Washington teenager recreates World Darts Championship to raise thousands of pounds for charity

A teenager turned his school hall into a scene from the World Darts Championship at the Ally Pally and raised thousands of pounds for charity in the process.

As one of the student leaders at St Robert of Newminster Catholic School, Robert Hewitt, 16, was charged with the task of raising money for the school’s chosen charity, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD).

Inspired by the success of Luke Littler, who at the age of 16 reached this year’s (2024) World Darts Championship final, Robert decided to organise his own competition for staff and pupils, with a special finals night taking place at the school.

He said: “I’ve watched and played darts for years and the success of Luke the Nuke has really captured people’s attention, particularly people of my generation who’ve seen what he achieved at just 16.

“I decided it was the right time to capture people’s interest and create my own tournament to raise money for a great charity and so I put together a business plan of the costs and how much money we could potentially make.”

The tournament raised a whopping £2,300 with around 250 pupils and teachers paying £2 to take part in five weeks of matches.

Four pupils made it through to the finals night where a capacity crowd bought tickets and were able to enjoy refreshments and an atmosphere in-keeping with the world famous Alexandra Palace venue.

Robert managed to secure sponsorship from his dad’s company, I2Media, to construct the competition’s stage as well as £300 from both Mincoffs Solicitors and RMT Accountants to cover some of the costs.

Robert, who is studying for his GCSEs, said: “I wanted to create an atmosphere like you see on television. The semi-finalists and finalists all came out to their own walk-on music and we had lights and a smoke machine.

“We had a lot of crowd participation with a great atmosphere, particularly when people were on the doubles at the end.

“We had people in fancy dress, a karaoke and a three dart challenge for the teachers.

“There were pupils, families, staff and representatives from CAFOD all in the crowd.”

In total the school raised £5,616 for CAFOD’s World Gifts project with the money being used to support the construction of a health centre in El Salvador.

Robert said: “It’s great to have raised so much money for a good cause and to help people less fortunate.”

Commenting on Robert’s fundraising exploits, Assistant Headteacher Andrew Davis said: “My role is to oversee catholic life at the school and personal development and organising this competition brought all these together.

“It was a tough ask to pull everything together and Robert put so much into this event. I’m extremely proud of Robert and the other student leaders who supported him to create this fantastic event.”

The competition was won by Robert’s brother, 13-year-old Daniel Hewitt.

Robert said: “He said he was going to win it and I’m really pleased for him that he did.”

The selfless teenager hopes the darts competition will now become an annual event, including after he leaves the school.

Anyone who would like to recognise Robert’s efforts and donate to CAFOD’s cause can contact the school on 0191 7161700.