ST. CAROL’s, NL. – People from all over the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula came out to play darts last week to celebrate and honour the life of a beloved local man from the community.
The St. Carol’s Recreation Centre hosted the first annual Skipper Glenn Memorial Tournament on Feb. 23, in memory of Glenn Richards who died last September.
The plan is to make this an annual tournament.
The inaugural tournament was a big draw with nearly 80 people from across the St. Anthony area and down from the Straits crowding into the building.
Organizers Jordan Mugford and Joyce Richards, both friends of Glenn’s, say so many people signed up as Glenn was so well known throughout the Great Northern Peninsula.
For one, he was well acquainted with the entire fishing community, as skipper of the Lady Kenda.
And Glenn was a vocal and proud supporter of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“Everybody liked Glenn for his personality,” said Joyce. “Everyone around knew Glenn Richards.”
The afternoon commenced with a toast to Glenn, followed by the unveiling of a photo of Glenn, donated to the St. Carol’s Recreation Centre by his spouse, Penny Kinsella and children Lorne Richards and Laura Kinsella.
There were more than a few misty eyes during these proceedings.
The photo also included two of Glenn’s loves, a photo of the Lady Kenda and a Toronto Maple Leafs logo.
His son Lorne was then given the special privilege of throwing the ceremonial first dart of the tournament.
The St. Carol’s Recreation Committee typically organizes dart tournaments each year to raise money for the recreation centre.
Now they’ve decided to have one in memory of Glenn each year.
“He was a friend to all of us and we decided to have one in his honour,” said Jordan Mugford, committee chair.
Mugford says the event turned out to be a lot bigger than they had anticipated. Typically, their darts tournaments have about 40 players but for this one, that number doubled.
Tournament participants were divided into 16 teams of four and five members.
For much of the afternoon and evening, there were eight games underway simultaneously on both floors of the building.
At the end of the day, Glenn’s spouse Penny Kinsella and his brother Hubert Richards were on the winning team, along with Terry Woodford of Goose Cove and Lori Hillier of St. Anthony.
Mugford wanted to give a special thanks to Glenn’s family for donating the photo of Glenn, to Woodwards for providing the shuttle service and to all the businesses and locals who donated food and prizes.
