Tesco Bags of Help votes wanted
Members of an emerging east Perthshire sports club are hoping generous local shoppers can help them target a potential funding boost.
The Blairgowrie and District Darts Youth Academy has been listed as one of three regional projects in the running to benefit from the Tesco Bags of Help grant scheme.
The project sees customers vote in-store over a specified period for one of three possible recipients, with a grant of either £4000, £2000 or £1000 available depending on the number of votes a given project accrues.
This voting period lasts from September 1 until October 31 and Rattray resident Daryl Stewart – who founded the darts academy last spring – said any amount received would be a timely fillip as the club looks to continue its good work so far.
“We want to use any money we receive to buy equipment and things like darts shirts for the kids,” he said.
Local dad Daryl – who started at new job at Rattray Primary School earlier this week – continued: “Most of the kids have got their own shirts, which they came up with the design for themselves, but we want to ensure there’s enough money so any new members have them as well.
“You can see when the players are all wearing the same thing there’s a sense of pride and it inspires them to do well – there’s a real ‘club’ feel like you would get in a football team of something.”
After moving from its original meeting place, academy members now gather for practice sessions from 6-8pm on Wednesdays at the town’s Legion Scotland premises on Union Street.
About a dozen members attend regularly, with anyone between the ages of eight and 18 keen to try the increasingly-popular sport welcome to head along to any of the sessions. It’s £3 per session, or £10 for a full membership.
And Daryl – who is preparing to host the inaugural Blairgowrie Darts Youth Open at the Red House Hotel in Coupar Angus on Sunday, August 27 – said there was potential to move through the ranks quickly if a recent success story is anything to go by.
Local youngster and academy member Chloe O’Brien was picked to represent Scotland in the World Darts Federation Europe Cup in July, a tournament which saw the continent’s best head to Sweden to battle it out on the oche.
Daryl travelled to Scandinavia with dad John to cheer Chloe and her Scotland team-mates on.
He said: “It was a fantastic atmosphere. The games were competitive and of a really high standard, but it was great to see the kids getting on so well with each other when the matches weren’t being played – it didn’t matter where they were from, everyone got on and it was great to see.
“I was delighted when Chloe got the call-up. I’d hoped we’d get to the stage where our players were going to competitions like that eventually, but for it to happen after roughly a year was fantastic.
“There were 30 or 40 people there from all over – so to have someone there who was local was great.”