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History
Shildon
has always been a base for a close knit, very keen hunting,
shooting and fishing fraternity. Predominantly based around the
traditional ‘flat cap and whippet’ era, the countryside groups
and individuals in the Town burgeoned into the more traditional
field sports of shooting and fishing, slowly developing a breed
of person more at home preserving the countryside surrounding
the Town, in the Borough and more recently different Counties.
During this transitional period, individuals realised the
stability that grouping together produced and separate clubs
were formed for whippet racing, pigeon racing, fishing etc. It
was of course during the heyday of the Wagon Works within the
Town that this reformation was created, providing the hard
working, mainly men, of the Town, with the opportunity to relax
at a weekend and perhaps have a small wager on the outcome of a
race or contest.
Shortly after the Second World War saw the
formation of New Shildon Angling Club. This Club enabled the
anglers of Shildon to create Rules and Regulations pertaining to
Match Fishing and, with the formation of the North Yorks and
South Durham Federation of Anglers, to organise such matches
based on the River Tees at Over Dinsdale Estates. As the Club’s
popularity increased, the anglers slowly spread their wings,
organising matches and contests on rivers such as the Eden in
Cumbria, the Tweed at Berwick and similar venues around the
country. It’s popularity continued up until 1983, which saw the
closure of the Works and the demise of the area associated with
such a resource for the Town and the area surrounding it. People
left the area to look for alternative employment and businesses
declined as the fiscal heart dropped out of Shildon.
With this decline, the fortunes of the
Angling Club disappeared rapidly, people could not afford
expensive trips around the country and the Club was in serious
danger of folding, when it was announced that New Shildon
Workingmen’s Club, the Angling Club’s base and main source of
income, was closing due to it’s non-profitability. Around this
time, the Town Council had put forward the idea of the Club
being responsible for a small Coarse Fishing are off Dale Road
in Shildon, known as Eden Grange. The thought of a small Club
with no assets and an ailing bank balance, actually controlling
a Fishery sounded very daunting, where would the running costs
come from? How would we raise funds for tools etc? With the
backing of the Club, two of the Members put up the twenty pounds
required to kick start this venture and the Club acquired two
small pools on a six-month trial period, working alongside S & D
Training who generally control the site.
After a
short period of ironing out the Rules and Regulations on the
site, it was decided to open up the Membership to allow the
general public to access the facilities, as a Member of the
ponds or on a day ticket, open to anyone. This met with moderate
success, more so with the junior anglers of the area, but it
proved that the sport would provide a sustainable income. That
was in the 1992/3 Season. Since then, the Ponds have shown a
steady increase in turnover, enabling the Club to buy equipment,
put in accessible platforms, plant trees etc, supported by small
grants from the Town Council and Durham County Council. That
took the Club up to 1996, when the current Secretary had the
idea of turning the rest of the site into a Coarse Fishing and
Wildfowl Area. This would require substantial Grant-Aid for the
Project to succeed. Areas were marked out and plans drawn to
provide the site with an additional two ponds with a capacity of
16 and 11 pegs respectively. Both were designed as shallow
fisheries due to their locality and the prevailing easterly
winds, and to support a head of silver fish, not merely ‘carp
puddles’ as was the fashion of the times.
Help from
the Town Council came in the shape of funding for the planning
fees, the Angling Club raising funds through membership, day
tickets, matches and a limited Life Membership scheme. In 1999
the Club received an Awards for All Grant of £3405:00 for the
provision of a secure site office and a substantial amount of
fishing tackle for the purpose of coaching junior anglers (since
then the office was broken into and the fishing equipment and
approximately £2000:00 worth of tools stolen, however by 2005
all of the equipment has been replaced through further grant-aid
and the office just used as storage for waste materials) and in
2001, the Club got it’s just rewards in the form of a £4000:00
grant from the Borough Council, £3813:00 from Awards for All and
£22228:00 from a Sport England Lottery Grant,
practically 6 years after the
Project conception,
a long drawn-out process, mainly due to it being a novel project
for that funding and the sheer amount of paperwork involved.
Disaster then struck as Foot and Mouth Disease hit the area and
the Club imposed a voluntary ban on the site, losing a full
seasons activities and fund raising. 2002/3 saw the digging and
landscaping, settling and stocking of the ponds and finally in
the Spring of 2003, the new ponds were opened for access.
The
success of the Grant Aid applications and the determination of
the Secretary has resulted in the Club obtaining the Fishing
rights on the Nature Reserve at Brusselton, on the western edge
of Shildon, however, due to the nature of the banks there,
extreme caution should be taken when accessing the pegs. 2005
has seen the construction of secure staging at the Reservoir, to
give more comfortable access and enabling compliance with the
Club’s general Health and Safety duties to the public. Due to
the tenacity of the Club in securing these projects, the Town
Council has seen fit to reward the Club with 60 year leases on
it’s sites, thereby securing the Club’s long-term future.
Whilst
the Club concentrated on the new projects, the original ponds at
Eden Grange took a back seat and suffered badly. Banks
deteriorated, weed growth was phenomenal and anglers didn't fish
them because they were happy to use the new facilities. During
the 2003 season, the Secretary again looked at these as a
Project and managed to secure funding of £15626:00 to refurbish
the area. This money enabled the ponds to be dug shallower and
re-lined. Previously the profile of the ponds were extremely
steep and dangerous, as well as being a serious Health and
Safety problem, maintenance could not be undertaken to clear
weed, debris etc.
A casual
call to a contact at the Environment Agency resulted in the
Agency match funding our grant and enabled them to construct 8
sturdy platforms some with disabled access and ‘dads and lads’
platforms. During the Winter of 2005, water has been piped to
the area and a serious weed killing programme will be
implemented in the early Spring. They will also be stocked with
‘silver fish’ but in particular Crucian Carp which should find
their new ‘home’ perfect. Hopefully this site will encourage
parents to bring their youngsters to the site and carry on the
tradition of angling in the Town.
Plans
for the Future?
Whilst
this growth has had a minimal cost to the Club (99.5% of
expenditure has been grant-aided) we should not rest on our
success, but keep improving constantly. We need to introduce
more youngsters into the Sport and promote the benefits of
Angling……………it has worked tremendously for the Club, for the
year ending 2005, Membership is over 100 Anglers, the club has 5
ponds, 4 to fish and 1 Wildlife Area, the Club’s popularity is
obviously on the increase, we are recognised by the N.F.A. as a
Satelite Centre for Level 1 & 2 Coaching, we boast two Level 2
Coaches, including one Coach/Tutor, Junior participation is at
an all time high through our links with ‘Get Hooked on Fishing’,
Connexions, Y.I.P. etc, we have a wonderful Fishing Tackle Shop
in the Town, Les and Joe’s – bringing employment, we have an
excellent website – www.shildonac.co.uk, and the Club is at last
– stable.
Do we
foresee any future need for improvement?………………..Of course, there
is always seasonal improvement to do at the ponds, weed
clearance, platforms to re-furbish, trees to plant to name but a
few. The Secretary would like to see the Club control a stretch
of river, and construct a purpose built Clubhouse at the site
and then we could finally call it ‘home’, but will it
happen……………who knows? We must remember, what we do today is not
for ourselves, but the next generation, it is the attitude that
breeds success.
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