Firstly, let me apologise for not making as many blogposts as I have done in the past. To be perfectly frank, Nick is not as fit as he was last year, but let’s keep that between us, shall we? It is our intention to stay local - SouthWest region - this year for various reasons: The cost of fuel is crazy! People are feeling the pinch and not so happy to be asked to donate… fair enough I suppose. So fundraising is a big issue.

We have decisions to make about the way forward for Reels on Wheels, to keep it working for everyone and make sure it’s cost-effective and cost-efficient!

We went to Balsdon’s Vehicle Services in Okehampton, a couple of weeks ago for the Buddy Bus MOT - clean bill of health! And the chaps gave us a discount, because they can! Thank you guys! here’s Al (the Boss, with Austin) and cheeky chappy Austin - in the office that day! They are brilliant and customer service is fab! Good tea and coffe, magazines and friendliness in abundance - we recommend them highly!

Great, aren’t they?!

Nick left for Wales this morning, and here’s why… At the recent Reels on Wheels Fishing festival, the top prize was a weekend fishing at The Birch Syndicate Lake, Peterstone. This prize was won by Peter - a 72 year old member of the Manderson Trust for Disabled Anglers. Peter shouldn’t really have been there, as he has terminal cancer and was due for chemotherapy, but he didn’t want to miss the event! He has never won anything in his life till that day and two of the chaps from the Trust are accompanying Peter to The Birch today to meet up with Nick and enjoy a weekend’s fishing at a premier Syndicate water.

The response from all the guys at Peterstone has been wonderful (as always) and there will be many willing hands to help carry bags and tackle to the swims. Breakfast will be huge and Martin (Cronin) has been watching the lake closely to see where the fish are showing. It’s a hard lake, but in my own experience (remember the 14 lb Pike I caught last December, ‘cos I do!), the rewards can be outstanding.

The weather hasn’t always been kind to Nick & Co. when out and about - I recall many comments about “The Man from Atlantis” and “webbed feet” last year, but maybe the sun will shine on them all this weekend. Who knows? Stranger things have happened!

I wish them all good fishing and tight lines, as Peter enjoys his prize in great company at an immaculately-kept water. My one regret is that I’m here with dogs, cat, parrot and teenage daughter and not fishing alongside them!

That’s right! We are already organising next year’s fishing festival.

After the huge success of this year’s fishing Festival we can confirm that we will be making this an annual event.

The 2009 event will be held over the weekend of the 6th and 7th of June and will broadly be run in the same way as this years event.

It will be held again at the Manderson Trust lakes between Cambridge and Huntingdon, which is a fully accessible fishery.

There will be a shorter match held on the Saturday again sponsored by The Wandering Angler this match will start at 1pm and finish at 5pm this allows plenty of time for people to get to the match without having to drive through the night. You will be fishing for the Wandering Angler ROW cup which was won this year by Jon Calli. (A huge thank you to WA for your continued support)

On the Saturday evening we will be having a BBQ which will be included in the price of the weekend and if the atmosphere is anything like this year, bring your bandages as you’ll need them to repair your split sides.

Sunday morning we will be providing bacon rolls at £1 each done on the BBQ again and all weekend we will have soft drinks available for sale.

The Sunday match will start at 10am and finish at 4pm you will be competing to win the Reels On Wheels Festival cup which was won this year by Dave Few.

After the match we will hold the presentation and draw the raffle.

As well as the match cups there will be prizes for the best angler of the weekend by weight, the best angler of the weekend voted for by the competitors and a drawn pairs competition all sponsored by The Wandering Angler, there will also be a prize for the biggest fish of the weekend.

As with this year’s festival Mick Brown will come along on the Sunday to join in with the party atmosphere, pose for photos and chat with the competitors.

The cost will be the same as this years event at £20 for the whole weekend, to confirm your place we will again be asking for a deposit of £10. We are hoping that next year’s festival will be bigger than this years and for the 40 places to go quickly. The places will be reserved on a first come first served basis so if you’d like to come get your cheques etc in quickly.
We will again be selling raffle tickets for everybody who would like some whether you will be attending or not, again PM me for full details of how to get yours, last year everyone who bought tickets won at least one prize so the odds are in your favour.

So if you would like to come along to the festival next year then vist our forum and have a look at this THREAD where you will find all the details of how to book your place

We look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.

That’s right folks! We have a poet amongst the Reels On Wheels supporters.

He is our very own human tidalwave, Gary. Here are a few of his poems he has written in the last few weeks.

This first one is about the work Reels On Wheels do:

We build the bridge, we set the stage

We grant the anglers’ wish

To have a swim all men can fish

And ladies if they wish.

As we depart for pastures new

The whole wide world will know

That they are fishing on safe ground

Thanks to the mighty R.O.W.

This one is about ROW in general:

I have been on many forums,

They send me off to sleep.
Instead of counting posts and threads,

I end up counting sheep.

My friend said that she is the same,

I know just how she feels.
But when we want to stay awake,

We log onto Reels on Wheels.

When we cruise in the buddy bus,

This is no ship of fools.
With Nick, and Rosie, Claire on board,

And also our crown Julz.

So if you want to ride the bus,

While others fall asleep.
Then just log on to reels on wheels,

The site we want to keep.

