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If you spot anything unusual at any of our waters please let us know so that we can take the appropriate action as quickly as possible.

September 2025 Newsletter.

Welcome to our end of summer newsletter, somewhat different to last year’s wet & cool one this has been hot and dry until recently with most waters suffering with low water levels which are only just starting to slowly recover. One water that has maintained its level is Underhill and it has been good to get reports of some reasonable Tench being caught here after a couple of seasons of very few coming to the net. You may have noticed that we have left a couple of fallen trees in the water, these are to supplement the bird scarers and give the fish somewhere to hide from the cormorants when the weed dies back for the winter, we may try this at other waters too as if it helps it is an easy cost-free option, and we all like cost free.

One issue for this newsletter that has raised its head this year is bad behaviour towards other anglers and in particular to our younger members, along with poor handling and treatment of caught fish. Whether you are a full member, day ticket or guest when you purchase that membership you agree to abide by the club rules which includes:
Rule 1 - Members must comply with the following requirements at all times and failure to observe these conditions, misbehaviour of any kind, or failure to observe any special rules will render the member liable to disciplinary action by the EC which may include suspension of membership or dismissal from membership of the Club.
We are very fortunate as a club that we have very few incidents, but we have had two this year involving unacceptable behaviour towards other anglers and one where an angler was intending to remove fish, any of these could have caused us issues with our riparian owners and could lead to us losing waters, and that is after the effect on our own members, again particularly the youngsters who can be put off going to our waters and even give up fishing altogether.
While on the subject of poor handling and treatment of fish we ask that all anglers use landing nets and unhooking mats to protect the fish, as even putting them on damp grass in a landing net can still cause damage, and consider carrying an antiseptic spray for use on any obvious injuries on the fish you catch. These sprays can be bought for less than a fiver but might save a fish from dying so well worth having.
Another ongoing gripe is litter; no, we will not install litter bins as someone has to empty these and then get rid of the waste and this then comes under commercial waste with all the licensing and associated paperwork and costs that entails. If you bring it with you, please take it home and put it in your own dustbin.

Our waters – As already mentioned Underhill seems to be producing more Tench again and a few decent Carp. Wirgol has suffered from low oxygen levels this season but the owners have now cleared a “wind tunnel” and have also had a pump running on the top pond so things have improved. Scaland Wood has, like most other waters, had low water levels but the aerator we installed a few years ago has done its job. Pennybridge has continued to fish well with recent reports of several Perch of 2lb+ being caught along with some decent Roach. Oast Farm, well we all know what that fishes like and is still living up to its “Carp puddle” reputation. Mill House Farm, this has really suffered this season with many a blank session being reported, it was found to have very high levels of ammonia and this has now been remedied in the short term and fishing has improved with good nets of small silvers along with some Tench to 2lb+. We are now investigating long term options to improve the water quality and the owner is working with us on this.

We are happy to announce we have a new water available to fish from October 1st at High Hurstwood, Nordens Green Farm Pond, Royal Oak Lane, TN22 4AL. This water is a little bit smaller than Scaland Wood and when water levels return to normal it is approximately 4ft deep, it contains a good head of Carp along with plenty of silvers. There are some nice Crucians in there but it is doubtful that they are pure so we will not accept any claims for “known best” of this species. Details of this water and its full location will appear on the website before the end of the month.

As usual we will be doing our half price, mid-season, memberships from October 1st so if you have a relative or friend who might like to join us and fish our waters until March 31st 2026 point them our way, please. On the subject of membership, we are now looking at the possibility of a digital membership (rest assured this will in no way be connected to the digital ID currently in the news!) which you will be able to store on your phone to show a bailiff, or riparian owner, if requested. If we decide to progress this it will be run alongside our existing options to ensure it is workable, we appreciate this is not for everybody hence not just switching over to digital only. This will save time for our Membership Secretary & costs for the club and hopefully be of benefit to the members too.

