£7000 prize fund at Friends of the Glass darts weekend in Wick
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Guaranteed prize money of £7000 will be up for grabs at the Friends of the Glass festival of darts in Wick this weekend.
Players from as far afield as Orkney and Moray are joining members of the local darts fraternity for three days of competition at the Seaforth Highlanders’ Club.
The four-strong organising team of Arthur Bruce, Malcolm Begg, Liz Ronaldson and Claire Thain say they are delighted with the level of support from the business community, with Hugh Simpson (Contractors) Ltd as main sponsor and many others also contributing to the prize fund.
“We are so grateful for the support that we get from local businesses,” Bruce said. “Hugh Simpson is the main sponsor this year. Before that we had MM Miller as main sponsor.
“Without them, we couldn’t even dream of putting that kind of prize money out.
“We have at least 70 sponsors. We’ve got Pulteney Distillery, we’ve got shops, hairdressers, plumbers, driving instructors, hotels and B&Bs, we’ve got guys that have creel boats, there’s a bowling club that sponsors us… It’s amazing the amount of people that come to the fore.”
Friends of the Glass is reckoned to be the longest-running darts competition in Scotland, having begun in 1977 as the Caithness Glass tournament before being rebranded.
Bruce explained: “In those days you had to qualify and you had qualifiers from all over Scotland. Now you just turn up and enter on the day.
“It’s getting better every year. It keeps the darts going and makes a bit of money for the Seaforth Club. It helps the hotels and B&Bs as well.
“It’s all good fun and I think that’s why it’s so popular, because everybody gets on with everybody and it’s a really good crack.
“The Orkney guys are coming back over, the men and the ladies – we haven’t had them for a couple of years. And we’ll get our usual travellers from Inverness and the Elgin area.
“For a lot of guys it’s the only time we see them in Wick – it’s the only big competition there is. You get to know them and have a few drinks.”
The competition runs from May 3-5.
Bruce said: “It’s a mixed triples on Friday night, two men and a lady, drawn out of the hat. That gets the fun into it.
“Saturday then is the big pairs where the winners get £1000. It’s the same prize money for both men and women.
“Sunday is a singles but it’s a double start, double finish.”
Last year there were more than 30 pairs for the main event.
Six competition boards have been set up in the Seaforth Club, with a couple of boards downstairs to practise on. The event has been held there since the closure of the previous venue, the Francis Street Club.
Bruce emphasised that the running of the competition is very much a team effort.
“I get a lot of the credit because I go for all the money,” he said. “But I couldn’t do it without the other three. There are four of us in it and we all muck in.”
Meanwhile, Bruce is pleased to see that the next generation of darts players are getting opportunities to play.
He said: “High Life Highland has started up youth darts in the Assembly Rooms on a Monday night. Young kids go to it and those are the stars of the future. They need to keep that going.”