And this is about our recent Fishing Festival:

Thunderous laughter filled the air,

And Bivvies filled the ground.
Twas in the mighty month of June,

The festivals in town.

Claire fired up the barbecue,

And Nick poured out the wine,
as strangers met here face to face,

Things started looking fine.

There came a wandering angler,

They were fishing for his cup.
But everyone’s a winner here,

There are no runners up.

As Sunday night drew to a close,

The crowd let out a cheer.
This festival has been the best,

Please do the same next year.

Gary you are brilliant, keep them coming - we love the poems almost as much as we love you!!

There’s another great pic of Nick’s 54lb 10oz Sturgeon on Des Taylor’s SBS Baits website gallery HERE - Thanks, Des!

And if you’d like to see more photos from the Fishing Festival last weekend, there are more in our main Photopost Gallery HERE.

We’re having a debate on the Forum at the moment about the Pros and Cons of becoming a registered Charity versus a Non-Profit Membership Organisation. If you’d like to air your views, you can vote in the Poll and post your opinion HERE

Have a great weekend peeps!!

Here are some photos from this weekend’s celebration of fishing… Claire and Katy cooking:

You can see the lads hovering in the background, waiting (im)patiently!

Jon and Andy soaking up the atmosphere…

Let the fun begin!

Like other anglers who were there this weekend, Jim took his entire family! Katy (wife) helped out Claire, who is a corker of an Administrator and General Bossy Boots (but she gets the job done!!) and Jim and Katy’s lovely daughters helped out selling raffle tickets. It was a great family weekend celebration of Fishing Buddies enjoying each others’ company and will most definitely be repeated next year.

More to come later!

Here are some more pics Nick sent through today. Here’s Charlie Flack (Manderson Trust) with Jim (5Cs, also disabled through chemical poisoning - which doesn’t account for the headgear!)

Seb and his Dad (chauffeur, carer, general factotum!)

Apparently, Jim and Seb have made Charlie laugh so much, he was ill… *rolls eyes* Standing next to Seb is Jon Calli - ROW’s first official qualified Coach.

Facing the camera is Andrew (The Wandering Angler) who came over from Lithuania, where he’s based, to be at the Festival…

And here are the Cup and trophies which Andrew donated for the Festival - aren’t they just too cool?!

There’ll be more pics tomorrow and Monday too - so do pop in and have a look - you might just see someone famous!

Well, Reels on Wheels is officially over a year old and celebrating the fact this weekend at The Manderson Trust, Over, Cambridgeshire. Nick and Claire arrived there early this morning to prepare for the arrival of guests, erect the Marquee, etc. and meet the Manderson Trustees who graciously rented us Lake No.1 for the weekend’s festivities. For more information on the actual event, please see the thread on the Forum. Take a look at the Festival THREAD!! There are some really funny comments bouncing about!

Nick’s journey was not without drama and when you see what remains of this tyre, I think you’ll agree he was very lucky to escape an accident and serious injury!

Here are Claire and Julz debating the finer points of the Marquee’s erection…

Claire getting on with it…

Finally, a roof over her head!

Our Power Point presentation and display stand… awesome!

Nick in the Buff! (Okay, well pretty close - or right next to it!!)

There will be more photos and I shall be blogging every day till Monday when he’ll be home and I expect most of the revellers will too!

The Fishing Festival is only three weeks away now, and there are a lot of people looking forward to it, for my part I’m both excited and nervous about it.

Excited because it should be a fun weekend meeting loads of new friends and fishing in two matches, I have only ever fished a carp match before so it will all be new to me.

Nervous because this event has been in the planning stages for almost a year now and it is now time to see if all the work that has gone into it will bear fruit and the weekend will be a success.

We have 26 people who have booked up for the event so far, so as the first lake we booked holds a maximum of 28 we have decided not to hire a second lake, as this would be a waste of money we could use better, so we just have a couple of places left if anyone out there wants to come along for a great weekend of fishing and socialising. That said, if there are a group of you out there that want to come along it could then be possible to hire the second lake for the weekend.

I know I can speak for everyone at Reels On Wheels when I say a huge thank you to everyone who is supporting this event whether it be by coming along, buying raffle tickets or donating prizes for the raffle. You are all wonderful and we look forward to meeting as many of you at possible at the Festival and I’m sure that those of you who cannot attend will be there in spirit.

Woohoo - Disabled Angler Blog has received an award from Chris - My Peggypeg - the coveted “E for Excellent”. Thanks Chris… will have a think about who to pass it on to!

Nick’s Sturgeon has also made in into the official Prologic Gallery - Other Species section… so click HERE if you want to see some great photos of fish other than carp!! Teehee!!

In other news, we shall be attending the Open Day at Snowland Fisheries on 23rd May and having a good look at all the improvements that have been made. If you’re going to Cornwall for your holiday this year, it may well be a great place to spend some time fishing… we’ll see!

Nick’s sturgeon pic has made the front page of the Svendsen Sports website… not surprising, as he caught it using one of the new Carp Rods that Gareth sent him to trial in France. Click HERE for the article and photo.

I’ve added a new blog link to the sidebar too - Angling Lines is a blog for Carp Anglers by a carp angler, Gareth, living in France… some interesting stuff on there and a lot of useful information too, especially if you’re looking for tips before you go fishing in France.

Tight lines and let’s hope the weather starts to improve so we can all enjoy a few days on the bank!