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Well what a year it's been for our small but perfectly formed Society!
With outstanding success at both our team and individual levels we've certainly punched well above our weight this year, and with membership numbers and event attendances up on previous seasons, the future of the Society is looking as bright as ever
Of course that doesn't come without a lot of hard work on the part of your Committee members and others, and thanks to their efforts we were able to enjoy a full season of angling at an increasing range of venues. Having said that, change is inevitable these days, and with the rise in travel, accommodation and ticket costs it is noticeable how members are more reluctant to visit the Midlands reservoirs as frequently as in the past
It was great however to continue our support for local fisheries, particularly at Chalybeate, Spring Hill, Brick Farm and Lakedown where the managers give us a warm welcome whenever we are there. Our trips to Cornamona to meet our friends on the Corrib continued albeit with a reduced group but with the usual hilarity and a wealth of “war stories” to bring home
A number of our members continued to cope with global warming in their own way by adding to their skills during the steamy months of July and August, luring carp to the fly (or something close to a fly!) and enjoying some impressive catches and enjoyable days out in the process
Change is also coming within your Committee with the retirement at the AGM of Peter as Secretary and myself as Chairman. Peter has been a fantastic contributor and ambassador for our Society for more than 20 years and during his term as Chairman and latterly as Society Secretary he has been at the forefront of maintaining the Society's standards. As a true scholar of our sport he has also been keen to remind us of its history and its science which is sometimes easy to forget in the era of blobs, boobies and snakes!
Your new Committee is now beginning its preparations for the 2025 season, and as always we will be doing so with particular focus on the key objectives of our Society which are to:
As usual we will be hoping to offer a busy and diverse programme of bank, lough, reservoir and river fishing to provide members with the opportunity to acquire and ultimately display and pass on a wide range of angling skills. It will be particularly rewarding to see these skills being shared with new and younger members, with a high level of camaraderie and banter combined with a competitive edge, all of which ensures that we enjoy our sport with a strong dose of fun, which is the point after all!
Membership and Finance
Micky Heasman has continued in his triple roles as Vice Chairman, Treasurer and Membership Secretary which provides a full overview of membership data and subscriptions
His efforts as informal recruitment officer mean that membership numbers continued at a very healthy level during 2024 with 79 full members, 11 junior members and 2 honorary members
While Micky will be providing his own financial report and accounts to the AGM, I'm delighted to say that thanks to his sound management, the Society is in very good financial health with a strong membership and regular input from new members this year
Your Committee is therefore pleased to confirm that Annual Subscriptions will remain at £25 for the coming season. In the meantime members are reminded that 2025 subscriptions fell due on 1st January, and membership will lapse under the terms of our Constitution if payment is not made by 14th February
Support for Charities
The Society's continued support for our chosen charities is an important part of our activities. It enhances our reputation considerably and displays our commitment to giving something back to others who might be less fortunate than ourselves
The success of our annual Reg Littlechild Day together with the very generous contributions from our members at our two social events and from our friends at Fidelity International at their Chalybeate Day mean that we have been very pleased to continue our support for both the Hospice in the Weald and Fishing For Forces
It is your Committee's intention to review our charitable activities in the coming weeks so that our plans for 2025 can form part of our fixture list for the new season
Team Competitions
National competitions continued this year and our teams in the prestigious AMFC Division 1, Snowbee Floating Line and the Grand Max competitions again enjoyed considerable success
Led by Richard Denney ably assisted by Bob Holland, our AMFC team had a fantastic win coming first in the top division of the AMFC leagues. We need to remember that we are pitting the skills of our small membership against much larger clubs, some of whom are supported by organisations such the RAF, Army and Police while others represent major reservoirs such as Rutland, Chew and Grafham. A great result and many congratulations to all who participated
While our team was less successful in the Snowbee, an understrength team of 5 did exceptionally well at the Grand Max Invitation Competition at Bewl in October with Mark Tremain Coker leading the team to third place
