Name: Frederick ‘Fred’ Douglas Shorney

Team: Trinity 'B', Eastern Avenue, Southend-on-Sea

League: Shoebury & District

In Brief: Fred is 88 years old and has been playing darts in Essex for 71 years! He first played socially in a friend's house before being old enough to go into a pub -  he remembers well the dripping oak boards when the landlord used to soak them in a water butt in the backyard. Fred was in the Army from 1939-45 and served in two campaigns, the first British Expeditionary Force where he broke both arms and a leg; and the second Normandy landing.  Fred’s first dart team was the Golden Goblet then he moved to the Old Britannia on the sea front.  This was followed by a few seasons at the Naval & Military Club where he spent a few years running the boys football teams.  He eventually moved to the Trinity FC and there introduced the Club to darts – mainly to help raise funds for a new clubhouse. Fred has been Fixtures Secretary to the Shoebury & District league for the past nine seasons and won the Delegates Shield in 1986. On his 80^th birthday, he was delighted when Ollie and Lorna Croft presented him with a clock at the annual presentation evening at the Maplin Club. In 2000 Frederick and his wife, Maisie, celebrated their Diamond wedding anniversary.