IF YOU played darts at any pub or club, the chances are you played on a dartboard made by Stan Allen.

His boards were used extensively throughout the Oxford area.

Ron Slater, landlord of the Nags Head in Thame from 1954 to 1964, recalled: “I bought all my dartboards from him.

“In those days, probably 90 to 95 per cent of boards were manufactured from wood and Mr Allen was a master in this art. His dartboards were the finest you could buy.”

Our interest in Mr Allen was sparked by a letter from author and darts historian Patrick Chaplin (Memory Lane, January 24).

He had discovered a newspaper cutting from 1972 recording Mr Allen’s retirement after 27 years of dartboard making and appealed to Memory Lane readers for more details about him and his career.

He was not disappointed. Thanks to readers, he now has a much clearer picture of his life and his business, HS Allen (Dartboards) Ltd.

Mr Allen arrived in Kidlington at the end of the Second World War and started making pull-along toys in a workshop at the Red Lion pub, in Oxford Road.

After hearing that there was a shortage of dartboards, he switched trades, working first in Kidlington and later in his garden shed at 11 Jericho Street, Oxford.

Desmond Greenwood, who lived in Jericho Street, told Dr Chaplin that Mr Allen and his wife moved in next door in the late 1940s or early 1950s.

He recalled: “We could plainly hear Mr Allen tapping away, presumably assembling his boards.”

Another reader, Lorine Jones, whose family ran pubs from 1936 to 1987, remembered going to Mr Allen’s house in Jericho to buy dartboards.

“He had a workshop at the back of the house and you went through the living room to get to it.”

Mr Allen, who bought his elm boards from a timber merchant at Wheatley, was one of the first, if not the first, manufacturer to produce boards with inlaid wiring. He developed special tools for this.

Although he was described as a one-man operation, Mr Allen worked with John Allen (no relation), who later wrote the Oxford Mail’s weekly darts column, and school-leaver Malcolm Worthington.

The business flourished until the early 70s when Dutch Elm disease destroyed 50 per cent of elms in England and brought supplies to an end.

Ever resourceful, Mr Allen switched to making sticks and dolls for popular Oxfordshire pub game Aunt Sally, before finally heading into retirement.

Dr Chaplin writes: “My thanks to Memory Lane readers who responded to my request for information – my letter generated some extraordinary results! My only regret is I do not have a photograph of Stan.”

If anyone has a photo or knows about Mr Allen, call 01621 856040, email patrick.chaplin@btinternet.com or write to 50 Norfolk Road, Maldon, Essex CM9 6AT.