Hi all,
After a good night’s sleep, I can sit down and reflect on the charity match weekend. A lot of laughs and fun throughout both days, great group of anglers split fishing four lakes, plus the junior matches with a lot of help and support from the team to ensure a great weekend.
Saturday & Sunday mornings Tithe Bottom Lake
The weekend started with a group of junior’s anglers fishing a short format informal fun match on the bottom lake at Tithe. Steve (FMO) along with the other junior coaches (Andy, Charlotte, Alan, Phil) plus other helpers to ensure all the kids enjoyed themselves. The idea was to give the kids a chance to take part in a match and enjoy a few hours fishing with the parents and guardians able to help them if required. Quickly the sound of their excitement soon echoed around the lake as they landed each fish. A special thank you from me to Charlotte for all her hard work organising both junior matches.
With the trophies awarded for the junior match winner, best male junior angler, most fish caught and the biggest fish, every junior was given a prize to take home and it was great to see everyone smiling and having so much fun.
24-hour matches – Saturday 10am
On signing up each angler was able to pick which lake they would fish, then at 10am a draw was conducted to determine which swim they would use. With the sun blazing down it was pretty clear that most would have favoured drawing a shady peg but as they say “That’s the luck of the draw”. Two hours later at midday the whistle was blown and the matches at each of the lakes were underway.
Initially it was a slow start which wasn’t surprising given the conditions, but a few managed to tempt a few bites and the weights of the carp and tench were all noted so the fish could be returned to the lake as quickly as possible.
BBQ
After walking round to see everyone to collect the entrance fees and sell them raffle tickets by the end of the day we had raised just short of £500. At 4pm Steve, Vicky and Lynda fired up the BBQ to cook burgers which were delivered to all the anglers in their swims and then dished out to all the helpers which then meant we could relax and wind down after a busy first day.
As the sun set Mark and Jim enjoyed fishing for eels overnight which for me was fun watching them, but neither were lucky enough to land one. As the hours past I tried to get a few hours’ sleep, but with the odd bleeps from the bite alarms in front of me and behind on the middle lake plus the warm evening temperature I just laid there for a while until I decided to get up and put the kettle on again and make the drinks for Mark and Jim. A little after 4am I set the gopro up to film the middle lake as the sun rose an hour or so later in order to create a time lapse video before I finally managed to drop off albeit for less than two hours until I woke up to be offered a bacon buttie by Jim and a cuppa from Mark. Very nice they were to…
Once again Steve, Vicky and Lynda arrived and fired up the BBQ to cook sausage butties for everyone’s breakfast and once the food had been delivered, I took the opportunity to head home quickly for a much-needed shower and to charge up my mobile phone which was very close to dying from all the messages and calls I had. On returning I walked round to chat with all the anglers at Tithe to see how they were doing and to make sure they had plenty of water while offering some “advice” but mostly encouragement as four anglers weights at Tithe were very close, so close that just one more carp or a couple of nice tench would put them in the lead.
With the second junior match well underway I couldn’t believe how quickly the morning flew by and before long it was time to blow the whistle at midday signalling the end of the 24-hour match. I collected the boards and started to add up the weights while Dave and his daughter and others laying out the raffle prizes and prepared for the final presentations and raffle draw.
By two o’clock the sun was beating down and the majority of the anglers had gathered so we decided to go ahead an hour earlier than intended with the final presentations. First, we started with the junior anglers before moving on to the match winners for each of the four lakes, the biggest fish trophy and finally the overall winner who was presented the charity shield trophy.
Once again Steve managed the raffle draw which was entertaining as Eli (junior angler) was asked to draw the first ticket, seconds later he pulled out a ticket with his name on it. With everything done and dusted it was time to pack up and head home to relax with a lot of great memories from the weekend.
In closing, I would like to say a massive thank you to all the following, needless to say without all their help and support the charity match weekend just wouldn’t be possible.
Match officials – Assistances
Steve Mottershead (FMO), Mark Davies (AFMO), Vicky Mottershead, Lynda Davies, Andy & Charlotte Murphy, Jim & Lee Hayter, Chubb, Alan Head, Phil Hazel, Pete Kneller, Dave Le Gresley, Tony and Lilly Le Gresley plus others. A special thank you to all those who donated prizes especially to Ian Snook and Ryan Maye and of course all the anglers without whom this event is just not possible.
We managed to raise £787 over the weekend in cash alone which will be added to the rest of the monies raised from Ian’s charity matches.
Mike
(CRF Warden – Charity Match Coordinator)
