All Things Piscatorial

We left Buckinghamshire just after 13:30 on Saturday to make our way down to Hampshire.  The journey down was rather pleasant when you consider it was a beautiful day and the weekend promised to be a hot one.  The traffic heading for the seaside resorts of Bournemouth and Poole did not hinder us in the slightest.

We arrived at the fishery at 15:00 and I was really pleased to see that it was well presented and I had a really good, warm feeling about the day itself (Sunday).

When we arrived at the fishery we bumped into Ian Coates and Elaine who had already booked in to The Shoe Inn. We chatted briefly and said we would catch up later at the pub. I would like to make a special mention of the tremendous effort Ian and Elaine made to get to Hampshire - it took them four hours to travel down from Nottingham - I take my hat off to you and thank you for your commitment to the ATP Roadshow.

We then had a walk around the fishery and introduced ourselves to the owner, John Hardeley.  John made us very welcome and promised to look after us on the Sunday.

The next stop was to book into The Shoe Inn.  We were greeted by our host, Jeni Noordijk, who made us feel very welcome.  She showed us to a delightful room where we relaxed before getting ready for a superb evening meal; if you ever wish to visit The Shoe, I can highly recommend the Steak and Kidney Pie.  Wonderful!

After our meal, we met Ian and Elaine in the bar and were joined by Martin Porter, who was staying at another B&B.  After a drink and a chat, the ladies - who could not cope with any more talk of fishing - retired to their rooms and, shortly afterwards, Martin returned to his B&B to get ready for the day ahead.

That left Ian and I to sit and talk about - yes, you've guessed it - fishing and coaching.

We were sitting by the pool table and before long, three ladies started to play pool.  We got chatting and Ian and I were invited to play pool with them, with the losers paying into the Teenage Cancer Trust Fund.  In no time the bell rang for time and we said our goodbyes.  But before they left, the ladies asked if they could make a donation to our day.  Of course we agreed and a cheque was put into my hand.  I was later amazed to see that the cheque was for £50. Thank you to Sue, Jackie and Caroline - shut up and good luck (they will know what I mean).

At last the day had arrived and we were off to the Whinwhistle Fishery, ready for a great day's fishing and fund rasing.

We all met at the clubhouse for breakfast which, I might add, was the prefect start to the day.  Our thanks to Amanda Hardeley.

The roll call read Jim Rice, Steve Rowland, Martin Porter, Danny Williamson, Ian Coates and Phil Lomax.  Plus our willing helpers, Yvonne Rice and Paula Grimsdell (un-Official Photographer).

After breakfast our thoughts turned to the match.  It was decided that it would be a silver fish only match, therefore carp did not count.

We did not have a draw, just a walk off.  I settled for peg number 2.  To my left sat Jim, and to my right, Martin, with Danny, Phil, Steve and Ian opposite.  We were fishing one end of Keepers’ Lake and could easily talk to each other across the lake and have a bit of banter.

As Carp had been ruled out, I opted for numbers rather than size and soon found myself catching plenty of small fish.  Sadly, not many big silver fish were caught, a few skimmers and some small tench, but nothing to worry the scalesman.

To cut a five-hour story short, we weighed in and the tension mounted as we waited to discover who would be the winner of the first Coaches' Day fishing match!  Here are the results of the weigh in:

To my amazement I had won the second match of my life!  The first one was when I was 13 years old.  Even more amazing – this was only my second match!  The next one will be at the Coaches’ Day 3; I doubt very much that lightning will strike three times!

Finally came the part of the day Paula had been dreading – the time for my blonde locks to meet the razor.  Steve Rowland played the part of Sweeney Todd and within no time my hair was on the ground and the Teenage Cancer Trust were £500 richer.

   

What a day – together we had raised over £1,000 for the Southampton Unit of the Teenage Cancer Trust.

I would like to thank everyone mentioned above who played their part in making the day such a success and also to those who donated cash for the head shave, prizes for the raffle and to those who bought raffle tickets.

For those of you who did not attend, you missed out!

Please check out the forum and put your name down for the Coaches Day 3. 

This event is being run by Ian Boden in Birmingham on Sunday 13 May 2007.

The charity we will be supporting on the day will be the

Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Roll on May 2007!