Target Darts

[DrZoidberg]

awesome man, awesome

[sat]

I wanna go. I wanna goody bag.

[Stubby]

Evening Snakey (yes - It's me) - how many times did you speak to Lloydy thinking it was McGory?? lol

[Stubby]

Yes - very jealous of you snakey.

[Stubby]

What night are you at Blackpool this time?

I'm not - would've meant having two days off work which aint worth it.

[M H]

Great write up Snakey, sounds like you all had a bloody good day

[Lee Taylor]

Fair enough, I can be there from work in 40 minutes so no such aggro for me.

Sounds like a great day mate. I use Target darts and their stuff is excellent.

Are you going to the Matchplay this year?

[Justin Credible]

Fair enough, I can be there from work in 40 minutes so no such aggro for me.

Sounds like a great day mate. I use Target darts and their stuff is excellent.

Are you going to the Matchplay this year?

if he is why do you want to know....?
Its not like he would be seen dead with you

[Lee Taylor]

Fair enough, I can be there from work in 40 minutes so no such aggro for me.

Sounds like a great day mate. I use Target darts and their stuff is excellent.

Are you going to the Matchplay this year?

if he is why do you want to know....?
Its not like he would be seen dead with you

Sounds like you're having a breakdown again mate. Shame to see it unfold.

[Justin Credible]

was winding you up lee,,,but howasever

[Lee Taylor]

was winding you up lee,,,but howasever

Oh okay, sorry mate.

[Dartfrog]

Excellent post Sammy young man.
I like the 9 dart challenge, or Bullseye charity round.

[Knots & crosses]

How did the punch the board challenge suggestion go down?

[Knots & crosses]

How did the punch the board challenge suggestion go down?

I asked Tony how he controlled his temper when he wasn't playing well, lloydy walked into the trap and said "Why didn't you ask me that?"

Heh. Stuff of legend.

[Viking]

Next up was a nine dart challenge to win a set of darts, Jake was first up and hit a respectable 219 which set a fair bench mark which was only beaten later on by some charlatan who managed 260 odd. My own pitiful effort of 122 was enough to beat the wooden spoon winner Viking and his hilarious 63. Gary also beat Wayne for the second time which I'm sure he will still be banging on about now. JJake was quite happy as he won a set of Lloydy's darts which he sold to Viking for a tenner half way home so he could get a Burger at the services .... e-bay for £30 this morning no doubt Viking?

I felt a bit tight when I got home poor lad only wanted some food, He failed to mention he was Lancashire youth to everyone before he threw so he only deserved £10 for them because he had an unfair advantage. I've kept them darts anyway had a throw with them and they are 3g lighter than I usually throw with but feel great so they are my new darts plenty of practice over the summer ready for the league starting in a couple of months. Thanks for mentioning the 63 and not the 128 I hit in the warm up 3 Talk about game off I get nervous as fuck when I've not had a drink and throw my shoulder further than the dart.

Good day all in all

[doG]

Got the chance to go on the first ever factory tour at Target Darts yesterday and despite not being the sort of thing that would normally interest me, I have to say I had a bloody good couple of days.

Started off by heading into Manchester to meet McGrory at midday on Tuesday and after nipping into Ladbrokes to pick up some cash I meet the, usually late, aforementioned drinking partner with a good half hour to spare before we had to catch the train down to that London. All running to time we were in the big smoke a few hours later where we had a 40 minute window to get across from Euston to Liverpool Street. Having not been to that London in a tube using manner for a while, we did the sensible thing and went outside to smoke a couple of cigs before heading down the escalators to find out which of the funny little trains we were getting on. As we got to the gate I shrewdly asked the uniformed wench where we needed to go. To my surprise, not only did she speak English, she was actually very friendly and helpful - not something I have previously associated with cocker knees. So we go down to catch the thing to Liverpool Street but have to wait about 15 minutes, combined with the cig break we are now cutting it pretty fine and only some swift weaving in and out of the crowds by me (not known for my speed usually) we got the train with a good 17 seconds to spare.
20 minutes later and the bags were dumped in the beautiful luxurious 5 star hotel that we were staying at which was called Travel Lodge and we were in a cab over to Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire where the lady servant at the hotel had informed us we would find a nice Mexican restaurant, and more importantly, a boozer called The Gate which we would be able to play arrers in. Fajitas suitably demolished a short time later and we were off on the road (well footpath) to planet darts.