Finally, after the summer break, we have work parties starting again with the next one being at Oast Farm on Sunday 28th September. These are once a month and run from 9am until midday giving everyone the chance to get home in time for Sunday lunch, or a pint. We do need help in maintaining the waters, not only at the work parties but also with mowing the grass and general tidying on a regular basis. If you could spare some time, please let us know or come to one of the regular work parties for a chat.

That is it for this newsletter but if you have any comments on any of the above, or anything else you would like to let us know about, we would welcome your input. You are probably already aware there are several ways of contacting us but the quickest ways of getting a response are either Facebook messenger or email at the moment. If it is an emergency and you call our number this has a message giving you another number to call as the club phone is only checked each evening for any messages or missed calls.

Best wishes & tight lines on behalf of the CDAA committee.

June 2025 Newsletter

Welcome to the start of another season at CDAA, well we are actually already nearly three months in, unless you are a traditionalist and waited for the “glorious 16th”.

Let’s start with what is becoming a far too regular gripe, litter. This is becoming a serious problem particularly when we are trying to renew our agreement with an owner whose dog has recently found some “edible” rubbish and nearly ended up with a rather large vets bill had he not managed to get the offending rubbish away from the dog before it could be ingested. Please take your rubbish home with you, it is not too hard to do, is it?

Mill House Farm – as some of you are aware we lost the three biggest fish in there last year due to an oxygen crash. But now there is another issue with water quality which is being investigated to see what can be done to remedy it. We will keep you updated but the “good news” is that the owner is on our side with this and is not charging us any rent until the water is back to how it should be.

Our 2025 AGM on the 23rd April went very well with 38 attendees and the raffle raised £223, which was quite a result and meant we made about £100 on the night after costs!
This year we had a good show from the juniors which was very pleasing as our Guest of Honour, Tiny Isted, sponsors one of the junior trophies in memory Maurice his late father who was a long-standing member.

Just a reminder as these are now becoming quite a serious threat to our native bees:

Asian Hornets – please take a look at this link https://www.bbka.org.uk/identify-report-asian-hornet and if you spot one of these do not kill it but report it, the reason for not killing it is that it can then be tracked back to its nest.
Also while on the subject of reporting things do remember that if you spot any illegal activity to contact either the Police or the EA. Sussex police have a very good Rural Crime team and you can find out more about them here: https://www.sussex.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/rc/rural-crime/

To report anything to the EA call 0800 807060, and remember “if it isn’t reported it didn’t happen” you may not see a response but all reports are logged to see if an area is a “hotspot”.
And don’t forget you can let us know if you spot anything that you think doesn’t look right at any of our waters. We still need your reports so that we can gauge how we are doing, how the waters are fishing and if we need to check a water out for any issues. We need your thoughts, even when critical, to help us improve things.

Members often mention they rarely see bailiffs on our waters; this is not a bad thing really as it means we do not get much trouble, but you might be surprised to know that you may well have been fishing next to one or chatted to one who has come along to check a water out as we as we do not advertise who our bailiffs are, but we currently have seven. They do carry an id badge if they need to show it but we have found that just chatting to anglers lets us know if they are legit or not. And just to remind everyone of 13yrs and over you must have a valid EA rod licence, the average fine for not having one is around £800 should you be taken to court and you could well have your tackle seized. A recent case of a father & son who turned violent when questioned by EA bailiffs resulted in fines totalling £12k, a very expensive days fishing!

Junior matches – these will commence on Saturday 28th June. If you would like to take part please get in touch, details can be found on our Facebook page and here: https://www.crowboroughanglers.org.uk/junior-matches

If you live in the Uckfield area you will be aware that Hooked on Greens has closed but if you need maggots or worms Mud Pig Baits now stock these, and they take card payment. They also sell our memberships and day tickets (cash or cheque only), and they are on Facebook and the web.
https://www.mudpigsbaits.com/ for details of opening times and location.