Our thanks go again to Harry Collins who very kindly agreed to continue his very generous support for our competition teams. His sponsorship has helped over the years to defray some of the individual expenses involved in entering these national events and so ensure that we can field our strongest teams when needed
Richard, along with Sean Brooks also competed very successfully for England at the Autumn Home International loch-style competition being held on Llyn Clyweddog in Wales with Richard leading the team as top rod. Sean has also attained selection for England in the FIPS World Fly Fishing Championships in the Czech Republic in May. Our congratulations go to them both
Ireland
This was the 32nd occasion that members of the Society have visited that beautiful part of the world with only the two Covid years intervening. In Keith Nicholson's absence (through injury) Mick Priest is now alone in having attended every one! As usual some challenging fishing was matched by the pleasure of renewing some old (and very old!) friendships, with Micky Heasman sweeping the board by winning the Ghillies Cup for most keepers and the Keith Lyne Trophy for biggest fish at 3lb 6oz
Website and Newsletters
Our continued thanks go to Marc George for keeping the Society's website up to date and for making the adjustments needed as time goes by. His prompt attention to any changes needed as the season progresses ensures that the site continues to be a very efficient source of information about our activities and a successful way for us to book into and therefore organise our numerous events
Our Facebook and WhatsApp pages now provide useful supplements and our regular Newsletter, expertly produced by Peter Thomason, is an excellent way of keeping members up to date on specific issues as the season goes by with a number of new members joining in the course of this year
Society Competitions
The 2024 season proved to be as competitive as ever in the friendliest possible way of course. The spread of winners of trophies and championship events was perhaps a bit less wide than in past years. However 15 members fought bravely for awards as winners or runners-up out of the positions available (or at least those not grabbed by Ian, Mick and Danielle!)
The winners of our various cups and shields during the season to be presented at our AGM are therefore as follows:
The Championship points system continued to work successfully, with points events evenly divided between bank and boat competitions and 2 points awarded to all members who attended, in addition to the following points for the top 6 places: 10;8;6;5;4;3
To encourage attendance at all our events, your Committee continued to apply Championship points for all weekend outings in addition to those which are the subject of competition for a trophy or shield. The system has worked well and will be continued for the coming season. The increasing reluctance to kill fish meant that more of our events were decided wholly or partially on catch and release results
Your Committee will continue to keep the best method of resolving these issues under review to ensure clarity for the coming season. In addition, to save costs (and members' cupboard space) we have decided not to commission small shields for each event winner, but only to present the principal cup or shield to the winner to be retained for the relevant year
Your Committee
I'm pleased to report that your Committee has continued to work together extremely well in the course of the year with the high standards of organisation and commitment we've seen in past years have continuing
As mentioned above, Micky Heasman has successfully combined his roles as Vice Chairman, Treasurer and Membership Secretary. Graham Morgan-Plumb has worked very efficiently as Fixture Secretary and organised an excellent programme for 2024 with Simon Gregory's assistance. Peter Thomason as Secretary has included in his duties the monitoring of our website presence and the circulation of his excellent Newsletters
Richard Denney will continue to organise our AMFC teams. Suzanne Stoner (with some help from Andy!) will help us organise our trophies and our social and charitable events this year while Neil Osmond has already brought his energy to our activities and his commitment to river fishing will enable interested members to participate in that part of our sport
Inevitably the retirement of Peter and myself from our current roles will mean some changes in the Committee and our proposals will be presented for approval at the AGM
In conclusion
So an exceptional season for your Society and all its members. Your Committee looks forward to your continued support while we make preparations for what we hope will be an excellent 2025. We feel your Society is in very good hands to do so and to continue in the future
With apologies to those who I haven't been able to mention individually, can I extend my personal thanks to all those who have made my ninth and final year as Chairman of your Society a continuing pleasure. I'm pleased to say that thanks to the excellent work done by your Committee, not only has my role been made very much easier, but the Society is in excellent health, not just financially, but in terms of membership, camaraderie and reputation. I'm sure they will be working hard in 2025 to make sure that this position continues
Russell Bell, Chairman · January 2025
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