Tenants at Bield’s Glenview Court retirement housing development in Motherwell found their aim was true after organising a darts night featuring professional player Gary Stone to raise funds for future social events.

After recognising how successful social activities have been in encouraging tenants to meet and socialise with one another, staff at Glenview Court decided to host a special darts evening.

Gary teamed up with tenant, Agnes McBride, to take on other tenants Anne Stevenson, Eddie Holmes and Renee Dorricott in the competition.

The successful evening, in which Gary and Agnes emerged victorious, saw 50 guests from the development and local community attend, many of whom took the opportunity to play a friendly game after the competition was over.

With £300 raised on the night, Glenview Court’s staff intend to put some of the money raised towards this year’s Christmas party, as well as fund the darts team at the development to help them attend and play in darts competitions within the local community.

Catriona McKenna, development manager at Glenview Court, said: “The evening was a great success and the tenants and all those in attendance had a very enjoyable time.

“It was brilliant to have Gary Stone attend the evening and many of those who play darts on Monday nights at the development were delighted to meet him and play a game with him.

“The money we raised was a fantastic effort and it will go to a number of different social outings for our tenants but we are hoping to make our Christmas celebrations extra special this year and so much of the money will be going towards this.”

As well as a raffle with many prizes up for grabs, the evening saw Gary donate a brand new darts board and set of darts for everyone at Glenview Court to enjoy.

Always looking to enrich the lives of their tenants wherever possible, staff at Glenview Court recognise that activities help to encourage social integration to combat feelings of isolation.

Social events such as these run alongside Bield’s ‘free to be’ ethos whereby they encourage tenants to live as independently as they like, whilst always being there to support them when they need it.