Part 5 – January, February and October 1972 I do not want to spin these out, and the following three letters are not perhaps of the utmost importance. However, there are points of interest that I will try to highlight – if my deciphering skills are up to it – and there are some issues […]
23
Nov
Nov
With excitement in the air, we loaded the car with tackle goodies and headed out to the Redditch tackle fair. It’s been two years since the last one and who could have predicted the events that would change all our lives. Organiser John Andrews was his usual calm efficient self. I suspect it’s a bit of […]
23
Nov
Nov
Part 4 – January 14th 1972 It seems that we are back to the formality of “Mr Buller” once more, and the handwriting is even more spidery than usual. That does not detract from the contents of the letter which relate to the iconic Endrick pike head of Loch Lomond. For the background to this […]
18
Nov
Nov
National Vintage Fishing Tackle Fair – Abbey Stadium – Redditch B97 5EJ, this Sunday 21st November. We will be at the tackle fair with lots of goodies. As you enter the main hall door, turn left and we are at the bottom of the hall facing the end wall. John Bailey, John and Alison Stephenson will […]
17
Nov
Nov
Part 3 – 11th January 1972 Edward Alston is now safely ensconced in Warminster, and on good enough terms to start the letter “Fred”. (Though he appears to go back to the more formal “Mr Buller” on the 14th of the month.) The handwriting is becoming more familiar, and I am able to deduce that […]
16
Nov
Nov
Part 2 – October 1971 I spent a nostalgic Sunday assembling the Buller/Alston correspondence into some sort of order, and being generally appalled by the Reverend’s handwriting that makes the scrawl of a doctor look legible. But that is my problem, and you have to ask if emails rather than good old-fashioned letters would have […]
14
Nov
Nov
The most recent of the Thomas Turner newsletters really struck a chord with me. There advertised was a first edition of Drop Me A Line, an exchange of letters between Maurice Ingham and Richard Walker in the the mid-twentieth century, right at the start of the modern specimen fishing scene. My grandmother bought me a […]
13
Nov
Nov
I have known Richard Masters for many years now, and have admired him as a man and as an angler. He was recently retired when I first fished with him, but he had been an engineer in the Midlands for much of his life, working with the notorious British Leyland, which of course is a […]
11
Nov
Nov
Let’s face it not everyone has an unlimited budget to spend on fishing tackle. We are buying collections every day and along with the medium to high-end tackle we always have a number of great value items for sale. These are now being collated into our Outlet section Many items are under £99, but you […]
05
Nov
Nov
Part 1 I assume that one of the pleasures of collecting, or even handling, an item of vintage fishing tackle is imagining the anglers who used and enjoyed it in the past? I felt this when talking to the wonderful Michael Nadell a few months ago when we were looking at his unique collection of […]