Forest of Dean Angling Club

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2008 is the 50th Anniversary year for Forest of Dean Angling Club. The club was founded by a group of friends the majority of them with a working background in the Dean coalfields. The Miners Welfare Hall in Cinderford acts as the base for the club where committee meetings are held monthly. The club also runs a separate Fisheries committee which is charged with looking after the waters and in this anniversary year has undertaken thousands of pounds worth of improvements to the waters under the clubs control. The town of Cinderford is in the process of securing funding for regeneration of the area. Forest of Dean Angling club have set out to provide both a recreational and competetive club with an annual match calendar together with a number of trophies both for junior and senior members. The presentation night is usually held at the Miners Welfare Hall maintaining the link both with the community and founding members. The club is community based and this is reflected in the constitution to provide fishing in the Forest of Dean and in addition gave people a peaceful recreational pursuit and escape from the hard dangerous manual labour in the local pits and foundry’s into the fresh air with sunlight and the opportunity to see the diverse wildlife that the Dean has on offer.

The club is a forward thinking organisation with work parties throughout the year both to maintain and also to improve the waters under its control. All of the waters are now patrolled regularly by Bailiffs, who as well as checking licences maintain teh waters by litter collection and general maintainance of the fishing areas. With the influx of members from outside the Dean who have now joined after holidaying locally and discovering the peaceful and quiet area’s the club controls the Angling Club now (2009) has in excess of 700 members. The new pegs at Steam Mills courtesy of a grant from the Environment Agency and Lightmoor from club funds bringing it into the 21st century, check out the photo gallery.

2009 is the fourth year that the club has organised and funded coaching sessions for schoolchildren during the summer holidays. These courses are totally funded by the club and also receive sponsorship from both local and national companies. As well as angling, caring for the fish the environment and wildlife is also taught. These courses provide places for approximately 70 youngsters. Some of them become interested enough to attend the regular matches organised by Forest of Dean Angling Club club throughout the year by the junior match secretary and Professional Angling Coach John Beddis.

In 2008 the club has rented a stretch of the Wye at Lydbrook. All of the Wye is now prime Barbel water and this stretch is no exception. Fish to 9lbs 4 ozs were reported in the opening weeks with good catches of Chub, Roach and Dace as well. Is anyone reporting any Gudgeon? For the price of a Forest of Dean club card this must be some of the cheapest fishing on the Wye. I have personally fished this stretch twice and caught Barbel and Chub both times.One of the smaller Barbel is shown in the photo gallery. This stretch is very picturesque and well worth the visit. A word of caution beware the Pike, they are as big as Alligators so if these are your bag make sure you have the right kit!!!

 By improving the habitat both in the waters e.g. water lilies and preventing the gorse from taking over the surrounding area club members have seen an increase in wildlife, including Kingfisher, Otter and Wild Brown Trout, the Wild Boar are an incidental benefit. Especially at Steam Mills and Lightmoor.In addition the area provides many areas for interesting walks where other family members do not wish to take part in the Angling. A peaceful stroll through the woods along with a background of the history of the area, check out the directions here click on the more info and print out a description of the site a link with information is provided to a walk from Ruspidge Halt, provides an insight into the character of the area and the population. Mining was hard dangerous work, working all day deep underground and then the long walk home from pits such as Northern United back into Cinderford. these days it seems hard to imagine often just following the walk seems tiring enough. Visit the Dean Heritage centreor if it is evening call in at the Miners Welfare Hall to step back in time, this is still run along community lines providing entertainment for everyone use it or lose it.For more information on the heritage of the area click here.

Kingfishers have made Steam Mills, Lightmoor and Meadowcliffe regular feeding sites in 2007 this is as a direct result of the work that the club has maintained over the last 50 years providing the habitat for successful spawning.

The club is a member of the Brown Trout Trust, Gloucestershire Trust for Nature Conservation, Forest of Dean and District Sports Council, Anglers Conservation Association and the Forest of Dean Tourism Association.

If you are a walker with a penchant for the history in the area click on the maps and check out the coalfield walks in collections.highlight the more info link for indepth detail.  This is a pet interest for me in light of the link with the original founders of the club and mines in the area any info greatly appreciated, were you aware that one of the greatest mine rescue individuals was based in the Forest and trained the local rescue teams to be the best in the world? A benchmark for others to follow www.heroes-of-mine.co.uk/

   Newsletter Vol 1 issue 1

             Fish Rescue

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