A good sift through the original research paperwork I used when writing Rosewood to Revolution unearthed these catalogues.
I have blogged one previously, but I thought that these four were of particular interest:
- 1952 National Angling Championships in Bridgenorth on the River Severn.
- 1953 River Nene in Peterborough.
- The Festival of Britain International Angling Contest fished on the Thames in the Reading and District area.
- The 58th National Angling Championship on the Witham, the HQ being in Woodhall Spa. Lincs held in 1973.
They all hold snippets of information relating to reels and makers.
However, as I flipped through the pages, I discovered the handwritten team weights for Grimsby and District. A commendable array of individual final weights from 11 oz. 12 drams up to 10lbs.
What I missed was the astonishing total weight for the match 2,358 lbs 11 oz. 1 dram. An amazing variance in results. Leamington Spa Angling registered a team weight of only 1lb! What’s going on there lads? Whilst Northampton Nene Angling Club totalled 90lbs.
I love these old handbooks. I see J W Young advertising their iconic Ambidex, Rapidex and Trudex reels in competition with Milbro’s (Millard Bros Ltd of London) the marvellous reel of pressed alloy and multiplying action.
Perhaps the Leamington club guys were using the latter reels, who knows, but fascinating to peer back through time to the heyday of match fishing in the UK.
