This is just to let you all know that the BFCC will be at the Kent Game Fair, Detling, Nr Maidstone, Kent on the 24th and 25th March. We will be offering fly casting instruction and casual chats, no competing this time. I will also be standing in for Charles Jardine and doing the fly casting demos, indoors and out.

If you are there pop over for a chat and if we look cold and/or wet my coffee has two sugers.

Mike H

Hooray, it stopped raining. We had a run of luck with the weather that ran for years. This year our luck changed and we have frozen, been blasted by the remnants of hurricanes, been rained on and had to deal with flying shelters. Were we down hearted? No. We are the BFCC and we always end the day with a smile, even if it is through gritted teeth.

Shenfield has it’s limitations, like a newly sown wicket where we would have liked to cast but the opportunities the pavilion provided more than made up for it. Jan and Jenny providing tea, coffee, a sandwich and a smile was a really nice touch. Thanks girls your efforts were really appreciated.

The gusty sou westerly made deciding which way to set the casting area up a bit of a problem but we got it right at the second attempt. The computer computed a random casting order and everyone swung into action.

Matt Tonkin made the six hour drive up from Devon and walked off with the five weight with a great cast of 121′ 10” 

James Evans had his revenge in the seven weight with a nice 127′ 10”

I was called 122′ in the nine which left me baffled as I had got the whole of the Snowbee XS out of the rod. It was then I discovered that Mike Marshall had not cut 15′ off of two tapes (so that the shooting line on the T38 and T 120 didn’t tangle in it) he had only done it on one and we were reading 15′ short on the nine weight lane! Don’t panic, we have added the missing 15′  to all the nine weights and also to Alex Titov who cast the seven from that lane. Anyway, add the 15′ to the 122′ and we have 137′ 6”. My turn to win something. Tracy Thomas added another Laurel to an already successful year by claiming the women’s 9 weight record with 105′ 10”

Alan Bath had the highest aggregate score (5 + 7) in the B100 of 203′ having hit a fantastic 110′ with his seven. You are getting close to elite Alan, stop practicing.

Before the real tournament gear was thrown Mike Marshall gave a master class because some had never cast them before. God knows what he told them (I was the other end of the field waiting to mark the casts) but when they did start I was having to extend the tapes to get the measurements! In the T38 John Reynolds just fell short of 200′ he is desperate to reach with a winning cast of 192′ 7” . Matt Tonkins first ever cast with the T38 was a massive 185′ 8” and Andrew Bagshaw a very creditable 166′ 5”.

Matt then threw an astonishing 213′  having never cast the T120 before. What distances he could cast if he knew what he was doing is frightening to consider.

We then all moved up to the accuracy area to finish the day with a laugh. The styles varied from hit ’em fast and hard to a more concidered approach to some very idiosyncratic styles. John Reynolds machine gun tactics won the day.

The overall championship was tied between James Evans and Matt Tonkin. Well done guys.

Congratulations to Alan Bath for getting his 35 yrd badge, Wendy Bath for her 25 yrd badge, John Graham for his 30yrd badge and Matt Tonkin for his 55 yrd badge and a very rare and well deserved 70 yrd badge. Turned into an expensive day eh Matt?

Many thanks to Roger Miles, Mark Surtees and Mike Marshall for their continuous all day instructing. Thanks to Tracy and Hannah for keeping the score. Thanks to Wendy for taking everyone’s money so graciously And a big thank you to every one who helped.

We now have someone who understands how to upload pics to the gallery ( David Fisher) and they should be up soon.

See you all next year,

Mike Heritage

 Ah, technology is a wonderful thing. I missed a couple of important things in my report so you will have to read it all again to see what they were!

Welcome to Scotland was the sign I spotted through eyes slitted against the wind and rain as the remnants of hurricane Katrina started to make it’s presence felt. Great weather for fly casting. Not.

They breed them hardy north of the border. Hardly anyone who had pre booked the day failed to turn up and we a had a few who just turned up just for the craic. Thank you all for coming. On a personal note it was great catching up with old friends I usually only get to see once a year. I use the term friends loosely because they are mainly trying beat me and as I look down the result sheet I see most of them did so they went home happy. Make the most of it boys, it won’t happen again!

The BFCC had been invited by the Alberto Laidlaw and the Glasgow Casting Club to hold an event at the Lochinch Police Club in the Pollock Country Park in the middle of Glasgow. The facilities were great and it was certainly nice to have somewhere warm and dry where we could have a coffee and sandwich. The lounge was on the first floor with a huge window so that we could look down on the casting area, not that we had much time for it because we had twenty three casters who competed and with five events to get through we needed all the time we had.

