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The Downham Market & District Junior Angling Club
by Gary Hewitt
 | | Gary and his bunch of juniors. |
The Junior Angling club has been active for many years, although it has been badly attended for the last 5 to 6 years.
I took over about 2 weeks into the season 2001. This was by default, I took my son to attend the weekly match and discovered 3 other youngsters there but no adults.
This I discovered later, was because the organiser had decided he had done it for enough years and with only 3 or 4 youngsters turning up each week it wasn’t worth it, and nobody else had taken over.
This was the start, I was badly organised, I had no prizes, no scales and very little knowledge on how to run the matches.
It took another couple of weeks to get organised and to get some prizes together, some scales from the club and some other helpers. We put a couple of posters out in the town with the one in the chip shop being the most effective.
Within 3 weeks, we had regular attendance of 8 youngsters and the numbers growing each week. Because we only charge 50 pence per match, and they all get a prize, we started having supply problems for prizes and I started scrounging from our local club members. Many of these were very generous, including one that gave us the materials and the methods for making floats & rigs etc. this was very useful as we can now make up 100’s of floats for almost nothing.
As the season continued, we gained more & more youngsters including 2 young girls and an 8 year old Kenyan lad who couldn’t even touch a maggot let alone a slippery fish. Our biggest fear now was getting too many youngsters as on most of our venues we only have 20 pegs available. I also needed more help as the majority of the newcomers were complete novices and had now even held a rod before. These took up a lot of time and I managed to persuade others to help, today I have a regular team of 5 Adults that turn up week after week.
Safety is a main concern with youngsters, not just for them but us as well. One week I was almost pushed in the deep water by the crowd of excited children just trying to see the 3lb tench one competitor had caught!
All in all we had a good year, with the Kenyan lad, Dennis, actually winning the Under 12 section. From starting with a fear of maggots - to the Champion in 6 weeks!
 | | Dennis and Aaron. |
I have attached a photo of the two winners. Dennis Dickens and Aaron Hewitt - yes he is my son!
We are expecting a bumper year in 2002 as I have already have 12 youngsters asking when we start again with 4 of these being new recruits
I would advise anybody that is thinking of running a Junior Section to get organised first (not like me). It is easy to do, very satisfying, but time consuming. Seeing the look on their face when the bring in their first 2” roach is worth every minute spent.
We have managed to get a few prizes from the local tackle shops and the local fisherman are also quite generous, but we need as much support as possible because all junior clubs need extra nets, rod-rests, rods, reels, whips, as the youngsters are poorly organised when it comes to remembering their gear. Many beginners have no equipment at all, not all parents are as understanding as fishermen are when it comes to buying their children gear, understandable as they may give it up after a few weeks.
I’ve finished rambling on now!
I will just thank you for your support and thank everybody who has donated gear to us. Please keep it up we need it.
Our aim is to ensure the youngsters ENJOY the sport of angling and we do try to teach them something along the way.
Angling does not have a future if the younger generation do not follow us into the sport.
So please encourage each one you meet.
Regards Gary Hewitt
Match Organiser Downham Market & District Juniors.
Gary Hewitt
Riverside
Bridge Road
Downham Market
Norfolk
PE38 0AE
Tel 01366 384540
E- Mail Gary.Hewitt@NTLworld.com
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