It is with much sadness that I have to record the recent passing of long standing Member, Albert Horne from West Sussex, after a short illness. Due to difficulties with travel he has not attended Meetings recently, however, he will not be forgtten as he is the one with the walking stick in the pictures on the website home page. 

Albert was a great example of casting keeping us going, since he reached the age of 89 years and was fishing up to 2010 and fly tying until 2011 – a great angling ‘innings’. In fact he learned his craft from the famous Lionel Sweet at the age of 7 and, later, greatly enjoyed teaching many anglers as a member of  many fishing-related organisations. From personal experience I know just how keen he was about casting and his knowledge was deep – he will be missed in angling and casting circles.

Albert is survived by daughters Jackie and Elaine and our thoughts reach out to them.

How’s this for a demonstration of dedication to a task, which is above and beyond the call of duty? Whilst on holiday in America with Jan, Roger Miles took time out to take a searching four hour examination set by The Federation of Fly Fishers, which he successfully passed. As a result Roger was promoted from Certified Casting Instructor to Masters Casting Instructor, an achievement which deserves much acclaim from everyone connected to The BFCC. However, Jan’s support must also be given full recognition.

When teaching with his usual enthusiasm in future, I know the BFCC Membership and our visitors will benefit from this success, so thank you in anticipation and well done Roger!

The BFCC 50gm salmon line for our 15ft rod, through  good honest use, had become distinctly ‘tatty’ – but no longer! This came up recently in correspondence with my friend Simon Gawesworth of Rio, who has very kindly donated two Rio 550gr Leviathan shooting heads for me to make a replacement. This extremely generous act will assist future BFCC beginners and improvers, in the lighter double handed salmon class, to make further progress. So, on their behalf, many thanks Simon!!

Cast in dry conditions with a gusty south westerly wind.

#5F –  Matt Tonkin 121′ 10″, James Evans 118′, Mike Heritage 114′ 09″, Alex Titov 114′ 03″, Andrew Bagshaw 103′ 10″, John Reynolds 101′ 04″, Alan Bath 93′ 08″, Tracy Thomas 88′ 07″, Mick Copeman 86′ 02″, Vernon Wood 85′, David Fisher 73′.

#7F – James Evans 127′ 10″, Matt Tonkin 124′ 09″, Mike Heritage 123′ 01″, Andrew Bagshaw 117′ 11″, John Reynolds 116′ 09″, Alex Titov 112′ 07″, Alan Bath 110′, Mick Copeman 105′, Vernon Wood 100′, Tracy Thomas 98′ 08″, David Fisher 85′ 08″.

B100 (#5 + #7) – Alan Bath 203′ 08″, Mick Copeman 191′ 02″, Tracy Thomas 187′ 03″, Vernon Wood 185′, David Fisher 159′ 03″.

#9F – Mike Heritage 137′ 06″, James Evans 123′, Matt Tonkin 122′ 02″, John Reynolds 119′ 01″, David Fisher 115′, Alex Titov 112′ 04″, Andrew Bagshaw 107′ 04″, Alan Bath 106′ 03″, Tracy Thomas 105′ 10″, Vernon Wood 92′ 03″.

T38 – John Reynolds 192′ 07″, Matt Tonkin 185′ 08″, Andrew Bagshaw 166′ 05″, James Evans 164′ 07″, Mike Heritage 158′ 09″, David Fisher 114′ 06″, Tracy Thomas 113′ 07″.

T120 – Matt Tonkin 213′ , Mike Marshall 204′ 04″, Mike Heritage 182′ 09″, James Evans 173′ 08″, John Reynolds 172′ 05″, Andrew Bagshaw 159′ 02″.

Accuracy (points) – John Reynolds 155, James Evans 95, Alex Titov 90, Mike Heritage 80, Mark Surtees 80, Matt Tonkin 35, Tracy Thomas 35, David Fisher 30, Vernon Wood 20, Andrew Bagshaw 15.

Victor Ludorum (points) – James Evans 15, Matt Tonkin 15, Mike Heritage 19, John Reynolds 22, Alex Titov 34, Andrew Bagshaw 35, Tracy Thomas 46, Alan Bath 47, David Fisher 48, Vernon Wood 52, Mick Copeman 53, Mark Surtees 54, Mike Marshall 56.