On arrival , we were greeted by former PDC tour pro player Gary Barnett who cunningly doubles up as the landlord of the Gate. Sadly Gary was off to play in his pairs knock out that night but we were to be ably looked after by Gary's Dad Tom, a former Crystal Palace & England footballer no less. Suitably impressed by Tom's old pictures he then astounded me by taking me out of the pub to have a look at his micro brewery where he produces his own real ales. By this time I'd already sampled a few and was wishing Tom was my Dad and not Gary's, in fact on second thoughts I wished I was Gary as he is also fucking good at darts. The night went reasonably well apart from McGrory beating me in a rubbish game of darts - four boards up, three toy boards and one regulation, we played on the regulation board obviously. And Gary returned at around 11pm and we plonked ourselves at the bar. At this point I asked a young lady what time the pub closed, she responded by laughing and saying "Not now, don't worry" ... my kind of boozer. Around 1.30am and several pints later we were the last to leave (a habit of mine wherever I go). Have to say if you are in the area I recommend the said boozer very highly. The Gate, 81 London Rd, Sawbridgeworth, Herts, CM21 9JJ

So back to the luxury hotel and the penthouse suite (made McGrory slum it in one of the poorer suites) for a good nights sleep, not before a bit of drunken hassling of the night receptionist and a quick cig outside.

Up at 8.30 at which point I hadn't brought any shower gel so promptly went and borrowed some from McGrory and back up for a refreshing shower. Breakfast was due to be delivered at 9.30 (orange juice, cereal & a croissant) but I wasn't particularly bothered about that as I'd spotted the £4.50 full English at the carvery next door and had my heart set on that. So off we popped to the said carvery where a healthy (well not really) portion of sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, beans & hash browns was washed down with 3 mugs of fresh coffee. Marvellous. Young Paul (Viking) from dartscorner forum arrived not long later with his little mate Jake so me & McGrory went to check out of our suites. A quick Tom Kite to say good bye to the penthouse and away we went in the Viking mobile to find out just how Target make their darts.

Gary from DC was outside smoking when we got there and we greeted by a lovely lady (Yes I definitely would have) from Target who showed us into the factory. Matt gave us a big intro to the company and it was interesting to hear their attitude to the products and the stringent quality control that each of their products goes through before it lands at the retailers and ultimately us clowns throwing the things. Steve the production manager took us round the factory accompanied by Tony O'Shea & Colin Lloyd showing us the full process off turning a little cylinder of metal into a lovely shiny dart. Every dart's dimension is apparently measured and weighed to within 0.02mm & 0. something of a gram in weight before it goes out, Steve prides himself that they rarely get products returned rather than the "We'll send you another set" attitude that some manufacturers seem to have. Very impressive I thought. Scott Gibling had a stage thing set up and my old mate Dave Swindells was on hand to do his usual job of pretending to be an MC, so after a bite to eat and quick swig we all got to play some darts with ToS & Lloydy. I paired up with Tony to take on McGrory & Lloydy, McGrory hit a few trebles whereas I could barely hit the board - sober darts is a big no no for me - but it ended up close before McGrory took great delight in hitting double two after his "marker" had ended up in the rubber ring (in hindsight I wish I hadn't said "nice marker" after that one to which he replied "It was wasn't it?" after planting the double 2 with his next dart, the bastard).

Next up was a nine dart challenge to win a set of darts, Jake was first up and hit a respectable 219 which set a fair bench mark which was only beaten later on by some charlatan who managed 260 odd. My own pitiful effort of 122 was enough to beat the wooden spoon winner Viking and his hilarious 63. Gary also beat Wayne for the second time which I'm sure he will still be banging on about now. Jake was quite happy as he won a set of Lloydy's darts which he sold to Viking for a tenner half way home so he could get a Burger at the services .... e-bay for £30 this morning no doubt Viking?

A quick Q&A session to finish the afternoon off which was a laugh as usual and a presentation of a goody bag for everyone with some darts, flights, shirt & some other stuff which I will no doubt give away at some point. Young Viking kindly gave us a lift home too so we returned to sunny Manchester at about 8pm instead of the planned 10.30 so managed to get some bonus pub time in, which was nice.

Wot kind of hotel doesn't supply free shower gel !
Wot is England coming to !
doG

[Justin Credible]

please dont tell me there was no mint on the pillows.

[Justin Credible]

I blame the tory government