They do not stock any tackle but we are fortunate to still have Crowborough Tackle where Jed & Graham carry a large range of various tackle as well as maggots & worms too. They have recently moved and can now be found in Park Lane, TN6 2QN and you can call them on 07930 623359 or check out New Crowborough Tackle on Facebook.

As always, we are looking for new committee members and/or people willing to assist with the day-to-day stuff like grass cutting. One position we do need someone for is Freshwater Match Steward as Dave Cottington is stepping down for personal reasons at the end of this season. If you feel you might be interested in this role, get in touch and we can show you what is involved.

If you would like to contact us at any time, you can email, or message us on our Facebook page. If you have provided us with your email address when you joined, you may like to add ours to your address book (email@crowboroughanglers.org.uk), and this will ensure that you receive any updates promptly. There is also the general enquiries phone number which is 07873 322562. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.

Best wishes & tight lines on behalf of the CDAA committee.

March 2025 Newsletter

Welcome to the last newsletter of the 2024-25 season.

You will find your renewal form on the reverse of this letter.

Please continue to support us by re-joining, we appreciate your continued loyalty to us.

Great news in the current financial circumstances is that for yet another year there are no increases to the membership fees.

Once completed, post to CDAA c/o Sandra Lawrence, Butterflies, Eridge Road, Crowborough, East Sussex TN6 2SP, and please enclose a self-addressed and stamped envelope.

You can also re-join at one of our outlets or online from 22nd February through the website. If you joined us recently on the “3 months free” option you do not need to complete the renewal form as your 2025-26 season membership card will be posted out to you mid-March.

Our 2025 AGM will be on Tuesday 22nd April at the Crowborough Social Club. We would love to see a few more juniors this year, we appreciate you have school the following day but you do not have to stay for the whole evening as we will be presenting the Junior awards as the fourth item on the agenda, so prior to the official (boring) stuff.

The average age of your committee is around 60 years old currently and we need some fresh faces with new ideas, if you don’t want to be on the committee but have an idea of how we might improve things feel free to let us know as we are always happy to listen to you.

We have been getting very mixed reports from members this season and it is very much appreciated as it is how we can gauge how we are doing, how the waters are fishing and if we need to check a water out for any issues. Unfortunately, due to the weather this season fishing has not been so good generally, and other clubs & our own match guys have reported as much on other waters around our area.

Don’t forget to contact us if you think you may have caught a new “known best”. The latest “known bests” can be found on the water’s pages of our website, along with any vital information you may need to be aware of on the home page.

Finally, we would like to thank you for being a member and hope you have enjoyed fishing our waters and will be joining us for another season. We look forward to seeing you at the AGM and on the bank later in the year.

Best wishes & tight lines on behalf of the CDAA committee.

December 2024 Newsletter

We hope you are all keeping well and looking forward to the Christmas holiday period, hopefully you will get some time for fishing and one of the pleasures of being a member is that you can go to your local water for just an hour or two if weather and other commitments allow.

As always, we are running the “Up to 3 months free” memberships so if you have any friends that would like to fish with you over the winter these are available from the usual outlets and on the club website. This ticket will give them access to our varied portfolio of waters until the end of March 2026! You all know this would make a great Christmas present for someone, and will last longer than many other Christmas presents.
Current members will have the option to renew their memberships for the 2025-26 season from mid- February 2025, and you will be very pleased to know that yet again we are not increasing our prices. We have offered this option of early renewal for a few years now and it has proved very successful, and it keeps our Hon. Treasurer very happy!
Please make sure you supply all the required information, either online or using the form, to avoid delays in receiving your membership.

We are still looking for someone to help with running the Junior match’s next season. These are already organised but we need someone to, at least, assist the current person but if you could take on the role fully that would be great. If you would like more information on this, please contact us at email@crowboroughanglers.org.uk
Also, on the match side of things, if anyone would be interested, we are happy to organise some beach fishing matches or just a friendly session, we know some of you go quite regularly so if you might be interested let us know.

