Over the last 65 years or so the sports of darts has enjoyed its fair share of peaks and troughs in terms if popularity. Usk dartsman CYRIL PEARCE recalls his own life-long love for the 'humble game' and a certain club in his hometown who hit the bullseye every time.

In 1948 at the age of just six I was taught the game of darts by my late father Tom Pearce an excellent player ( who recently passed away at the age of 103) , and also more importantly how to mentally count down the scores as after each thrown dart.

Tom used to practice for hours on end with his mate Edgar Williams on a dartboard hung on the door in the dark old kitchen with the only light being a smelly paraffin lamp on the table of the farmhouse where we lived at Pantycwcw Farm in Llabadoc.

All that practice made him a champion, and also many years later set me up to win a world title myself. His first title was when he won the Usk singles way back In 1945. All this he achieved by throwing brass darts from a nine foot oche. His boss farmer Richard (Dick) Williams used to back him in challenge matches against players from all over South wales and Herefordshire for as much as £20.00 - £50.00 a game, a vast amount of money in those days. He rarely lost. The publicity that his ability generated helped to transform the darts league in Usk, to such an extent that the league expanded to 38 teams. Some of these teams contained excellent players.

In the early 1960s my father joined the team at the Usk Conservative club. The team consisted of all local players, farmers, and other mates all with working class backgrounds. They were all friends together and won many titles and competitions, but over the years with the increased advent of the smoking ban, professionalism, and the closure of many pubs and clubs, the number of dart teams in the Usk league fell to nine teams, and the popularity of the sport of darts at local level declined massively.

However, Usk Conservative club has managed to buck this trend. The present team is captained by Bridge engineer Ross Price. Another prominent player is national hunt jockey Jason Cook, son of John Cook, a former Usk cricketer of some renown.

The club has some of of the best players in the area and have been together for the last 11 years and continue to win the local league year after year, as well as many of the annual competitions, much to the envy of some league opponents.

Although I am a member of an opposing team, (The Royal British Legion) I firmly believe that although other title winning teams have come and gone, to my mind this present Con Club team has all the attributes of the golden oldies team that were so successful more than half a century ago.

They are a team as opposed to a side, and to the minds of many they are yet another bastion in the sporting history of Usk. If one member has an issue or a problem the others rally round to help, this creates a bonding of trust between them, and as all good team members of any sport will well know, team spirit, as well as ability, is all important. These boys have both in abundance, good luck to them.

Pictured are Con club darts team late 1950s: Trevor Rees, Ken Marfell, Gilbert Hughes, Edgar Williams, Tom Pearce, Tony Williams.