The emergency services in East Cheshire intend to reel in a thousand entries for their school holiday fishing contest this year. Last year they landed nearly nine hundred applications from boys and girls across the area, which reflected a consistent growth in interest since the competition began in 2006.
Mick Shaw, who founded the contest said, “Each year we expect it to be bigger and better- and each year it is. We started with about 250 entries. This year we think a thousand is achievable.
“Young people come along, have fun and make new friends. Many of them are fishing for the first time and take up the sport afterwards.
"They meet Police Officers, Police Community Support Officers, Fire Fighters, Paramedics and Council Community Wardens in a friendly and informal setting. They recognize that we are approachable and we are here to help. Hopefully, it’s a message that will stay with them for the rest of their lives and which they will communicate to their friends.
“The contest acts as a focus for a lot of the boys and girls during the long school holidays. In a few cases we believe it saves people becoming bored and perhaps drifting into anti social behaviour and other forms of trouble. Certainly, incidents of anti social behaviour have dropped steadily since the contest began.”
Mick Shaw retired as a Police Officer earlier this year but remains the main organiser of the fishing contest. Mick says, “Many of the features of the past years will remain in 2010. We will provide fishing tackle for those competitors who do not have their own and there will be lots of prizes for a lot of different classes.
"We are keeping some of the 2pm-7pm heats which we began last year. They allow youngsters who cannot make the 9am -2pm sessions to enter, and the take-up last year was good."
The East Cheshire Emergency Services Fishing Contest is open to boys and girls aged under seventeen and begins on Monday August 9th. It will be fished at three venues each day of that week from Monday to Friday, and again the following Monday (Aug 16th).
The Grand Final, on Friday Aug 20th from 12 noon to 6pm, will move this year. Instead of the usual Gawsworth Fisheries venue, it will be at the Bay Malton Border Fisheries in Balterley, near Crewe.
For an application pack telephone 01244 614446.