As mentioned in September a new role we have had to put in place is that of Club Welfare Officer: -
“Let me introduce myself, my name is Janet Funnell, your welfare officer representing Crowborough and District Anglers Association.
I am not an angler myself, but have had many years of supporting the club with junior days and many other fundraising events.
My role is to assist with any welfare concerns you may have and I am available to all members in a confidential capacity and I act independently of the Committee.
We are guided by government guidelines and the Angling Trust to protect adults and children within our club.
More information on the guidelines can be found here: https://anglingtrust.net/safeguarding/safeguarding-policies
We want to make sure all anglers have a positive and enjoyable experience while fishing and are protected from any issues of concern.
Please feel free to contact me, or my deputy Sandra Lawrence if you have any welfare concerns. If we are not able to resolve these for you, we can put you in touch with someone who can. We will follow up any concerns that are forwarded to another organisation on your behalf if requested.
We are very approachable and again I would like to confirm that you can speak to us in confidence knowing that any information you give to us is confidential.”
Contact details for Janet: janet.funnell@btinternet.com 07910 712937
and for Sandra: sandralawrence071@gmail.com 07787 811335
These details can also be found on our website.

We are saddened to have to report that three of the big Carp in Mill House Farm Lake have recently died, these fish were quite old and we believe they succumbed to low oxygen levels caused by the combination of the dying weed and the recent storms. We were not alone as several other nearby clubs lost fish and again, all big and old Carp.

You may have noticed quite a bit of work going on at Scaland Wood these past few months. Firstly, we put in the platforms on pegs 1 & 2 and improved the path down to these pegs, this was funded by some very kind donations that were made specifically for this kind of improvement. We have also had contractors in to clear some of the ash trees that have suffered the “die back” disease and that were in danger of falling on to the car park, out in to the road and in to the water. We were fortunate that the contractors got this done just a couple of days before storm Darragh hit and also, they did it for the timber so we have not had to pay for this to be done so a good result all round for the club.

We are pleased to inform you that we have renewed our agreements with both Claygate Lakes and More House Farm for another year. Also just to remind you that if you fish More House Farm the “day ticket” price is £4 per session and that you cannot fish Claygate lakes during your first season as a CDAA member unless you purchase a day ticket at the venue and there is a restriction of five visits per season per member for those eligible to fish this venue.

We have been getting very mixed catch reports this year from all waters, except Oast Farm, but other clubs are reporting similarly so it would appear to be weather related rather than an issue with just our own waters. Even the match guys have had some poor catches at what would normally be considered “bagging” venues. We are still looking at stocking more fish when and where this is viable and these are likely to be better quality rather than the large numbers of small fish that we have stocked in the past.

We are still looking for volunteers to take on the role of Bailiff at some of our waters, to carry out day to day maintenance i.e. grass cutting. Also, it has been good to see some new faces at our work parties this season but we could still do with a few more to help spread the work load. We have the last one of this year at Scaland Wood on the 15th Dec so if you are free pop down, we will be there from 9am till about midday. The work parties will then resume in March.

Dates for your diary –
AGM will be held on Tuesday 22nd April 2025 at the Social Club
Family weekend at Pennybridge – date TBA
Further details will be available on the club website and Facebook page in due course.

Finally, as always, please contact us with any news or suggestions you have.
We hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and wish you a Happy New Year.

From your committee.

Chairmans corner:
Fishing licence.
A couple of young boys were fishing at their special pond off the beaten track. Suddenly the bailiff jumped out of the bushes.
Immediately, one of the boys threw his rod down and started running through the woods like a bat out of hell. The bailiff was hot on his heels. After about half a mile the young boy stopped and stooped over with his hands on his thighs to catch his breath, and the bailiff finally caught up to him.
“Let’s see yer fishin’ licence Boy!” the bailiff gasped.
With that, the boy pulled out his wallet and gave the bailiff a valid fishing licence.
“Well son,” said the bailiff. “You must be about as dumb as a box of rocks! You don’t have to run from me if you have a valid licence!”
“Yes, sir,” replied the young lad. “But my friend back there, well, he doesn’t have one.”