Congratulations are due to Tracy Thomas for casting a ladies record for #9F of 105′ 10″ and Alan Bath for a 70+ record in #9F of 106′ 03″. Also, there were significant Badge successes for Wendy Bath 25yd, John Graham 30yd, Alan Bath 35yd, Matt Tonkin 55yd (T38) and 70yd (T120). Well done in difficult conditions!

The BFCC made its first and very successful visit to Scotland. YES, it was wet all day long and YES, a gusty southwest wind caused a few casting problems, but did it dampen the enthusiasm of twenty hardy casters – NO! It was good to see new friends joining in all the tuition and fun competitions for the first time, with B100 very popular. The results in ft. and ins. were:

#5 F – Hamish Young 110.09, William McGuire 109.06, Tomas Bacsai 108.10, Scott Loudon 107.01, Ben Dixon 104.10, James Hek (jnr) 104.07, Mike Heritage 103.11, James Evans 102.02, Brian McGlashan 102.04, Mick Bell 101.05, Malcomb Prescott 100.11, Craig Brown 97.02, John Reynolds 96.05, Billy Salvona 90.02, Alberto Laidlaw 86.05, Tracy Thomas 78.06, Brian Pritchard 77.07, Angus McLeod 77.04, Alex Cruickshank 73.03, Mike Barrio 66.03, Ally Bremner 60.01.

#7F – John Reynolds 123.00, James Evans 111.06, James Hek (jnr) 102.02, Ben Dixon 100.10, William McGuire 97.09, Mick Bell 94.04, Hamish Young 93.06, Mike Heritage 92.06, Malcomb Prescott 86.01, Scott Loudon 84.07, Tomas Bacsai 84.06, Brian McGlashan 82.09, Craig Brown 81.00, Billy Salvona 77.08, Tracy Thomas 72.03, Mike Barrio 65.08, Alberto Laidlaw 65.06, Brian Pritchard 62.04, Alex Cruickshank 59.00, Angus McCleod 52.11, Ally Bremner 47.08.

B100 #5 + #7 – Hamish Young 201.03, Malcomb Prescott 187.09 Brian McGlashan 185.01, Craig Brown 187.02, Billie Salvona 167.01 Tracy Thomas 150.09, Brian Pritchard 142.11, Alex Cruickshank 132.03, Angus McCleod 138.03, Mike Barrio 131.11, Malcomb Campbell109.04, Ally Bremner 107.09.

#9F – John Reynolds 138.00, Wiliam McGuire 138.00, Mike Heritage 137.05, Mick Bell 137.03, Hamish Young 127.03, James Evans 127.00, Scott Loudon 126.09, Craig Brown 126.02, Brian McGlashan 122.00, Ben Dixon 121.11 James Hek (jnr) 121.01, Tomas Bacsai 113.03, Malcomb Prescott 106.06, Mike Barrio 105.05, Brian Pritchard 105.01, Alberto Laidlaw 104.00, Tracy Thomas 99.07, Billie Salvona 92.01, Alex Cruickshank 94.04, Malcomb Campbell 92.01.

T38 – Mick Bell 189.01, John Reynolds 159.11, James Evans 147.11, James Hek (jnr) 143.09, Ben Dixon 142.00, William McGuire 140.08, Hamish Young 136.04, Scott Loudon 134.05, Malcomb Prescott 106.00.

T120 – Mike Marshall 212.00, Malcomb Presott 189.05, Mick Bell 187.01, Ben Dixon 186.10, Scott Loudon 186.06, Brian Pritchard 168.11, James Evans 157.00, Ally Bremner 122.07.

Congratulations are also due to James Hek for setting a Junior 17,  T38 Record of 143.09, also to Mike Barrio and Hamish Young for achieving 35yd Badges.

2011 has become a very good vintage where our casting coaches are concerned, since there are two more examination successes maturing from the recent Federation of Fly Fishers Meeting in Essex, to report.

