AROUND 200 people attended the funeral of Tony Sapsford, a long-time Didim expat, who was one of the mainstays of the town’s darts community.

Voices understands that Mr Sapsford, who lived in the town with his wife Sue for many years, died at Bodrum’s Acibadem hospital following complications caused by pneumonia.

Among those attending his funeral last Friday (March 1) at Deniz Koy was his son Mark who had flown in from the US.

Mr Sapsford was largely acknowledged as one of the longest supporters of the Didim darts community.

In a March 2 Facebook post, Mrs Sapsford said: “Mark and myself can’t thank everyone enough for coming to pay their respects to Tony yesterday. All the good wishes, the flowers and the cards but most of all everyone, not only in Turkey but in the UK who thought of Tony yesterday afternoon.

“He was such a big part of our circle of friends and the community – and to say he will be missed is an understatement. He had a wonderful life but has been taken from me far too soon.”

Along with his colleague Ron Brown, Mr Sapsford was also helping to put Didim on the map with involvement in the Turkish Darts Federation.

They had set up their own darts base under the Castle Restaurant, on Sokak 2132, where they have darts boards and electronic equipment to monitor scoring and darts performance.

They registered a team with the Turkish Darts Federation, which saw them take on teams from Izmir, Kusadasi, Bodrum, Antalya, and even as far afield as Northern Cyprus, in 2016.