It was a weekend package trip, promoted by the Steam Packet Company a quarter of a century ago, which first floated the idea of one-off darts festival in the Isle of Man.

From that humble beginning, the Isle of Man Darts Festival grew in size and popularity and from 12th to 15th March, is set to celebrate its 25th birthday.

The event now attracts over 15,000 visitors and players compete for more than ?250,000 prize-money.

The man behind the annual tournament is Les France, the Lancashire-based darts promoter and former British Darts Organisation director and England selector, who staged the very first Manx event.

France was contacted by a friend from Rochdale, who said that a representative from the Steam Packet ferry company was in the area promoting the ferry company’s promotional weekend trips to the Isle of Man.

A meeting was set up with the Department of Tourism after Les France suggested that he could put on a darts tournament to help attract additional people for the Manx weekend break - and so the darts festival was born.

Around 480 players – mainly from the north of England – supported the inaugural event and were rewarded with a classic 'wars of the roses' final encounter, with Lancashire’s Alan Warriner overcoming the challenge of Sheffield’s Tony Littlewood.  That first year also saw flamboyant Bobby George - who had spectacularly burst on to the world stage in a sequin-covered shirt to finish runner up to Crafty Cockney Eric Bristow in the 1980 world final – competing.

Warriner, who went on to win the Manx title, twice went on to finish runner-up in the world championship.

Within two years, the Manx festival and its popular spring staging date proved a huge draw for players.  The fact that it is one of the first big tournaments to be staged following January’s world championship means that it gives the newly-crowned world champ a chance to showcase them self, while for others it is the opportunity to capture the scalp of the new champion.

In 1988, a quietly-spoken, slow-throwing sharpshooter from the South Yorkshire town of Mexborough claimed his biggest success in the sport.  And he reinforced his good form returning 12 months later to annex his second Manx title at the Palace Lido.  The venue suffered a heating failure, forcing organisers to bring in huge blower heaters, but unperturbed Priestley turned in a red hot performance at the 'ice palace' to scoop the title.  He went on to claim two world titles.

Around this time, the festival was attracting about 500 travellers each year, the quality of those competing helping to cement the event as a prestige and popular fixture on the annual darts calendar.

The tournament moved to Summerland, described by France as 'the perfect darting venue' for the blossoming championship because of the large playing area, which complemented 64 boards and the raised stage area for the control desk.

The biggest threat to the enthusiastic promoter’s plans for the tournament was the industrial recession, which took its toll on the sport, with a loss of television coverage and high unemployment reducing the number of people able to play darts regularly.  The number of visitors to the tournament dipped below the 400 mark but the tournament survived into 1993.

Then there was a further headache for promoter France.  Following the world championship that year the sport was rocked by a dramatic split, which saw the top players – including Phil Taylor, John Lowe, Eric Bristow, Jocky Wilson and Keith Deller – controversially break away from the British Darts Organisation to form their own organisation and series of competitions.

The 'split' spawned months of acrimony and bitterness between the rival organisations but the Manx tournament attempted to mediate by declaring a completely 'open' event allowing players from both the BDO and the newly former World Darts Council (later to become the Professional Darts Corporation) to stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the oche.

This remained the way forward until the introduction of BDO and World Darts Federation rankings points, which mean that those who had chosen to play their darts with the PDC were unable to compete in the new BDO/WDF ranked tournament in Douglas.

Ironically, the winner of the Manx championship that year was Scotland international Gary Anderson who produced the festival’s best ever final average, an astonishing 38.53 per dart, as he buried former world champ Ted “The Count” Hankey.

The closure of the Summerland complex enabled the festival to move upmarket, making the newly completed multi million pound seafront Villa Marina its new home.

The palatial facade, with its ornamental waterfalls, feature staircases and  pillars and striking white facade, provided a striking backdrop for one of the sport’s most popular tournaments.

And the tournament led the darts world when it supported the island-wide smoking ban at all Department of Tourism establishments.  Shortly afterwards the mainland introduced extensive no-smoking bans in licensed premises.

The festival has not been without its drama though, with the weather in particulary wreaking havoc on more than occasion.  In 2002, heavy overnight snow prevented players from travelling from the Peel area after roads became impassable.  Ironically, by lunchtime, the snow had melted and the island was bathed in balmy spring sunshine!

In 2004, storm damage forced the closure of the Summerland playing venue when a rock-fall left the playing hall unsafe.  At the 11th hour, organisers, working with the Department of Tourism, announced that the tournament would go ahead at The Venue nightclub on the Central Promenade.

One of the reasons that the Manx tournament has become such a prominent fixture on the annual darts calendar is down to the expertise and professionalism of the LP Promotions team, which runs the weekend festival under the eagle eye of tournament director Les France.

Despite celebrating his 84th birthday this year, he continues to exude a boyish enthusiasm for the sport.

In 2006, he was awarded a formal letter of commendation from the Isle of Man Government to thank him for his work in launching the darts tournament to the Island.

David Cretney MHK Minister wrote, "May I, on behalf of the Department and Isle of Man Government, thank you for your sterling efforts over the last 21 years.  The darts festival really has become an important fixture in our events calendar and is seen by many as the kick start to another season of sports events on the Island."

France said, "I have to admit, I am a perfectionist and like to do things right.  That includes all the preparation for the event, having properly indexed listings of all competitors through to right professional appearance on stage.  We have professional players competing at this tournament and they expect top standards, which I hope we provide.

"For the past quarter of a century we have not rested on our laurels but tried to build on our successes and learn from any mistakes.  The results can be measured in the support this tournament attracts year after year.

"Both the men’s and women’s singles have become much sought after titles and this year we expect the tournament weekend to be bigger and better," declared France.

Entry forms for this year’s darts festival can be obtained from the Welcome Centre at the Sea Terminal or online at www.visitisleofman.com. Entries close on 28th February 2010.