Secretary's Report 2011

Mr Chairman, Officials and Members, firstly may I apologise for not getting these reports to you sooner. From just after Christmas, I have been involved in the purchase of a new property, one that had been repossessed from the previous owners and one that was in need of major repairs. Had I known what was to follow the purchase, in hindsight, I probably would not have gone ahead. The whole process has been a nightmare and one that I would not wish to experience again. My time has been totally dominated by improvements to the house and only last night I sat in my newly refurbished office typing away to prepare the documents that you have before you this evening.

Apart from the house move, in terms of angling and our Association, I believe that we have a bright future to look forward to as we move forward together.

During this last year I embarked on a new and very challenging project involving serving members of our armed forces. This followed an appeal by a fellow angler, broadcaster and journalist who I know well, who is also very patriotic towards these shores and the armed forces that serve us all. I was asked if there was anything that I could do to help injured, traumatised young men to get them back into some sort of normality and to help them to forget some of the events that had dominated their lives during deployment in Afghanistan. I came up with an angling programme and assisted by our Association, members of the public, tackle shops and other local charitable organisations, was able to purchase sufficient tackle to get them fishing. This Association provided both funds and made waters available to use on our fishing days. I visited the army barracks in Catterick on several occasions, staying at the base during what became two day visits and with my away days and my days using WDAA waters over seventy young men benefited from angling days, covering a total of eighteen days during the course of last year. Although the Mercian regiment has completed it's tour of duty in Afghanistan, such was the positive impact of the fishing days, that they are keen to continue now and into the future and I will continue to provide what I can in the limited time that I have available. Unfortunately, some of the young soldiers will never return to active service as their injuries will prevent this, but nevertheless plans are already in place for one to one tuition days for these less fortunate young men and I will be taking as many as possible fishing during the winter months.
My passions and beliefs that angling offers many benefits, not only for anglers, but for our environment as a whole are as strong as ever. During one of our fishing days the BBC cameras reported on our day at Newpool and the programme went out three times over the course of a day being shown on Northwest Tonight News. For what I believe to be the first time, WDAA made national and local TV news. We also did a recorded broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and a live broadcast on Radio 5 Live. This extremely positive publicity for the benefits of angling brought much needed publicity and more fishing tackle was provided as a result. I have never looked for publicity for myself and always strive to promote and defend angling when the opportunity arises. This will only benefit all of us if we remain committed to maintain high standards, both on the banks of our waters and when we come into contact with members of the public, some of whom regard us as slightly eccentric! We must protect our waters, protect our fish stocks and maintain the high standards that most waters now appear to provide, in litter free and pleasant places to both film, fish and to visit.

This year has seen progress. The work to turn around the problems on the Ocean is quite outstanding and I would like to thank John and his team for making this possible. An improvement plan is underway and by the start of the new season, I hope with the assistance of those keen to implement, will be completed.

Again Guy has contributed both his time and his energy into maintaining and improving the waters under his control. I would like to welcome on board Chris Hammond who will be taking over some of Guy's previous responsibilities. Chris is not only keen, but also talented and thorough in everything that he does.

Moving forward is going to be both difficult and challenging as we are losing eighty years of experience and dedication to the Association by the retirement of both our Fishery Manager and our Treasurer. On a national level this would be like losing half of the cabinet! Both Tommy and Stuart have given over forty years of their time in making WDAA what it is today. Words alone cannot possibly give them both the credit that they richly deserve. Tommy brought specimen angling and particularly modem carp fishing to this Association. What most of us now take for granted didn't get there by luck. It took years of effort, research and relentless dedication to bring this Association into the 2Ist century and beyond. Stuart through his organising skills and his careful budget management, leaves behind a small business that many full time businesses would envy. We have a strong balance, both financially and the assets owned outright. I would therefore like to record our gratitude to both men and to applaud their outstanding achievements.

Finally I would like to thank the officers, bailiffs and members for their service over the last twelve months.

Steve Beech
Secretary