Celebration of Inverness darts legend's life will take place next week
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A CELEBRATION of the life of a man who has been described as a legend of Inverness darts will take place next week.
Jim MacNeil, one of the most influential figures of the Inverness Darts League and worked to promote the game throughout the Highlands died last week.
A celebration of his life will take place at William T Fraser and Son on Culduthel Road on Tuesday, July 4 at 3pm.
MacNeil (68), a computer lecturer before he retired, who helped organised competitions and tournaments in Inverness, was also the darts correspondent for the Inverness Courier and formerly the Highland News.
He wrote weekly updates of darts competitions as well as took and collected photographs of trophy presentations of competitions in the city.
He was also a director of the Scottish Darts Association and was captain of the Innes Spikey team for three decades.
He began his darts career in the Commercial Hotel in Beauly, owned by his parents, throwing at the board at every available opportunity.
He then played at tournaments across the country where he enjoyed a lot of success.
One of his early achievements was that he qualified at the Scottish finals of the NDAGB Individuals members championships in 1978 and in 1979, becoming the first Northern Highland player to reach the finals in the competition in Birmingham.
As a long time player and organiser of Highland county darts, his record spoke for itself. He played his first game on November 4 1978 against Tayside in the Royal British Legion, Dingwall. Going on to represent his county a record of 264 times he played his last game against Fife in March 2020.
MacNeil is survived by his wife Tia and his two daughters Debra and Rebecca. Tia said darts and his family meant everything to him.
“He was a very successful darts player and probably won over 1000 trophies during his career,” she said.
“His success started in 1978 and even in later years he still picked up the odd one.
“His name will forever be etched on many trophies across the Highlands, for singles, doubles, triples, fours and in team events.”
