which included Stephen Proctor, Graham Lewis, Steve Hopwood, Rob Macloed, Keith Gamble, Jimmy Chave, Jimmy Morris and John Jones. They were runners-up in the first division but won many cup competitions.
The league also included, from time to time, The Sun and the Lowfield Marton, The Chequers and the Crown Montgomery, The Breidden, The Railway and The Cock in Forden, The Talbot, Horseshoes and the Lion in Berriew and The Green Dragon Buttington.
Coming up next – the years since 1995.
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