This years Charity Event was as usual a huge success, with everyone who took part leaving with a smile on their faces, with of course the exception of poor old Colin Farnham, who saw the recycling bins at the end of the event and wondered how many Lorries would be needed to collect all the rubbish.

Friday: As all the entrants filed in through the gate and made numerous trips to their respective pegs with all sorts of barrows piled high with a weekends worth of kit, the expectation was for a hopefully dry weekend with some warm sun shine. The latter was at a premium, with the rainfall at times being nothing short of torrential.
As Bivvies went up, pods, alarms, Rods, Bait buckets galore, the platforms each looking like a tackle shop show room, the expectation was immense. At 4 pm Colin Farnham sounded the horn and immediately leads were flying through the air from all directions. That is apart from our glorious Head Bailiff, who decided to pole fish. (Ask him when you see him about the Kennel..)and one or two others that decided to float fish.

From early on, it seemed that there were already a few anglers who were into the fish straight away, with Josh Bowley, Rob Crewes Rees and Andrew Payne landing fish on a regular basis.

Liam Frazer and Matthew Clarke, as Juniors, put a lot of us to shame, not only with how keen they were, but also out fishing many of us, including their respective Dads. Mick Frazer has also decided to teach young Liam how to set up a Carp Rod on Alarms… Thanks Mr Chairman for that one.

Jenny Collins seemed to be picking up some good fish and was well ahead in the Ladies event.

By early Friday evening, many of us decided that enough was enough and ventured to sit in the hut and natter.

Friday night saw most if not all Anglers in their bivvies by midnight, as we had torrential Rain for quite a few hours.

Saturday: Bleary eyes were everywhere around the pond Saturday morning, as no one got a good nights kip, due to the rain, which sounded like a constant drum beat on the bivvies.  Rob and Matthew Clarke had spent the night in a Tent that resembled a pop up toaster, which is still being talked about, as it was the size of a kiddies play tent and we are still trying to figure out how two people could have got through the door, never mind bedding down in it. Thanks to the Club, we were able to loan the duo with a Bivvy for the rest of the event.

Rob Crewes Rees and Andrew Payne spent Saturday in a ding dong battle for the best weight, however Josh Bowley was keeping his score ticking over at the top end of the pond.

4PM was all stop for the customary BBQ and drinks for all the competitors. Thanks to Mal for cooking the food on the BBQ and Colin Farnham for looking after the "Bar". Some competitors at 6pm went back to fishing, whilst the remainder deciding to spend the evening in the hut, which as the evening went on resembled a pop concert rather than a Fishing event.

Again the Rain literally hammered down most of the night and early hours of the morning, again forcing all to get into the Bivvies, rather than sit out in nothing short of a monsoon.


Sunday: It was clear by Sunday morning that it was going to be a two horse race to the end with Rob and Andrew keeping pace with each other. The weather cleared around 10am,
So for many, it was the opportunity to dry out the Bivvies and get them packed away before the heavens opened again, which thankfully the rain held off. By midday most had packed up and were getting a bite to eat before the official 2pm end of the fishing.

The prize giving and raffle ended another great weekend, which many were already saying to Colin, "Book me in for next year".


The winners were:

Overall Winner - Rob Crewes Rees

Well done Rob, a great effort in not always the best conditions.

Ladies Winner - Jenny Collins

Junior Winner - Liam Frazer

Best Fish - John Hatter  16lb 8oz Mirror Carp

Best Silver - Kevin Hunt  4lb 8oz Bream

Most importantly Colin was able to announce that at the time we had raised in excess of £2,500

Thanks to everyone who took part this year and we hope to se you all again next year.

Finally, a massive thank you to Colin Farnham, who again organised the event.

Paul Addecott (Club Secretary).