In the eleventh year of Stoney and Friends, a target of £250,000 had been set as the milestone to be reached in respect of total money raised for Macmillan Cancer Support. The annual three day Yateley Fish-In was the target date and all the Stoney and Friends committee were working with the target in mind, as were most anglers attending. Ticket purchases in advance of the event exceeded all previous years with 152 tickets sold. On the morning of the event the Committee were up at 4.30 to prepare for registration at 10.00am – which as per previous years actually commenced at 05.30 (by demand!!) and was actually completed by 10.00!! As each fisherperson registered and handed over they sponsorship it became clear that our target of £250,000 may well be achievable. By 2.30pm on the Friday it was clear we had exceeded the target and money was still coming in. Raffles sales took place on the Saturday with Chris Isaacs covering the Match side of the complex (aided by his 9yr old Saleson Michael – and two dogs for extra wallet leverage if required) and “Tug” Wilson covering the rest of the lakes.
As in previous years, the generosity of the anglers astounded the committee, and each peg visited resulted in the target being left further and further behind. By Sunday lunchtime all raffle tickets had been sold and more books were being sought to meet the demand. Sure enough, Ruth Lockwood of Yateley Angling Centre turned up with another 4 books and sales recommenced until they too disappeared. It was then time for the announcement of the money raised, thanks passed where appropriate and then for the raffle to be drawn. Martin Bowler, Mick “Barney” Barnes (Cemex), Keith Arthur and Ian Chilcott (vice presidents of Stoney and Friends) all made the effort to attend – after seeing Chilly in his “shreddies” whilst fishing some volunteered to pay for him not to attend next year!!.
John Wilson, Des Taylor, Ian Welch, David Bird and Tim Paisley all sent their apologies as they were unable to attend due to previous commitments – John did however phone over the weekend for a progress report. Tug Wilson thanked everyone for attending, drew everyone’s attention to the companies who had so generously sponsored us, acknowledged the work of Alan Stone and the Committee, and the announced which anglers had raised the most in Sponsorship. The top three anglers were the same as previous years, but just in a slightly different order. John Bartlett was in top spot with an amazing £1276 raised, closely followed by Russ (Sumo) Parkin with £1100. Our sincerest thanks to both of them. Graham Shuck was third with £482 and even apologised for being down on his usual amount – every penny counts and no apologies are ever needed, especially when raising such high amounts. It was then time for the announcement of money raised. The anglers were all waiting patiently to see if the target had been reached. First of all it was announced that just over £20,000 had been raisedforthe weekend – this was cash accounted for and didn’t included pledged sponsorship that will come in over weeks after the event.
Then for the big announcement – as a result of the weekend and all previous events, the amount Stoney and Friends had raised in total was £267,250 From Left to right back – Martin “Smarts” Lewis, Tim “Luffers” Luffman, Allan Stone - Chairman, Mike Lyddon, Simon Hanson – Treasurer, Front - John “Tug” Wilson – Secretary and Chris Isaacs – Press Officer. The raffle then took place with our guest vice-presidents pulling out the first four tickets
And now to the Fishing...
Every lake on the complex produced fish over the course of the weekend, with some even producing personal bests. The Pumphouse was only fished by a hanfull of people including Chris Isaacs and his crew. Chris stalked a low double and good twenty Carp only for the hook to pull on both at the net – good job his boys were there so cursing was very controlled. Kevin Morris on his first ever Yateley managed a small Carp and reasonable Bream Julie Peacey, also a Yateley virgin, caught a decent bream along with various small fish And not to be outdone, Matthew Isaacs pitched in with a 9lb Carp Last but not least, Michael Isaacs caught various fish including a small tench which shows the fish are breeding well and bodes well for the future.
The Pads produced well over the weekend with both Ian “Chilly” Chilcott and Paul “Singy” Singleton both breaking the 30lb barrier. “Singy” also had the longest fight of the weekend with a huge carp taking him into every weed bed in the lake. Two hours later Singy was ready to net his “it must be a thirty if not a forty” when a little 18lb pasty swam into view!! In addition, Alan Widdowson got in the action just so he could have a photo in front of his stylishly decorated bivvy Jim Morson, Gareth, Flipper Al and others all got in the action with carp from double figures through to upper 20’s as did Dave Toomy with a 26lb8oz beauty
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The Split Lake was fairly slow this year but did produce a specimen Eel to Alan Boon – sadly Graham Platter and Brian were too “tired” to get out of their bivvies to photo a “snake”. Chris Hillier got in with the only Catfish from the split at approx 49lb The North produced a few fish with Stuart Finch getting a\22lb6oz Mirror
On the other side of the complex the Match produced both Carp and Catfish with Chris Lee smashing his PB with a 42lb Cat – he was a nasty Dad as he also has a mid twenty cat, both caught on his son Matthew’s birthday, and Matthew didn’t get one – pass the rod over next time Dad!! A 33lb Cat was also caught along with a number of twenty pound Carp – to date the anglers concerned have been too shy to give their details.
The Nursery lake, despite looking idyllic if not a tad challenging, failed to produce any fish of notice. A Tench or two and a few bream put in an appearance, but the Carp, whilst showing decided not to feed on the anglers baits.
Sandhurst as ever produced fish but took time to come on. Dean Boswell was the first of the mark with a mid twenty on Friday night but it wasn’t until late Saturday that the fish got their heads down. Dean Oram fluked yet again with a 20 and a 21lb – amazing feat if you knew where he slept the night before!!
Last but not least was the South Lake. This produced numerous Carp to mid twenties – but know photo’s. At least two PB’s were achieved and good reports were received from all on the lake. Lastly, the Stoney and Friends committee on behalf of all attending anglers would like to thank all the sponsors of the event. Without their generosity the raffle would not be what it is, and the anglers wouldn’t pat with so much of their hard earned cash on tickets. The raffle alone raised nearly £3,000 pounds. Thanks to each and every one of our sponsors:
Yateley Angling Centre. Etang De Kingshaw. Beer Merchants.com Leeda. Richworth. Nat West. Dynamite Baits. Reel I.T. Hinders. Mistral Baits. Korda. Hookers. Trakker. Perfection Groundbaits. Fox International. David Bird Design Group. Gardner Tackle. SBS Baits. The Tackle Box. Bury Hill Fisheries Atomic Tackle. Thinking Anglers. Specialist Anglers Alliance. C.C. Moores. Gold Label Tackle. Linear-Fisheries. Carthagena Fishery. Drennan. Chub. Cheshire Baits. Enterprise Tackle. ECHO Martin Bowler Ian “Chilly” Chillcott. Paul “Singy” Singleton. Micky Gray. Acorn Carp Fishery. Nutrabaits. Steve Neville. Angling Intelligence.
In conclusion, a very successful weekend despite the weather.Most importantly the target of £250,000 was reached, exceeded and blown away. Good fish were caught from all lakes, friends were made and old friends reacquainted, and a good time was had by all. Roll on 2009
This takes to total raised to date by Stoney and Friends at over £230,000!!!
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