Fifteen Months in Retrospect… It is with much sadness that my time on the Thomas Turner websites has drawn to a close. For me it has been a fascinating adventure and I’m eternally grateful to the Hewitt family for making it happen. It hasn’t all been good news. Like many who experience web vitriol from […]
Category Archives: John Bailey’s feature articles
25
Jan
Jan
You never know what’s round the next corner. A trip to Ludlow market on a freezing Monday morning brought me to the stall selling goods in aid of the Rojo Rojo orphanage in Kenya. All the items were hand made by the kids out there, and were beautiful, practical and, I felt, too cheap. I’d […]
07
Jan
Jan
Part 8 – November 8th 1975 In nearly all ways this letter speaks for itself. Buller’s “The Domesday Book of Mammoth Pike” was published first in 1979, and this correspondence ended up being quoted on pages 180 and 181 of the book, the entry for the Deene Park Lake Pike, a 42 pound monster, shot by an […]
07
Jan
Jan
Part 7 – April to November 1975 After the festive period has been and gone, I felt a quick return to the Alston letters would be of interest to students of relatively recent angling history. The letters in question largely relate to the publication of Freshwater Fishing by Buller and Hugh Falkus (I have already lamented the […]
So, it’s Boxing Day morning, and I fear the rain that started late afternoon yesterday has not relented overnight. Plans made a few days ago need to be rethought, or abandoned. But isn’t Boxing Day a traditional day to be out somewhere, anywhere? I look at the Wye river gauges which don’t enthuse me. Levels up […]
07
Dec
Dec
As I’m a part of the Thomas Turner group, I wonder if I can prevail on my great pal John Stephenson to fill me in on the reel pictured? It would be of interest to me, and hopefully others. A friend in Spain who I have not seen for well over a decade recently sent […]
05
Dec
Dec
Part 6 – The 1973 Letters I have to admit that deciphering Alston’s handwriting does not get easier, and I hope that anyone interested will find more in them than I am commenting on. I have to say, I always experience a sense of spine-tingling magic when I handle these pieces of paper, and read […]
29
Nov
Nov
I’m delighted there has been some reaction to the pieces both I and John Stephenson have written on last week’s tackle show, and I especially liked the reaction to the pictures of “Old Man River’s” landing nets and handles, which were truly exquisite. Exquisite and surprisingly inexpensive, considering the work involved AND by comparison with […]
28
Nov
Nov
Merlin Unwin Books 2016 (Reprinted 2017) Here at Thomas Turner we are looking forward to a meeting with Jonathan White in a few days. He is, of course, chair of the Rivers Trust, but also a highly respected angler and author of the excellent book on nymphing, especially the French leader way. I felt that […]
28
Nov
Nov
A very dear friend gave me a strange dish a few weeks back, something I guessed had once been used as a cat bowl or the like. However, he told me to look up its origins and of course, it proved to be a charr pot and today, highly collectible. As a result, it is […]