W. Bro. Laurence Hobbs
Held at Flightclub in Bloomsbury (Tottenham Court Road area), the Connaught Club’s challenge to the Kent Club to a Darts evening proved to be very enjoyable.
Commencing at 7 pm the night began with an hour and a half to chat and enjoy a couple of beers and nibbles. The purpose of the event was to build a bridge between our two clubs so those in the twilight years of their membership have somewhere to join once they’re no longer eligible to be the Connaught Club members. The Oche wasn’t booked until 8.30pm so this gave us plenty of time to get to know the Kent Club contingent! (For those not in the know, the Oche is the throwing line and according to Google, the word is believed to be derived from the Old Flemish meaning a ‘notch’ or ‘nick’.
After a rusty start, it would be fair to say the Connaught Club team held their own against the Kent Club’s worthy opposition, some of whom arrived sporting their own darts. Mind games I’m sure. Whilst I’ve always struggled to get my head around the concept of having to pay to play a game that’s free in nearly every pub in the country, time and money at Flightclub is well spent. The dartboard does all the counting, controls who’s turn it is and then indicates what to aim for. It really speeds up the games which does make quite a difference, otherwise, buffoons like myself can slow everything up. Additionally, their table service was very quick and efficient. The “call a waitress button” was put to good use – I’m sure we nearly wore it out.
I would love to report that we smashed them, but the reality is, it was a draw. Despite having Bro. Ben “The Power” Sinclair on our side that’s all we could muster. So all to play for next year it would seem.
Time to get some practice in, although thinking about it, I’ll be playing for the Kent Club by then!