Westward TV Invitational

[The Cat]

This was the first televised darts tournament to be broadcast in the UK, shown to ITV viewers in the south-west of England it began in 1962 and returned to the screen in 1966 running every year thereafter until 1980, after which the station's licence was not renewed by the IBA following a series of boardroom squabbles.

Westward TV Champions:

1980 Mike Westlake
1979 John Yelland
1978 Ken Payne
1977 Denby Parkin
1976 Alex Jackson
1975 Sam Matthews
1974 Trevor Toghill
1973 Paul Gosling
1972 Cyril Brooks
1971 George Bishop
1970 Ray Watson
1969 Denby Parkin
1968 Charles Myatt
1967 Harold Bradley
1966 Joe Bishop
1962 William Jeffrey

[jameshope]

Cat who won the tournament in 1963,64 & 65 m8

[The Cat]

Wasn't played mate.

[jameshope]

Hmm just thought i would ask m8 thank you

[The Cat]

Hmm just thought i would ask m8 thank you

Feel free to correct anything you think is wrong - there is a hell of a lot of conflicting info out there

[oche balboa]

I thought Kendo does all this stuff

[Hungry Coyote]

I was born and brought up in Pembrokeshire and we used to get Wesward TV when I was a kid. It was meant for the South West of England but came across the Bristol Channel to us too. It brought with it Indoor League and my first view of TV darts. Magic.

[Doctor Darts]

Sorry to disappoint but he Westward TV darts tournament wasn't the first darts tournament to be televised. Nationally it possibly was but the very first televised darts match was transmitted from Alexandra Palace at 9.25 p.m. on Saturday 29th May 1937. The BBC 'London Television' broadcast a programme titled 'Darts and Shove ha'penny' with the darts section featuring 'a competition between two rival teams of two well known hostelries'. (For more information about darts on TV in the 1930s see my book DARTS IN ENGLAND 1900-39: A SOCIAL HISTORY.)

I agree that is is very difficult to find details of those early Westward TV events particularly pre-DARTS WORLD.

[The Cat]

No disappointment Sir - please feel free to put us right your input is much valued.

[Mitchell74]

Hello
My grandad played in the 1963 final which was televised.
He was called Edwin Mitchell and was from Redruth in Cornwall.
I'm not sure who he played but he didn't win it.
But I have attached a picture of his trophy as I thought it might be of interest to someone.
Many thanks
Donna

[Deleted User]

Cat who won the tournament in 1963,64 & 65 m8

Wasn't played mate.

Looks like it was after all, in '63 at least.

I'd not seen this thread before and it predates Indoor League by many years.

Interesting stuff. The '73 winner Paul Gosling was runner-up in the NOTW in '74, so he could definitely play a bit.

[The Cat]

My source for this one was Yankee Candle man so not the best

[Deleted User]

My source for this one was Yankee Candle man so not the best

It wasn't a criticism, fella.

I'd really not come across this tournament before and the trophy post above is a great bit of memorabilia.

In fairness the results you gave in the OP are way more detailed than anything else I can find online.

[Deleted User]

My grandfather used to rave about this bloke being and incredible player well before regular televised arrows.

[The Cat]

I 'saved' a few of these results from the old site before it totally went but unfortunately he chose to delete even that section which was mostly the work of Kendo Nagasaki. I corroborated as much as I could with the internet but it's not all out there unfortunately.

Bound to be a few errors here or there but it was all we could do when he threw his major tantrum

Any corrections or additions are always welcome. I might even get around to updating it during my Summer of leisure