Family Ties 1

Couples
I travelled this year again to the UK Open. To travel to Minehead in a today rather off part of England is quite complicated and takes a lot of time and one has always to hope the connections will work.

In earlier centuries it was different. The Normans not only invaded near the always mentioned Hastings but here at this coast as well. Important trade roads could be found here and the harbour was for several centuries are real vital one as vital as in later years the harbour of Bristol. The Norman families and their descendants influenced the daily life for years - some - like the Luttrells - exist still today. The Luttrells had taken part together with William the conqueror in the battle in Hastings, later settled in East Quantock and then bought Castle Dunster a few miles from Minehead. A part of the family lived in Lincolshire, another emigrated to Ireland.

One of the Minehead Luttrells married in 1680 into an English family - a Mary Tregonwell from Dorset, who was as was told a beauty and a rich heiress. Colonel Francis Luttrell dies some years later in Plymouth while Mary stayed here. She married for a second time - this time a Swede named Jacob Bancks who saved here from a house fire in which all her household goods burned. They were worth an at this time unbelievable 10 000 pound. As her first husband Bancks was member of the Parliament and represented Minehead nine times. Mary didn't live long enough to survive all those nine times - she died in 1704 from small pox.
In Minehead Street names remember Mary Tregonwell and her second husband, probably a Luttrell Street exists as well but till now I didn't find it.

Dart playing couples probably are not rare though it seldom happens they take part in the big BDO or even PDC tournaments together. An exception are Tony Martin and his far better known and much more successful wife Anastasia Dobromyslova whom I both saw playing during last years Winmau World Masters. They sometimes take together part in the soft-darts World Series as well. And Anastasia and her husband even played some PDC Pro Tour events together with here. Another exception were Deta Hedman and Colin Lloyd when they were in a relationship years ago and played the PDC circuit together. But usually you find the dart playing wives only in the crowd of the PDC tournaments like Chrissie Manley of Holly Boynton by now Holly Young or Lorraine Winstanley.

I couldn't find Lorraine in the Minehead crowd during her husband match on day one - probably she had anticipated her husband would lose. He was not the only causality on the first day - with Gary Anderson, who once again had enormous problems to find his doubles and Adrian Lewis who just played weak - there were some even bigger names that were eliminated in the early rounds. Another one was John Part though that was not really a surprise.

There of course were some positive surprises as well as Riley Qualifier Paul Hogan who of course is an experienced BDO player, or youngsters David Pallett, Nathan Aspinall, Josh Payne and Max Hopp or the not really well-known Eddie Doodson. Hopp didn't survive his third round match against Kim Huybrechts but he impressed! And we did see a much improved William O'Connor and an as well much improved Jan Dekker.

It was - as always during the UK Open - a very exhausting but very interesting and very long first day, and I was glad when I was back in my room in (of course) Tregonwell road and more or less immediately blacked out.










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