ELEVEN charities each received a cheque of £650 from the Wombwell 701 Darts League recently.

It is that incredible generosity which has earned the people behind the league a nomination in this year’s Proud of Barnsley awards.

The league’s whole operation is overseen by chairman Dick Ormrod and secretary Paul Bates.

Paul said: “We have just had the presentation evening and to see all the smiling faces when the cheques are handed out is great.

“We try to help out as many charities and organisations as we can locally and I know that everybody appreciates it.

“Anything we can do to help, we will try to.

“I think everybody enjoys a game of darts. It’s becoming even more popular and next season we will have 22 teams.

“Some pubs have got two teams and there are more and more younger players taking it up.”

The money is raised by the players following their matches.

Over the 12 years the league has been running, a whopping £80,000 has been raised for various organisations.

“You get the odd grumble about things but when it comes to nominating others to do the administration the room goes a bit quiet and we’re told we’re doing a good job and to carry on.” laughed Paul.

“We’ve got some good lads and they all chuck into the bucket.

“It soon generates some money but we wouldn’t be able to do it without the players and then we can divvy it out.

“We are really chuffed to get the Proud of Barnsley nomination.

“The league was set up to raise money for charity and now the league is the biggest it’s been in years, we should be able to raise even more.”

Among the organisations to benefit this year are Wombwell Scouts, the town’s community garden and the Friends of Wombwell Cemetery.