Rossett and Gresford Flyfishers Club Newsletter Autumn 2020 Dear Members, May I Introduce You to Our 10Th Electronic Newsletter
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Rossett and Gresford Flyfishers Club Newsletter Autumn 2020 Dear Members, May I introduce you to our 10th electronic newsletter. Important News! The club wishes to sincerely thank all member for their support, patience and cooperation during the difficulties and uncertainties that we have all experience since the beginning of 2020. As a measure of our appreciation, and as an acceptance that we have not been able to provide a full season of fishing, The Club is significantly reducing next year’s subscriptions for its current full members wishing to renew on the condition that payment is made by the end of February 2021. Full membership renewals will be £10.00 for the 2021 season. The £5 fee for additional categories such as juniors, family, partners will stay the same. Those members that joined late in the season had a discounted 2 season membership, so have already paid for 2021. Any “New” members for 2021 will pay the normal membership fee. As we are uncertain “if” the Club can hold an AGM in February, can all members please follow the payment advice in the Membership Secretaries note below. Chairman’s report I will start this Newsletter as the outgoing Chairman and leave Steve to introduce himself as the incoming Chairman. 2020 has been the oddest season I have known and not just because of the Corvid19 pandemic. We did have poachers during our lockdown (apparently, they are immune!!). Brown trout numbers (to me) are down, but Grayling are well up. I had 9 visits, which is the lowest ever for me, it did however produce 116 fish, 37 Browns 77 1 Grayling, 1 Chub and a Bullhead (to a squirmy worm!) On one visit 28 fish in just over 2 hours!! We have had to cancel the River day and postpone any club competition. Work parties have been sporadic, but we have had new volunteers, hopefully when this pandemic is over, we can get back to “normal” activities. During the time we have been allowed to fish, I have had the pleasure of helping members and prospective ones to get used to our river. Hopefully, I will continue with this service in the future. Eddie Wilkinson. As the incoming Chairman my first task is to thank Eddie and Mavis for their huge contribution to our club. In his note below Howard, our President, has written a fuller ‘thank you’ to them. I was hoping that the Coronavirus restrictions would have lessened by now, but we are heading into more. It therefore seems likely that we will not be able to hold a conventional AGM, so we will need to set up a procedure by which our members can vote on the issues usually dealt with in an AGM. One such matter of course is the election on the club’s committee and its officers. Hopefully by next March any remaining restrictions will not prevent us from fishing as they did for a large part of the season just gone. Steve Sunley. President’s Note It is with considerable regret that I have to report that Eddie and Mavis Wilkinson, our Chairman and Secretary respectively, have decided to retire from their posts, but will remain available for some of their existing duties after ‘retirement’. Eddie has been in the Club for over 30 years and has been involved in nearly all aspects of our development and management over that time, culminating in the chairmanship for the last eight years. As far as I am concerned his major successes have been to start and support fly tying classes and his introduction of our new members day, plus the follow up processes of showing new members where and how to fish the river and catch fish. When new, and often inexperienced river anglers had their first sight of the insects he showed them from his ‘river dip,’ you could not fail to see their enthusiasm burst into life. Eddie also provided his own dressings and the oft ex-still water anglers were well impressed by the delicacy of river fishing. He also worked on the bank gang, has been invertebrate sampling since 2007, has recently brought the club competition back to life and has tried to maintain a data base of our fish catches, real and imaginary, submitted by members. Mavis, although a long-time non-fishing member, took over the Club Secretary’s role from Mark Pierce and provides the committee with a set of notes, carefully colour coded and annotated, so none of us are in any doubt of what we had been charged with before the next meeting. It’s also been very handy having both club officers from one household.! They will be missed by the club committee, its members and personally me, so on behalf of us all, I send them our wishes and sincere thanks for jobs well done. Both have many and varied other interests, but hopefully will find time to continue assisting the club as pressures continue to mount on all clubs and voluntary organisations to find skilled and experienced managers prepared to give up their spare time for the collective benefit of the environment and the angling fraternity. Howard Stevens. 2 Secretary’s report During the shutdown, a close account was made of all communication between the committee members, A final set of minutes summarising this time was made and sent to all committee members. There have been no day tickets this year due to Corvid19. All insurances have been paid. Mavis has continued to forward all correspondence from the Wye & Usk Foundations & Angling Trust to all committee members for information. The new Secretary will need to change the contact details on both sites as soon as possible to continue this service. Membership Secretary Matt Corker [email protected] First some important information and good news about your renewal subscription. The membership renewal fee for the 2021 season will be discounted to just £10 for members that previously renewed by 3rd July 2020. However, payment must be made by either cheque or bank transfer by 28th February, otherwise the renewal fee will be £50. Family and Junior Membership will remain at £5 per person. It is likely that we will not hold a face to face AGM in 2021, so direct cash payments will not be possible. If anyone finds this particularly difficult then please contact me by email Instructions for Membership Renewal 2021 To renew your membership please send the following to me at the address below: 1. Your Membership Card. 2. Your payment – either by cheque or bank transfer – bank details below. 3. A stamped, addressed envelope so that I can return your updated card to you (please do not seal it). Send to: Matt Corker Membership Secretary 7 Chiswick Gardens Appleton Warrington WA4 5HQ Payment by Cheque Cheques should be made payable to Rossett & Gresford Fly Fishing Club Payment by Internet Banking When paying by internet banking please include your name and initials in the reference field. When you have made payment it is essential that you advise the Treasurer and Membership Secretary by e-mail at the same time, to ensure that you are included in the 2020 membership list: [email protected], [email protected] The Club's bank account details are: Account name: Rossett & Gresford Fly Fishing Club Sort code 30-90-16 Account no. 02990583 3 The Club Web Site and Forum. As a club we have a website, a forum and a Twitter feed, I have added their addresses below. We see our website as not only a means of communicating with our members but hopefully as a brochure to attract new ones. The only page that changes on a regular basis is the News page, therefore I would suggest that if you are inclined you save this in your favourites. The other pages do hold a lot of information about the river itself, parking spaces and fly patterns, so please take a look. If you have any suggestions on how we might improve it, please would you pass your views to - [email protected] The forum allows members to start a conversation with other members or report back on their fishing experiences. It is divided into two areas, an open area for general discussions and the members’ board accessible to registered members only. To access this please register through the forum itself, your request will be accepted when your membership of the club is checked. So, it is important that you use the same email address in your registration request as you did in your membership application so that we will know you are entitled. There is a link to our Twitter feed on our News page. On here short messages about club activities are posted, these are of course open to everybody. Web Site - http://rossettandgresfordflyfishing.co.uk/ Forum - http://r-ffc.proboards.com/ Twitter Account We now have 43 followers from a wide geographical area, including Ireland. I would encourage members to either follow us or at least take a look by Googling @RossGresFly. We follow several river trusts so there is a wide spectrum of information available almost daily. We also follow individuals who have something of interest to say regarding fly fishing. Twitter - @RossGresFly Riverbank Work Party Suspended now due to Corvid19 and Welsh Assembly rules. The ‘Club News’ page on our website is regularly updated so it is worth checking for the latest information. Club River day 2021 Cancelled for this year, hopefully, provisionally 16th May Club Fly Fishing Competition. (at Tree Tops Fishery) Postponed now due to the coronavirus outbreak, when restrictions are lifted, a new date will be set (most likely 2021) Please note that during this time only card payments are accepted in advance by phone.