Words: Jill Stocks
Photos: Simon & Sarah Cullingworth
Darts players in Horsforth took part in a darts marathon on Saturday and smashed their target of 100,000 points whilst raising funds for Macmillan.
The event, held at The Bridge Inn on Low Lane, was part of a Macmillan Cancer Support initiative aimed at raising funds for men’s cancer care and encouraging men to open up about their health.
More than £350 was raised on the day and everyone who attended enjoyed a fun event with a serious message.
Stephanie Byrne organised the event: “Macmillan have been a really important part of our lives for the last few years. We lost my mum to cancer about four years ago. And when I saw this particular challenge I thought it was really spot on.
“Men don’t talk about their health and they don’t want to open up and something like darts in a pub environment and being with your mates and stuff gives them a chance to open up in a really safe chilled environment.
“My dad’s here who’s living with cancer and even this morning there’ve been a few fellas sharing their stories, unprovoked or without any coaching they were like ‘we should talk more about our health and we should be more open to support where needed’.
“We had a fundraising target of £150 but when I was speaking to Rachel, the landlady here, I said that I think it’s more about the connections you’re making in the pub.
“They’ve not had a darts team for a number of years here so even if you get people thinking about playing darts again from a pub point of view that’s another social environment where men are together and naturally will chat about things outside of darts or things that are happening for them.
“The money is important to Macmillan so that they can continue to do the work they do but on a personal and local level I think it’s nice that we’re just getting people out and having fun.
“There’s been kids, there’s been older people, everybody’s had a go at darts today and a bit of competition obviously.”
Macmillan Cancer Support is one of the largest national cancer charities providing health care, information and support to people affected by cancer.