The weather meant we were not going to see any really big casts but there were some very impressive ones none-the-less. Two stand out. Hamish Young casting in the B100 beat every one (including us so called elites) in the five weight with a fantastic 110′ 9”. Hamish, you are now officially Elite. Hamish also won the B100 class outright. He was run close in the five weight by William Mcguire and Tamas Bascali. The other one was canny old Mike Marshall who only cast in the T120 and put one out with his usual aplomb to 212′, streets ahead of anyone else.

The seven weight contest was really strange, some of us cast it less than the five. However John Reynolds did show us how it should be done with a cast of 123′ and James Evans had a nice 111’6”. Most of the rest of us didn’t even break the 100′ barrier. Very odd.

Things started to improve when we got the nine weights going, several of us got over 130′. However there was a dead heat for first place (which is an unusual event) with our own John Reynolds and Scotlands William Mcguire hitting a very respectable 138′ which tied for first place.

Mick Bell turned up trumps with 189′ 1” in the T38. James Hek is someone to watch for the future as he cast a new J17 record of 143′ 9”. That is a mighty cast for a fifteen year old, well done.

Also to be congratulated for achieving their 35yrd badges are Hamish Young and Mike Barrio, again, well done guys.

There was some potentially outstanding talent on display. It was such a pity that the weather didn’t allow them to shine.

I have a few thank yous that deserve a mention in dispatches, Alberto Laidlaw for the venue and the organisation. Mike Marshall for his tireless efforts in getting us all up there and driving up with all the BFCC paraphernalia. Tracy Thomas for keeping the score and us in order. John Reynolds for showing us some decent casting and, despite a bad hip, staying out in whatever the weather could throw at us to mark the distances. Will Shaw for his efforts in the field. Ally Bremner ditto, and not being a bloke ( which took me by surprise, I thought Ally was a mans name, especially in Scotland) and Roger Miles for keeping up our instructing arm.

I know I have missed names, I’m sorry, so let me just thank everyone who turned up on a not very nice day and made it a superb day.

The grapevine has it that the venue has already been re-booked for next year.

Look out for a write up in FF&FT some time soon by their roving reporter and ace caster Ben Dixon, who also had the camera out, so we might get some photos as well.

From a finally dried out

Mike H

Just like the old days, only better. From one point of view it wasn’t very successful but from the other it was a great day.

We did not have many non members turn up for tuition but we had loads of members turn up so the competition was really good. Because of the stiff south westerly we were restricted to casting across the grass towards the car park so we could not get the T38 or T 120 into action. As it was we were peppering car bonnets with the seven and nine weights.

Both Paul Arden and James Evens had hardly stepped off their planes from Australia and America respectively to be with us, Paul then walked off with three trophies. Well done.

Alan Bath achieved a new record in the V70 5 weight category with a cast of 94′. He deserves it for all the practice he does, Well done Alan.

Alan casts in the B100 class and there is some stiff competition. The winner is the person with the highest total distance in the five and seven events and Jamie Cashman’s 190? 11” did it this time.

We ran an accuracy event which had the unexpected bonus that it meant we all congregated in that area to help scoring and enjoy the sport of barracking whoever was casting. One member claimed not to have understood the rules on his attempt and requested another go with the proviso that we could chuck him in the lake if his score was lower on his second go. Boy, is he fit, we couldn’t catch him but the next time him and me are near water he had better watch out.

Welcome to new members Don Palmer and Alan Bowles.

Thanks to everyone who helped make it such an enjoyable day.

Because our unofficial official photographer, Terry Jenner, hasn’t been seen for a while we do not have any official or otherwise photos to add to the album. If you have some from Reading or even Wrexham please send them to me.

Our next event is at Eyebrook on the 27th August, see you there.

Mike H

I believe that part of the success of Wrexam is it’s facilities. We were all grateful for somewhere to get out of the rain for a while, have a coffee and a sandwich and make use of the tiolets. Although Brentwood is a lovely area with plenty of space it does lack these facilities. If we need a drink it can take half an hour to get there (and then find the Cafe closed) and back.

About three years ago we held our first ‘open day’ event at the nearby Shenfield Cricket Club and they were kind enough to open the pavilion for our use. We have therefore decided to move our flagship event to Shenfield and the pavilion will again be open for our use. We will be able to provide tea, coffee and sandwiches. We will just charge enough to cover the costs. We do need a volunteer or two to help with this so if you know anyone who is willing to make tea and cut a few sandwiches for a few hours please let Mike Marshall know.

We will need to be a bit stricter with regard to safety.  Shenfield is used by the locals for dog walking etc so we neither want to upset them or cause any accidents so please be aware of where your back casts are going.

