After all the preparation the Festival started for me on Thursday when I went to collect Gary (The Tidalwave) from London so he could attend the festival. We loaded the Buddy Bus and set off for the Manderson Trust on Friday morning where we set about setting up the marquee, BBQs and everything else that would be needed for the Festival weekend, some anglers (mostly trust members) arrived on the Friday drew their pegs and got themselves settled in for the weekend some of them even had some nice fish out, here is Mark with a lovely common,
As is becoming normal the Friday evening was filled with hilarity and general chat as we all prepared for the weekend.
Saturday morning the rest of the anglers started arriving and getting set up ready for the Wandering Angler match, unlike last year the lakes were fishing quite well and there were plenty of fish out during the four hours of the match.
During the match I was called away from my peg by Nick where I found him holding down the marquee on his own, the wind had picked up and un-pegged the whole thing unfortunately the glass prizes for first and second places on Sunday got smashed so we had nothing to hand over but these will be replaced and the winners will still have a trophy to put on their mantle pieces.
The results of the match were in third place was Davy P with 14lb 7oz in second was Kev W with 14lb 11oz (Kev is making a habit of finishing second he did it in both matches last year) but the match was won by Steve E (Hipflask) with 16lb 5oz. Well done to those three, here they are receiving their prizes from Mick Brown on Sunday
After the match the BBQ was fired up and with the invaluable help of Katie and Michael we served up chicken, sausages and burgers to everyone there was plenty of food to go round and the drink and banter flowed until nearly midnight when the last of the revellers drifted off to their bivvies to get some sleep before Sundays match.
Kev P had to leave early on Saturday evening as his wife had fallen over at home, we were all glad to hear later that apart from a lot of bruises she hadn’t hurt her self too badly.
Sunday morning dawned and the weather wasn’t looking too promising but it stayed dry long enough for everyone to have sausage and bacon rolls for breakfast and get onto their pegs before the heavens opened. The rain was torrential and the wind was blowing a right hoolie but the lakes were fishing quite well again and despite the wind and rain there were no more upsets with the marquee.
The results for the Sunday match were, in third place with 29lb 5oz was Jim, in second with 31lb 15oz was Seb and in first place breaking his run of seconds was Kev with 39lb 2oz
Here they are receiving their prizes
There was then the matter of four other prizes to sort out, the best angler of the festival by weight, the best angler as voted for by the competitors, the drawn pairs competition and finally the booby prize.
As you have probably worked out Kev won the best angler by weight with a great weight of 53lb 13oz for the whole weekend
The drawn pairs was won by Kev W and Kev P despite Kev P having to go and look after his wife after her fall so his whiskey tumbler will be posted on to him
The angler of the match as voted for by the other competitors was an overwhelming vote for one man who fished pretty much every minute of the weekend he could and produced some great results. Congratulations to Seb
The booby prize winner was a decision of the ROW committee and was unanimous, it went to an angler who despite catching nothing all weekend was always there with a smile, a helping hand and some chat it went to Gary (The Tidawave)
A huge congratulations goes out to all those who won prizes over the weekend and a thank you to all those who turned up to make the festival the huge success it was.
After the festival had finished Mick even had time to have his picture taken with Nick in front of both the Buddy Bus and the Beast
Special thanks from me must go to the Wandering Angler for sponsoring the Saturday match and other prizes, Katie and her two lovely daughters for doing a great job with the selling of raffle tickets, also to Katie and Michael for the help with the BBQ, to Mick brown for taking time out of his busy schedule to spend the day with us all and to Gary for all his help loading and unloading everything I take with me to the festival also to Nick for allowing me to organize the whole event which is an honour and privilege but also for stopping me doing to much and making me delegate.
I’m sure I can speak for everyone at Reels On Wheels when I say thanks to everyone for coming and making the festival a great event and we all hope to see you at next years event over the weekend of the 5th and 6th of June at the Peterstone fishery South Wales.
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