In my first year as Chairman of TWFFS I’m pleased to say welcome to our 35th AGM. I’ve been very grateful for the support I’ve received from our members throughout 2025. I have been a committee member and been responsible for all the ‘senior’ roles within the TWFFS committee except the role of Chairman and being honest taking on the Chairmanship felt rather daunting. I really needn’t have worried so thank you again for all the support I’ve been given.

The society also had sad news with 4 of our members sadly passing away. Tony Benton, Ray French, Alan Dean and Ashley Davis, all will be greatly missed.

2025 has not been the easiest of years and not just from a fishing perspective. Everything more expensive and this has clearly impacted leisure interests such as fishing. Venues we regularly use have had to increase prices and they expressed concern at how this would impact numbers coming along to fish. On top of this we’ve experienced a very long period of dry and warm weather which as we all know is not helpful to our sport. But I’m pleased to say there is good news! Our event attendance has improved, and we enjoyed some very good days at our local venues all sincerely appreciated the on-going support from our Society.

Now I’m going to feel like an old schoolteacher delivering an end of year report on how we’ve all done.

 

TWFFS Objectives

• Promote the sport of fly fishing. The society continues to excel and encourage new and junior members. We are all genuinely pleased to see new and existing members skill improve.
• Encourage sound fly fishing practice. Very good – I’ve not yet seen a beach caster used.
• Promote friendship and camaraderie among members. Top of the class – I sincerely believe this Society is second to none!
• Develop and improve members skills in the art of fly fishing and fly dressing. Again excellent – At all of our events there are always the more experienced anglers happy to pass on valuable insights. We've also got members taking up fly tying and again the help and support and giving of materials has been great to see.

 

2025 Events Program

Well done to Simon Gregory with support from Graham Morgan-Plumb on putting together a varied program of events using our local waters along with options to have a go at Midlands Waters (we’ll look at how we might improve attendance at these venues)

Good to see that our mid-week events were often as well attended as our weekend events.

Our attendance average across the 2025 program was close to 10 which is very encouraging.

In the summer months fly fishing for carp has become very popular with many of our members. Skill levels and techniques are improving all the time and 20lb plus fish are regularly landed. The biggest benefit is that society members are getting out to enjoy their sport with a different quarry but no less enjoyable.

We have the competition prize giving to come and great to see some new names on some of our trophies. Our final event of the year the Fur & Feather held at Lakedown was once again pivotal in the destination of the below TWFFS trophies.

• Society Championship – 3 members were in contention
• Fur & Feather Cup
• Rainbow Shield
• Brownie Shield

All but the brownie shield was decided on the day, it made the whole day very enjoyable with so much banter it was hard to concentrate on catching fish! We finished the day with a new name on the Championship Trophy – by 2 points! Just 8 points covered the top 4 positions.

Our Fur & Feather cup and Rainbow Shield also has a new name and along with a personal best fish too!

Trophy Presentations to come – details omitted deliberately.

I’m very much looking forward to the 2026 events program.

 

TWFFS Team Competitions – AMFC – Snowbee – Grand Max

Excellent representation of TWFFS by our teams in these 3 major team competitions. AMFC – My goodness just like our own Championship trophy – how close can you get to defending the title – A half point difference was all there was between becoming AMFC champions for a 2nd consecutive year. So close but huge thanks and congratulations to Richard Denney and the team in their effort to retain the title.

It’s also here that our Society offer their sincerest appreciation to Harry Collins who’s generous sponsorship once again provided much support to the TWFFS AMFC team in their endeavours. Thank you, Harry.

Our teams in the Snowbee and Grand Max events under the leadership of Graham Morgan-Plumb and Keith Lawrence also put in a huge effort, but plans didn’t come to fruition on the day. Thank you to Graham and Keith and our teams for representing TWFFS.

I should mention too that once again in 2025 TWFFS had good representation at qualifiers for the England fly fishing team. 3 of our members qualified. Richard Denney, John Hood and Frank Sumnall

Sean Brooks fished for England in the Czech Republic – FIPS World Championships and also for England in the 5 Nations mutli format fly fishing. Well done all.

 

Membership

Very Healthy and in my honest opinion at the right level to protect and nurture the Society Objectives.

Full Members – 80

Junior Members – 12 (several due to become full members if they so wish)

 

Finances

Under the good auspices of our new Treasurer Buster Heasman – we are in sound financial shape. See treasurers report.

 

TWFFS Supported Charities

Hospice in The Weald

2025 saw a continuation of the wonderful fundraising we carry out for Hospice in The Weald. The Society donated £750 to the Hospice which were the funds raised during 2024. Fund Raising has continued throughout the year in all sorts of different ways. The Reg Little Child memorial trophy, Raffle collections, unwanted fish sales, novel fund raising at our Carp Fishing Days and a very generous gesture from our former Chairman Peter Thomason and friends at his 80th Birthday celebration. We couldn’t support a Fidelity fundraising day this year due to a lack of sponsorship from Fidelity. This event usually provides support to both the Hospice and Fishing For Forces. However, we still held a TWFFS event on that day and raised funds for the Hospice. In summary we have raised almost £900 during 2025. It’s very pleasing to see that our society continues this terrific support for a charity that offers so much in our area. Well done TWFFS!

Fishing For Forces

As mentioned earlier we were unable to hold the Fidelity Fund Rasing Day due to lack of sponsorship from Fidelity. It had been approved but for some unknown reason it was not forthcoming to TWFFS. This meant we couldn’t run a fund-raising day in partnership with Fidelity staff. We will look at this in 2026 and if Fidelity wish us to run an event we will gladly support. FFF has recently partnered with a Royal British Legion supported venture called ‘Battle Back’ who provide support to recovering forces personnel at Tedworth House. This will provide valued support to the FFF charity and its founder Bill Howell.

 

Communication Channels

Website, WhatsApp groups and TWFFS Facebook group.

Our thanks again to Marc George for managing our TWFFS website. The site really does assist our members in knowing when events are coming up and to easily book their attendance. Thanks again Marc!

TWFFS members group allows us to privately share news of upcoming events and events that have taken place. It’s also a great place to share pictures of any special moments at our events.

During 2025 we set up WhatsApp groups for members and for Committee communications. Both seem to be working well.

 

Final Thoughts

Another good year for our Society. Our members really do make it a success and keep the society values at the forefront when attending events that have been arranged. It’s great to see good attendance and members enjoying the sport of Fly Fishing. I look forward to more of the same in 2026.

I must also add my sincerest thanks to those that have organised events throughout 2025 and especially to the TWFFS committee for the support given to me in my first year as chairman. I look forward to working with you all again in 2026.

Thank you and Tight Lines to all our members.

Micky Heasman, Chairman · January 2026