Trina trail for darts^ Golden Girl

Southam^s Golden Girl of darts will be celebrated with a ^Trina trail^ around the town.

Plans to mark the achievements of the seven-time ladies darts world champion Trina Gulliver have been in the offing for some time.

One idea mooted was the erection of a seven-metre-high dart sculpture on a roundabout, but after that suggestion failed to win support another has taken its place.

In the next few weeks, the Trina Gulliver Tribute Group will submit an application to Stratford District Council asking it to help fund the creation of seven special benches that will be placed at landmark locations from the darts player^s life.

A final list of sites has yet to be drawn up, but Southam College, Tomwell Close - where she grew up and her parents Muriel and Geoff still live - and the Bowling Green Inn are expected to feature.

Group chairman Mike Stanley said: "Anybody who is a world champion in their chosen sport deserves to get some recognition and Southam needs a hero or heroine.

"The benches will commemorate every year that she won the world championship and have a darts theme.

"We haven^t worked out exactly where they will go, but there will definitely be one outside the Bowling Green Inn that her father used to keep and where she learnt her craft."

Trina started playing darts for Warwickshire County Youth at the age of 14 and turned professional in 1996.

She attended the former Southam High School at 12 and when 16 went on to Mid-Warwickshire College.

The trail will be supported by a leaflet that residents and visitors can follow as they stroll around the town from bench to bench.

Mr Stanley added: "It will include information about Trina, the town and other historical figures and events. The idea of the walk is to incorporate health, community and tourism."

Funding for the trail will come from £25,000 secured from ^Advantage West Midlands^ and Market Towns Initiative investment secured for Southam by the district council.

This money will also be used to install ^finger^ signposts and information panels on buildings such as the Old Mint and the Elizabethan pharmacy.

* Last week it emerged that a collection of 2,500 artefacts charting the history of Southam would have to be broken up and sold because funding could not be found.

Story by: Holly Whitmill