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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 2026 Newsletter.
Welcome to our end of summer newsletter, similarly to last year this one has been hot and dry until recently with most waters suffering with low water levels which are only just starting to recover. Fortunately, Underhill is stream fed and Oast Farm is spring fed and these have both maintained their water levels and fished well.
As some of you have probably seen on our website and social media, we have now banned micro barbed hooks, as well as barbed which has been the case for a long time. The social media post also mentioned litter which is always a problem at this time of year so please don’t do it, surely it is not hard to take it home with you and our bailiffs are getting fed up with clearing up after other anglers.
The post also talked about the amount of tackle we are finding on and around the aerator platform at Scaland Wood so we are now asking that you do not fish within 2 metres of the platform. For those that are not aware there is equipment under the water that if damaged would be very expensive to replace, this equipment sits on the bottom when the aerator is not working and extends to about a metre from the platform on all sides. Many have already found if you snag up on the platform or it’s supports you will be losing your tackle, part of which will probably be a baited hook!
Back to the subject of barbless hooks, we are aware of the many arguments with some waters banning barbless in favour of barbed now. And research suggests one thing while other research suggests the opposite! We have taken the decision we have on the grounds of fish, wildlife & angler welfare because in our opinion a fish can lose the hook in the event of a break off, wildlife can also shed the hook if snagged (we had recent proof of this with an unfortunately hooked duck which managed to shed the hook when the line went slack) and last but not least us anglers, I know of several who have had a visit to A&E to have barbed hooks removed, some on more than one occasion.
I was asked about what the sea fishing members would do but this ban is on our waters, what you do if you are at other waters is up to you provided you are within that water’s rules. Also, lures were mentioned as it is quite hard to buy barbless ones, well I crush the barb down with a pair of pliers, and have done for many years now, including the hook(s) I put the dead bait on.
In short, barbless hooks only, don’t litter and stay away from the aerator at Scaland Wood please.
Quick gripe, please leave gates as you find them. We have recently had an issue at Mill House Farm where the wooden gates weren’t closed securely and the pair by the lake were left open. The issue here is the cattle, it is annoying if they get around the lake but extremely dangerous if they get out into the MacDonalds/Shell forecourt areas, or worse on to the A22/26. If you have an issue closing the gates please let us know, if you phone the club number and get the answerphone this has an emergency number that you can contact and we will either come down or contact the farmer so that he can ensure the cattle are secure. Also members keep leaving the gate at Scaland Wood open, the rules state that gates should be kept closed and locked whilst fishing and should certainly not be left open after leaving!
Our waters – Mill House Farm was making a comeback with the ammonia levels remaining very low until this month when they have spiked again. The water level is currently the lowest we have seen it but we did get the leaky dam constructed in the stream so when we get some rain the lake will refill quite quickly and this will bring the ammonia level back down. The fishing was much improved with reports of good catches of silvers and Tench around the 3-4lb mark along with some of about 2-3oz which is good news as it shows they survived last year’s high ammonia level, but with the current high ammonia the fishing has died off again.
One more thing about Mill House Farm is that MacDonalds have now put in place a 90-minute restriction in their car park which is being enforced by ANPR cameras operated by MET Parking Ltd. We are aware that some members have used this car park and then accessed the lake on foot in the past, obviously this must stop now and you must drive through the gates, please do not obstruct the drive-thru lane whilst opening the gates, and park by the lake. If you have been fishing at the lake and then receive a PCN (parking charge notice) from MET we have been assured that if you take your CDAA membership and the PCN into MacDonalds they will get it cancelled. If you do this and it is refused please contact us immediately as we can supply the information about the legal right of access that you will need to appeal the PCN, and we will contact MacDonalds Estate Management team to inform them that our legal right of access, that they are well aware of, is being denied.
Scaland Wood, Wirgol, Nordens Green Farm, Pennybridge & Danesfield Wood are all suffering from low water levels but all are fishing fairly well. At Nordens we have now cleared another three pegs on the far bank and removed some of the weed, we intend to do at least one more peg when time allows. Some of you may have seen the Facebook post regarding Underhill and people not using the toilet that is up the bank on the far side of the island, please use it as it’s not nice for the owners, or any of us, to find human waste around the lake. Also, we have had reports of anglers driving down the side of the lake, no vehicles are allowed anywhere other than in the field area between the lake and the house unless on a work party.
Our recent Family Fishing Weekend held at Pennybridge was a great success with 67 members of the public having a go and everyone caught including one lad who had 45 fish during his session and another who had a nice Perch of around 2lb, and I believe a couple of decent Tench were also netted, oh and everyone loved the Crucians & Gudgeon.
This event took quite some planning so we would like to thank Janet Funnell, Derek & Shirley Blakeway along with all the others who helped in one way or another over the weekend.
As usual we will be doing our 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 2027 point them our way, please.
Our working party teams have been busy over the summer with various jobs, although not much grass cutting has been needed with the very dry summer we have had. The planned work parties 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 are always happy to welcome new volunteers as many hands make light work so, if you could spare some time, please let us know or come to one of the regular work parties for a chat.
