On the Saturday morning conditions looked perfect for the event - it was mild (and it hadn't been a cold night), it was cloudy but dry and there was next-to-no wind - so we were expecting some good sport for the 26 anglers who were split 16 / 10 between the Gudgeon Stream and Dixons Gap (lower) pounds. Unfortunately the fish mainly ignored the favourable weather and most people struggled for bites, with more than half of them failing to put 1lb into their net. On a "normal" Dixons day, the winning weight of 4lb 13oz would probably have been topped by a single fish !

Short of pounds weight maybe but certainly not short of pounds sterling. We raised over £200 (*) for our charity, the Ian Rennie Hospice at Home, from entrance fees, sponsorship and from those prize winners who immediately put their hard-earned money back into the pot. I think we achieved our other aims too i.e. to get a few new faces along to a club event and show them that it's not all serious stuff but that you can have a laugh at a match. (Well, when the canal's fishing like that you have to laugh or you'd cry !)

We'd like to make public our thanks to Waitrose (Berkhamsted), the Rose & Crown Hotel (Tring) and our Juniors section, all of whom gave us very generous gifts ensuring that every angler who had raised personal sponsorship received a prize from our special draw. The various bottles of wine and packets of luxury biscuits will be consumed very quickly, I'm sure, and George Wood obviously needs his new reel as he had one of the empty nets ! Mick Sibley's a bit past playing soccer so he'll be giving the ball signed by the Watford squad (**) to his grandson.

Cash prize winners

1. Brian Elliott - 4lb 13oz - £40 (below, left)

2. Dave Moore - 4lb 8oz - £30

3. Adrian Smart - 4lb 0oz - £20 (below, right)

4. Reg Harper - 3lb 3oz - £10

Section winners

• Steve Plant

• Tony Beadle

• George Rayment ( Junior member !)

• John Sears

• Dave Grove

(* £210 at the time of writing, some other money still to be collected.)
(** Apart from the goalie, who kept dropping the ball when he tried to sign it.)

Finally, to everyone who took part and to all the people who sponsored them - a BIG THANK YOU !