We are delighted to share some wonderful news about Ben Smith, son of Kathryn and Andrew, and a member of our parish family here at St Thomas of Canterbury.

Ben only picked up a set of darts in July of last year. What has happened since is quite remarkable.

Competing under the name "The Tsunami", he has taken the junior darts scene by storm. He currently sits at the top of the JDC North Series 5 leaderboard, having won 14 titles from just 16 JDC Volt events entered, with a runner-up finish and a semi-final appearance making up the rest. He has also won four ADC Vault events, showing he can adapt and perform well across different competition formats.

His statistics speak for themselves. Ben recently recorded an average of 109.98 in a final, regularly maintains averages above 100 in knockout stages, and consistently scores above 90 throughout his competitions. He frequently opens legs with three 140s. At a national-level JDC Foundation Tour event in Ellesmere Port, he was the only player to hit an 11-dart leg, recorded the highest checkout of the day, and finished 12th from a field of 242 competitors.