Sainsbury's plans will severely impact parking at the pond, new season opens and Evening Match series starts

Serious impact on anglers from Sainsburys' plans

Parking in Station Road, adjacent to the fishing area, will be lost according to the plans submitted to Winchester for planning approval. This will severely impact both anglers and non-anglers who normally park there. Disabled anglers will be particularly badly affected.

After securing funding, the Environment Agency spent several thousand pounds constructing fishing swims, gate access and a specially graded path for disabled anglers. The construction carefully followed guidelines to conform with wheelchair access. Of course these anglers need to be able to park within a short distance of the two access gates. This will not be possible if the area is pedestrianised.

In addition, parking will no longer be available for competitors during fishing matches and pleasure anglers will not be able to park by the pond when going fishing for the day. Alternative parking alongside the Palace in Station Road is always full and this limited parking will be further reduced according to the plans. Additional spaces planned for Abbey Field will only compensate for the lost spaces alongside the Palace.

It seems as if the submitted plans have taken no account of the existing use of Station Road.

 

Parking for competitions will be lost

 

New fishing season is open

 The new fishing season opened on 16th June and this year the traditional phrase “The glorious 16th” was upheld with glorious June weather which has continued through into July. Many good fish were caught on the opening day and there have been many good catches since. The continuing hot weather has meant that fish activity has been reduced during the hotter part of the day, but more than compensated for in the early evening through until after dark. Long, warm summer evenings make for a very enjoyable evenings fishing.

Evening Match series has started

The Evening Match series started at the end of June. This competition is open to senior and junior members and the junior competitors did very well in the first match of the series gaining second and fourth place, beating many of the seniors. At the time of writing the July matches have still to take place so it will be interesting to see how the results develop. The winner of the Evening Match series will be the angler with the heaviest overall weight from the four matches. The first five places from Evening Match 1 were:

  

 

 

Juniors, Robert and Joe, fishing the Evening match

   

The 'weigh-in'

 

August & September activities

Activities in August and September are mainly competitions, apart from individual pleasure angling. The Junior Match series started in July and continues with Match 3 on 30th July and Match 4 on 6th August. These are run during the school holidays specifically for our junior members. They are run on Friday evenings to avoid clashing with other family activities at the weekend. Prizes are allocated according to success, but everyone who fishes receives a prize whether they catch a fish or not. Details for the Junior 'Away Day' trip on 14th August are being finalised at the time of writing. The last match of the Evening series is on 7th August and Match Series 1 starts on 19th September. There are two one-off competitions on the 22nd August and the 5th September – the 'Carp Only' match and the 'Martin Eustace' (memorial) match. These are both early starts with the draw at 6:30am on a Sunday morning.

 

 

Joining the Club

If you are interested in joining the club please contact our membership secretary Cathy Naylor on 01489-890086, or contact our chairman Roland Palmer (after 6pm) on 01489-894063 for an application form.

More information is available, and a form can be downloaded, from our web site at www.bwpfc.org.uk. Subscription amounts have been kept the same for this season. Membership is open to anyone who lives in Bishops Waltham, plus a small number of associate membership places (for those living outside the Parish). Priority is always given to Parish membership, especially juniors.

Last season, all of the associate membership places were taken and there is now a waiting list for places this season. Existing associate members have until 1st August to rejoin, after which associate membership will be opened up to those on the waiting list.

Club web site

For more information about the club and its activities, the club's web site can be found at:

www.bwpfc.org.uk