Talented girls lead the way

TWO up-and-coming stars on the fishing circuit are highly acclaimed Worksop junior anglers.
Between them this year they have gained 19 medals and trophies and are moving from strength to strength.
Nothing surprising for those who follow Worksop angling - but the two are 11-year-old girls who are holding their own and often upstaging their male counterparts.
Devon Whitworth and Hannah Godfrey are names you need to look for in the future and if they keep up their achievements they could possibly be world class in the coming years.
Both participated in the 2005 National Junior competition at Woodland View gaining a team silver and Devon winning an individual gold.
They vied for first position throughout the triathlon event and in other domestic matches.
If one won, the other came second and on it went until the final presentation when Devon edged out Hannah by just one point.
During these competitions new records were set for the under 12s individual match weight of 25lb 1oz on the Chesterfield Canal and also for the overall aggregate weight of 29lb 14oz for the three matches.
They accept their success with modesty, so let us congratulate them for their success this year and hope they achieve even more in 2006.
Devon and Hannah show what girls can achieve in angling, so come on girls, show what you can do.
Anyone who would like to join the Worksop squad can contact Garry Butt, junior education officer, on 01909 770546, of course that goes for boys too. The cadets squad is for those aged 8 to under 13 and the juniors squad for those from 13 to under 16.

2005 REVIEW
In January the Guardian decided to launch an appeal for the Boxing Day Tsunami.
Within a few days Bill at Lodge Farm, local tackle dealers and the Guardian angling column all got together to run a charity fundraiser to be fished on 29th January on the two new ponds, Field and Signal.
With just three weeks to organise it, 76 anglers supported the cause with £570 being raised for the appeal.
Malc Thompson of Wickersley AC ran out the winner on the day with Jeff Clark of Dinnington claiming the runners-up position and future world champion Matt Godfrey winning the junior event.

On the weekend of 3rd and 4th March it was time once again for the British Beach fishing open fished between Sewerby and Spurn.
Despite truly awful weather conditions, young Robert Stocks of Worksop fished the duration of the match when many more senior anglers retired to the fireside (or the pub) to claim second place in the junior section with a flounder catch - continuing Worksop's long and distinguished tradition in this event.

With the Worksop Guardian nominating the Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice as the chosen charity of the year, the angling community pulled together again to run a pairs match on 22nd May with Worksop and Retford AAs donating their waters on the Chesterfield Canal free of charge.
Local tackle dealers, businesses and individuals donated raffle prizes and Ian Kettlewell of Bulldog Barbers put up all the trophies. It showed what a generous lot the Bassetlaw area are.
Kev Griffiths and his partner took the pairs events with Andy Lakey of Whitwell claiming the individual title.
Together with fundraisers run by Portland School, more than £850 was raised for the appeal, so well done to everybody.

On 11th June, Worksop juniors clinched the NJAA knockout final fished at Maver Larford Lakes at Stourbridge by just one point from Farnborough and also took the top two positions in the reserves match.
Coach Glenn Foulds said: "I am really proud of all the lads - they are a fantastic bunch and it is just rewards for all their time and efforts."

Then, on 9th July at Woodlands View Fisheries, near Droitwich, the juniors and cadet anglers representing Worksop AA put in remarkable team efforts to claim the gold medal in the junior team event and silver in the cadet age group in the NFA National Championships.
The successes on the day did not stop there with Devon Whitworth claiming individual silver in the cadet section.

Later in July Matt Godfrey flew out to represent England in the under 16s world championship on 23rd and 24th of the month.
The fishing took place on a tributary of the river Danube near Belgrade in Serbia where not only did Matt bring home a team gold but also the individual winners medal as well.

The next big match for the juniors was the NJAA nationals which took place at British Waterways' Makin Fisheries in Warwickshire on 3rd September.
The squad managed second place behind Wakefield and Marc Playforth took the individual honours with 29.76kg.
Team coach Glen Foulds said: "What a season it has been for the juniors with two national team golds, a national team silver, the individual world champion and individual national champion."

On 24th September, 24 youngsters representing Portland and Valley schools travelled down to the Glebe fishery in Leicestershire to fish the Schools Nationals.
Despite raining heavily all day all the youngsters did the district proud with Portland just missing out on retaining the title by one point, settling for second place and Valley coming in sixth.
Individually, Portland school took the top two spots in the under 14s with Tommy Davenport top rod and Kyle Moore second.

On 5th November Linda and Steve at Lakeside donated the pegs free of charge for a match to raise funds for Joseph Challenor, a young boy who suffered a horrific accident.
All the usual suspect came through with flying colours, again donating raffle and auction lots, and together £1,000 was raised for the worthy cause.
The fishing was irrelevant but Mick Shaw took the honours with over 30lb of chub taken on pole fished caster.

On 10th November we attended the presentation evening for the Triathlon series taking place at the Innings where Alan and Sandra Scothorne presented the prizes on a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

To round up the year the senior squad of Worksop AA won through to the semi finals of the Angling Times Winter League to be fished in March at the Heronbrook Fisheries in Staffs.
The lads managed this by winning the Trent Division with two points to spare from the mighty Daiwa Trentmen and hopefully will progress to the finals in the summer.

DAIWA HALLCROFT RESULTS
Daiwa Hallcroft Tournament League Wednesday 14th - Croft (22 Pegs). 1. Pete Bagshaw (Maver Barnsley) 39lb 10oz, peg 7; 2. Nick Speed (Merlin Sensas) 35lb 8oz, peg 21; 3. Stuart Gray (Hallcroft) 29lb 14oz, peg 19; 4. K. Pacey (Crooked Billet) 24lb.
Saturday 24th - Bridge/Reed (47 Pegs). 1. Jamie Masson (Maver BCUK) 59lb 15oz, peg reed 6; 2. Mark Brumpton (Sun Inn, Tuxford) 48lb 2oz, peg Outer 52; 3. Graham Lilley (Leegem) 35lb 12oz, peg Outer 16; 4. A. Kinder (Maver) 34lb 8oz; 5. K. Stacey (Leegem) 33lb 14oz; 6. J. Wilde (Fishing Republic) 32lb 15oz.
Monday 26th - Daiwa Hallcroft Boxing Day Pairs, Moat Outer (28 pegs). 1. Dave Nuttall (PAC) 62lb 12oz, peg 23; 2. Jason Skipper (Crooked Billet) 48lb 2oz, peg 25; 3. Neal Vernon (Crooked Billet) 29lb 1oz; 4. G. Hopwood (Hemsworth) 20lb 12 oz; 5. K. Armstrong, (Hemsworth) 19lb 6oz.

CLUB RESULTS
The members of the Greyhound AC fished two matches earlier this month on the Torksey Arm.
On Sunday 4th, Stevie Basset was the top rod with a bag of roach weighing 18lb 4oz taken on the whip on peg 4.
On peg 16 Jim Hall pole-fished maggot to claim the runner-up position with a net of 16lb 4oz, which included a bream of 8lb, from peg 16 with Tommy Davie taking third place with 13lb from peg 10.
In deteriorating conditions on Saturday 17th, Russ Brown took the honours with 7lb 4oz from peg 16 using pole-fished chopped worm.
In-form Basset claimed second place with 6lb 10oz of peg 15 with Keith Morris making up the frame with 6lb 8oz from peg 13 in a tight match.