Club branded clothing is still available from https://www.chameleon-designs.com/products/shops/crowborough---district-anglers-association/crowborough---district-anglers-association so if you are stuck for an Xmas present idea this might be the solution. Or if you already have an item but would like to have a CDAA logo on it these can be purchased here https://www.crowboroughanglers.org.uk/product-page/embroidered-badge

Tribute to Roger Funnell

With great sadness we have to inform you of the passing of Roger Funnell last month.

His funeral will take place on Friday 16th September at 2:30pm and will be held at St. Michael & all Angels Church, Withyham. All are welcome to attend and after the service everyone is invited to the wake being held at the Crowborough Community Centre.
Details of the service and directions to the church can be found here
https://rogerfunnell.muchloved.com/
along with how you may make a donation in Rogers’s memory. His chosen charity is the Saxonbury Surgery in Croft Road, Crowborough.
Dress code for the funeral is to wear whatever you feel comfortable in.

The list of things he has done for the club over the years would take far too long to list so here is just a snapshot.

Many of you will have known Roger recently as the person who ran the matches as this was his most recent role within our Association, but if you go back he was the powerhouse behind the planning and construction of Pennybridge Lake in Crowborough and it was the first water to be constructed with funding from the National Lottery thanks to his efforts.
We were one of the first clubs to have a website back when building a website was no mean feat, and Roger was self taught making it an even more daunting achievement, we also became one of the first to use email. Although Roger relinquished his role as Publicity Officer back in 2011 he continued to assist with the website, particularly when it had to be completely redone from scratch in early 2019 which looked like being a huge task with all the tables of historical information looking like they were going to have to be typed out individually until Roger found a way that the existing ones could have their data copied into excel and then be loaded onto the new site, this saved hours of work and summed up Roger’s dogged determination and ability to solve problems.

Crowborough & District Anglers Association also has a long history of encouraging youngsters into the sport/hobby and yet again this was headed up by Roger, particularly with the annual Junior Days held at Pennybridge alongside the match series run especially for our younger members.

Ever since the opening of Pennybridge lake he had taken it upon himself to carry out the day to day maintenance of this very popular water but he also still found time to regularly turn up to work party’s at our other waters, provided they did not clash with his matches. This water will be his lasting legacy to both the club and the local community.

Speaking of matches, each year he would book, organise and fish the Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday match series doing the pegging and weigh in, plus sorting the all important pool and payouts which he unfortunately rarely won but that never worried him as he was happy just to have competed and been able to help others to enjoy the sport/hobby he so loved himself.

Rest in peace Roger, you are going to be very much missed.

Tribute to Mr Peter Boorman our President

It is with great sadness that we have to announce the passing, last month, of Mr Peter Boorman who was our President for the last 21 years.

It is doubtful that anyone has given as much time to our club as Peter had, with 53 years’ service on the Committee and many years previously as a club member. Pete was always a steady presence at the helm, often guiding but never pressuring and more than willing to offer advice using his vast experience of both angling and running his own very successful business.

We all have fond memories of Pete who always had time to lend an ear or pass on some little bit of knowledge that would help you catch more or bigger fish, and some of us can remember being taken “under his wing” when we were young junior members particularly on the coach trips to fish the River Rother at Newenden.

The funeral will be held at All Saints Church, Crowborough on the 27th July at 12:30pm and several of our Committee members will attend to represent Crowborough & District Anglers Association.

The family have asked that if anyone wishes to make a donation they please use the link below as the two charities chosen were close to both Peter and his wife Sue (who sadly passed away just a few hours prior to Pete) and/or you may choose to leave a tribute which the family will see.

https://petersusanboorman.muchloved.com/

Rest in Peace Peter, your passing is a great loss to both our club and the local community.

Below are pictures of Pete with Cris Millis (our Chairman) when they were both presented with gifts from the club for their 20 years service in their respective roles and also Pete with Dave Cottington at our 2022 AGM in April.