We will be casting all of our disciplines, including accuracy, and we will again be creating a club champion only this time it won’t involve John Reynolds and I on our knees, in the rain, trying to figure out who had won, provided the laptop doesn’t run out of battery at the vital moment.

Yes, there will be tuition for those that want it but this event is mainly about the competition, so bring it on. Mine is white with two sugers please.

Mike H

Back then, when it was cold, very cold, wet and windy. Charles Jardine asked if I would mind being filmed by Feild and Rural Life and as my mind was numb I agreed and here it is.

http://www.youtube.com/user/FieldandRuralLife#p/search/0/GXFBl74jAl8

 Please remember I was very cold.

Mike H

It has come to our notice that we (I) missed a couple of important events in my report from Newark. It transpires that the casts that Carl Malpass made in the five and seven events were class records, the J17 #5 now stands at an impressive 113′ and the J17 #7 now stands at a mighty 131′ 3”.

Well done Carl, I’m sorry we didn’t spot them sooner.

Mike H

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No. It was our gazebo….or nearly. That sums up the weather at Newark. Apart from a very cold and calm early Sunday morning it was wind, wind and rain or wind and hail, and bloody, bloody cold, and after the gazebo went for a flying lesson we were left unprotected from the elements. Did that dampen our enthusiasm? Not a bit, we carried on regardless. We are a hardy lot at the BFCC….. apart from Roger…..who made the pitiful excuse he was needed on the stand….inside…..in the warm.

 I think our first show of the year should be somewhere warm and exotic, like the Caribbean, but until that happens it will be Newark in February, the Palm Springs of the Midlands.

 Despite the weather the BFCC once again had a very successful show. We were kept busy by a constant stream of people wanting to improve their casting or those that just wanted to see what fly casting was all about. Our new B100 class proved very popular in the competition we had on Saturday. In fact Alan Bath fell only 6” short of having to join the elite casters. Carl Malpass hit a superb cast to win the seven weight and I managed to finally hook one up to pip Carl in the five. Carl will have to get out and practice more though because his father Ian can now double haul like a demon and will be catching him up soon.

 We had the annual invasion of the Walkers with Chris and Richard sucking up as much instruction as they could and father Dave didn’t break one of my rods….for a change.

 I would like to thank Mark Surtees and Steve Kemp for their unflinching efforts in the face of some very inclement weather. I would also like to thank Roger and Tracy for bringing in the punters (a special thanks to Tracy for giving a poor, cold, old man a cuddle when he needed it most) [Roger did offer, but it wouldn’t have been the same]. A big thanks to James and Tracy who have brought us into the 21st century by creating a computer program that is a whizz at the recording and placing of competitors in our competitions. Thanks also to Alan and Wendy Bath who helped organised and record the competition. It was especially nice to see Wendy looking so well after recent events. MM, as always, inspires us to keep going. Thanks to non BFCC instructors who joined in and who’s brains I shamelessly picked. Special mention for Steve Yeoman who popped in for some advice from MM and we roped in to help with the instruction.

If  I have missed anyone I’m sorry.

By the way, we were missing out official photographer, Terry Jenner, and none of us thought to take any pics. If you did take some could you email them to me for the gallery please

Mike H

Happy New Year to all fellow BFCC members. I am pleased to say that there are more of you each year. Mike Marshall was telling me the other day that our membership far exceeds that of the old BCA (British Casting Association) from back in the day (‘s that only Mike is old enough to remember). Of course back then it was word of mouth, telephone or letters. Not like today when we can catch you at your computer or iphone.

 2010 was another good year for the club. All of our events were well attended , we made new friends and reached parts other clubs can’t reach. One of the benefits of not being associated in any way with the taint of commercialism or any other group is that we are not seen as a threat to any particular group. Any and everyone are welcome to attend any of our meetings or events without the risk of being seen as one thing or another. We are an inclusive club, not an exclusive one. I honestly believe we are what we say on the tin, The Home Of Friendly Fly Casting, or, the Friendly Home Of Fly Casting, I can never remember. Our aim is to create, re-kindle or re-inforce your enthusiasm for fly casting. This should benefit the whole fly casting and fly fishing community from shops to instructors and you.

This year we will be travelling around our usual haunts (Newark, Reading, Wrexham, Brentwood) plus, we are going north of the border for the first time with our event in Glasgow. I have heard whispers that there might be other possibilities as well. More on that if Mike M’s tireless work comes to fruition.

 Once again, if any of you would like to contribute and article just send it to me (Mike Heritage) as an email. I promise the only thing I will do is put it through the spell checker ( like wot i doo for miself) before I publish it.

 We look forward to seeing you all again this year.

 MikeH