FM Charity Fish-in / James Farrow Memorial 2006The origins of this event go back I believe to 2002, when a 24hr FM Carp Compo was organised by Stu Dennis, Cakey and Roto, but please excuse me if I have missed anyone out. The first event was to be fished on the 12th June 2002 at Hunts Corner lake on the Linear fishery in Oxfordshire. Prior to the 20th May 2002, when my son James died whilst fishing, having just caught a PB mirror carp of 22lb the previous afternoon, I have to admit to having no knowledge of FishingMagic. Obviously James’ sad death bought about a lot of local and some National press coverage. Chris Bishop, who works for the local paper and was obviously aware of the circumstances, contacted some of the FM guys. As a result of this, Di and I were contacted by a very brave Stuart Dennis who spoke to us out of the blue by phone to explain about FishingMagic and pass on their condolences. He further went on to explain about the 24hr Carp Compo and asked if it could be associated with a memorial trophy for James. We were very touched by the kindness and said we would be honoured and still are today. I was also invited to fish the event, but it was far too soon after losing James to even contemplate attending. The event went ahead as planned, the fishing was, I am told, very hard, but the social crack was excellent, with Wol doing his now famous BBQ whilst in a ‘newt like’ state. Some £ 3000 was also raised for charity. My thanks to Stu Dennis for initially being brave enough to contact us and to get a memorial trophy for James arranged. Please click on the following link for the match report and some photos of the event. The first memorial fish-in (2002) The 2003 event moved up North, and was held at Selby Three Lakes, Tues 24th April to Thurs 1st May. A very nice venue with plenty of features. This match was a case of turn up, have a look around, and decide where you want to fish. I went to this event and as a novice made the mistake of picking a swim the furthest point from Mike Lees chuck wagon which was the hub of the activities that took place. There was a lot of partying, a lot of singing and for a few sore heads in the morning.  The James Farrow Memorial Trophy for the biggest Carp went to Les Clarke. This event raised some £ 1396.50 for charity. One of the features of the event was the auction, where people were very generous with the prizes they had gathered, and with willingness of people to put their hands in their pockets to bid for items. The 2004 fish-in was very special to me as it was held at Snetterton pits where James fished predominantly, and also ended his short life. The lakes were donated free by the owners Karen and James Cook, My son James and his brother Michael went to school with their two sons and were good friends. The fishery is only 1.5 miles from where I live and thus I was able to do a lot of the arranging in association with Cakey. A portaloo was arranged for the occasion, something for which Wol was very grateful if his number of visits was anything to go by. Mike Lee again bought his chuck wagon and provided superb breakfasts, not only to those taking part but also to a few locals fishing other lakes on the complex. The first night Wol did his usual superb BBQ having taken time and effort to purchase the food on our behalf, prepare it and cook it. The weather was nice and hot, so whilst cooking the BBQ and for a few hours afterwards Wol prevented dehydration by consuming a 3litre wine box. The next morning he looked as rough as anyone I have ever seen in my life. Have a look at his photo in the write up. Mike Lee picked up the James Farrow memorial trophy for the biggest carp with a beautiful common of 30lbs 8oz. The second night the lake owners had, in consultation with myself and Cakey, arranged for the local mobile fish and chip wagon to visit the lakes, and everyone was able to purchase a cracking feed.
Cakey also showed he is in the wrong job, as he was surely born to be an auctioneer. The auction raised a surprising amount of money. The total raised for charity was £ 2,652.50. This event was really special to me, we raised a cracking amount of money for charity, the weather was great, the food was superb, the company was smashing and the fishing the best of any event to that date, and the venue was extra special to me. Sasha set himself a new PB Bream on the evening before the competition. Bully was so far gone he didn’t know if his fish was a common or a mirror, but he was over the moon at catching a nice lump. Please click on the link for the full write up. 2004 Charity Match – Snetterton The Blue Pool near Reading was the venue for the 2005 event, a CEMEX water kindly donated free of charge by Ian Welch the fisheries manager for CEMEX. Many thanks to Ian for his generosity. This match was fished 19th-21st September 2005 and a turn out of only 7 of us, unfortunately several people had to call of at very short notice due to reasons beyond their control. But as far as the fishing itself went this was a runs water and the ‘mutt’s nuts’. From memory, during the 48 hrs or so we were there we had 38 carp out between the 7 of us, prior to that the best was 5 carp to about 20 anglers at Snetterton. The fish weren’t huge but in the main they were beautifully proportioned hard fighting fish. we also managed to raise £ 818 for charity between the 7 of us. Biggest fish was 25lb 12 oz to Alan Strickland who is intending to defend the trophy again this year.
So on to this years event at CEMEX’s Chertsey Fishery, again donated free of charge, and once again my sincere thanks to Ian Welch.
This years event is 5th to 7th June, so hopefully the weather and the fishing will have warmed up and the light nights will be long to facilitate a BBQ and some socialising time. This year the event has been opened up to non carp anglers. We realised that there may be anglers out their who would like to come along to the event, meet some old and some new FM faces, help raise some money for charity and have a good time in the process, but have been put off because it is carp orientated. If you are one of those people get your name down quickly as there are only a few places left. Come and fish for bream, tench, roach or perch and be part of an FM get-together without being obliged to fish for carp and the trophy. If you can’t make the fish in but live close, come and say hello. Also anyone who can’t fish but would like to help raise money for this year’s charity, (The East Anglian Air Ambulance), a charity very close to my heart, see if you can obtain any prizes for the auction from your local tackle dealer/s, or alternatively have you any items that you no longer use or want that you could donate. The auction and prize-giving are usually held after the carp match has finished, so in this case the ceremony will be around 12.30 pm on Wed 7th June. In summary, this year will be the 5th such event, to date over £ 7,800 has been raised for charity. All the fish-ins so far have been really great events for one reason or another. I have enjoyed meeting and talking and having a drink with so many faces from FM, and met a whole load of really nice people. It’s not all about the fishing, it’s not all about raising huge sums for charity, it’s not just the socialising, it’s just the ‘whole thing’. So why not come and experience it for yourselves. |
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