Mark Surtees, who was an FFF Certified Casting Instructor – CCI, was promoted to Masters CCI and Steve Yeomans achieved his CCI. These qualifications require great dedication to aquire, so Mark and Steve deserve our congratulations and gratitude since their efforts will, eventually, benefit The BFCC Membership. Many thanks to you both for further raising our standards.

I am sure you will all join with me in congratulating Vernon Wood for achieving his 35yd badge, and this in the less than ideal conditions of a changeable breeze, together with a high backcast being required. This was not a one shot wonder as several casts were beyond this excellent distance, in spite of some not too wonderful health recently and a consequent lack of practise. Keep up the good work Vernon!

In spite of the forecast for heavy showers, we really were very lucky with the weather with quite long bright spells, a blustery SW breeze and the odd very short shower. However, although the forecast did have an effect on the numbers attending, there was enough interest in our casting tuition to keep the coaches, Mike, Roger and myself quite busy. Wendy and Alan did their usual fine job at the booking table and sufficient funds were raised for the Club’s funds to make it all worthwhile and, also, to make a donation to the English Disabled Fly Fishers for whom the event was run.

It was also good to be able to welcome Members, David Fisher and Vernon Wood for tuition, with Vernon very successful on the Badge front – please see results.

We have been invited again for 2012, so please watch the Calendar.

Many congratulations are due to Tracy for winning the UK Ladies Trout Distance Championship at the CLA Gamefair last weekend. This was achieved through a heats and final system which required a very cool head and consistent performance throughout, in front of a very large audience. However, Tracy’s recent performances in the BFCC B100 events have given us a clue to her potential, which has now been realised in such a high profile competition. Please keep up the good work – the BFCC is proud of you!

The results were affected by a very strong SW wind and two heavy showers, but this not deter our keen casters and there was some good competition and the usual humourous remarks. In fact, this was most clearly evident when everyone grouped around the accuracy event, which turned into a test of character and patience due to the strong side wind.

The results were:

B100 #5 – Alan Bath 94′, Jamie Cashman 92′ 5″, Steve Davis 89′ 2″, Mick Copeman 87′ 4″, Tracy Thomas 84′ 10″, David Fisher 83′ 4″, Don Palmer 81′ 3″.

B100 #7 – Jamie Cashman 98′ 6″, Don Palmer 92′ 6″, Tracy Thomas 91′ 3″, Mick Copeman 89′ 6″, Alan Bath 88′ 7″, David Fisher 84′ 10″, Steve Davis 78′ 10″. 

B100 (#5 + 7) – Jamie Cashman 190′ 11″, Alan Bath 182′ 7″, Mick Copeman 176′ 10″, Tracy Thomas 176′ 4″, Don Palmer 173′ 9″, David Fisher 168′ 2″, Steve Davis 168′.

#5 – Paul Arden 129′ 6″, Jonathan Tomlinson 124′ 6″, James Evans 120′ 11″, Mike Heritage 115′ 10″, Steve Kemp 113′ 9″, Trevor Bourne 111′ 10″, Lee Martell 107′ 8″.

#7 – Paul Arden 133′, James Evans 130′ 11″, Jonathan Tomlinson 127′ 8″, Lee Martell 122′ 9″, Trevor Bourne 122′ 6″, Mike Heritage 113′ 8″, Steve Kemp 98′.

#9 – Jonathan Tomlinson 139′ 1″, Paul Arden 134′ 11″, James Evans 133′ 7″, Mike Heritage 131′ 11″, Trevor Bourne 130′ 1″, Steve Kemp 125′ 2″, Lee Martell 123′ 3″, Jamie Cashman 114′, David Fisher 105′ 8″, Tracy Thomas 100′ 3″, Steve Davis 90′.

Accuracy (points) – Paul Arden 85, Mike Heritage 75, Trevor Bourne 60, Jonathan Tomlinson 60, Mark Surtees 60, Lee Martell 55, Don Palmer 45, David Fisher 45, James Evans 35, Steve Davis 30, Tracy Thomas 15, Jamie Cashman 15, Steve Kemp 15.

Congratulations are due to Alan Bath for setting a V70 record in #5 B100 of 94′.