LEADING international darts referee Russ Bray, from Soham, was in a right spin this week as he picked the winners of Alzheimer’s Research UK’s annual raffle.

The raspy-voiced official, famed for his cries of ‘game on’ and ‘one hundred and eighty’, threw darts while blindfolded at a rotating dartboard.

Russ then plucked winning tickets from numbered bags which matched the numbers he hit on the spinning target.

Russ drew the raffle – a crucial fundraising tool for the UK’s leading dementia research charity – with thoughts of his father-in-law, Harry Crawley, in mind. The former Japanese Prisoner of War died with Alzheimer’s disease in 2007, aged 86. With more than 81,000 tickets sold this year, Russ was faced with mountains of entries from which to pick the lucky winners.

This year’s first-prize winner received £2,000 cash. Other top prizes included £750 cash, £150 of John Lewis vouchers, tea for two at the Ritz and a trolley dash from Alzheimer’s Research UK’s charity partner, Iceland Foods.

Russ said: “The charity is doing a fantastic job raising vital funds for dementia research, which is so desperately underfunded. That’s why the charity’s work is so important.”