Members survey – https://forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAAAAAAAFMUOEH-RhURVFRN0JZTVpFMzBXUzFIQUZVRjRUTjBKMy4u&route=shorturl
We are asking members to follow the above link and answer a few questions to give us an insight into how you fish, where and what for, and what you like and dislike about the club. Many of the questions are multiple choice but some are a little more involved. We really do need this feedback to enable us to plan for the future, so everyone who completes the survey will be entered into a draw to win a free 2027-28 membership. The draw will take place on 13th November so get your survey in by 31st October if you want the chance to win a free membership.
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 welcome your input so do please complete the survey. 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 i.e. pollution incident, 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 2026 Newsletter.
Welcome to the start of another season and what a mix of weather, the driest May on record followed by a definitely not flaming start to June.
Let’s get the gripes out of the way for a start.
We are finding far too much litter at our waters, Scaland Wood in particular and also the gate is being left unlocked and sometimes even wide open, this is not acceptable and we can monitor who comes and goes there. The gate here should always be closed and locked, as it should at all of our waters with the exception of Nordens Green Farm where the gate should be left as you find it please. There is no excuse for litter, you bought it with you so you can take it home, it is that easy.
It is that time of the year again when we start getting reports of bee, hornet & wasp nests, red ants, rats, and we have already had reports of snakes including adders being seen at our waters. When we go out to indulge in our sport/hobby we do so in the countryside where these creatures live and they are all part of the natural world where they play their role in nature. So please be aware of what might be around you and be sensible and safe.
I make no apology for repeating this from last year 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, this includes antisocial behaviour, 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.
Mill House Farm – the issue we had here with water quality appears to be resolved and a few members who have ventured here have reported improved catches this season, including one of two near 3lb Tench being caught during a very short session. We will continue monitoring the water quality and it would be useful if anyone fishing there could let us know how you get on so that we can judge if things are improving as well as we hope they are.
Our 2026 AGM on the 22nd April went well with 39 attendees and the raffle raised £195, which was a good result and meant we made £85 on the night after costs, thank you.
Once again it was nice to see quite a few youngsters attending, and our thanks go to Alex Coutts from the Freshwater Informer for being our Guest of Honour this year.
Matches – as a lot of you are aware the adult matches have not taken place this season as we had no one willing to organise them after Dave Cottington decided it was time to enjoy his fishing rather than organising it for others. We now have someone to take on this role, Dave Arter, and he is willing to organise a few “friendly” matches on our own waters over the next few months. If you would be interested, please contact us, email preferred, and if there is enough interest Dave will start sorting some Saturday dates & venues. These matches will be open to all members but if you would like to fish a female only match then Amber is still willing to organise a match or two, again contact us to let us know of your interest.
Junior matches – these started on Saturday 11th April and are every three weeks until the end of September. 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
We would like to thank Crowborough Tackle for their ongoing support of the junior matches this season. They can be found in Park Lane, TN6 2QN and you can call Jed or Graham on 07930 623359 or check out New Crowborough Tackle on Facebook.
Family weekend – on the 8th & 9th of August we are running a free family fishing weekend at Pennybridge lake in Crowborough so if anyone you know might like to give our sport/hobby a go, point them in our direction. There will be four 1½ hour slots each day and these will be pre-bookable. Attached with this email is a pdf poster which you can print off and display to help us promote this event and we could also do with some volunteers to help with the admin at the event and also to assist with fishing tuition. If you could spare us a few hours, whether that be the whole weekend or just for one session please contact us and we can give you more details of what is required.
As always, we are looking for new committee members and/or people willing to assist with the day-to-day stuff like grass cutting. If you feel you might be interested in getting more involved in the running of the club, get in touch and we can tell you more about 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 do feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.
Best wishes & tight lines on behalf of the CDAA committee.
March 2026 Newsletter
Welcome to the last newsletter of the 2025-26 season.
You will find a renewal form on the reverse of this letter.
If you joined us recently on the “Early-bird” option you do not need to complete the renewal form as your 2026-27 season membership card will be posted out to you in mid-March.
Please continue to support us by re-joining, we do appreciate your continued loyalty to us.
It is ten years since we last increased our subs so we hope you will understand that we have put them up by around 10% this year, but we have removed the additional £2 charge for joining online so it now costs the same however you choose to pay.
Once completed, post the form 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, Crowborough Tackle, Crowborough Shoe Repairs or Mud Pig Baits (Uckfield), or online from 28th February through our website.
Please note the outlets will not have the new season handbooks before February 28th.
Our 2026 AGM will be on Tuesday 21st April at the Crowborough Social Club. The Junior awards will be presented early on in the proceedings, as we did last year, so as they do not have to stay for the whole evening. We are always looking for new faces to join the committee, who currently have an average age of around 60, to bring new ideas. But even if you don’t want to commit to being 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.
This past season the fishing seems to have been better all round, probably due to more favourable weather, and we have had the addition of the new water at Nordens Green Farm. The feeding program at Pennybridge has produced very good results and so we are intending to extend this to Underhill this year. Also, we are looking to undertake stock assessments at several of our waters, as well as the ongoing water quality checks, and this will allow us to make informed decisions on if, where & when we might be able to improve the fishing by adding (or removing) fish to any our waters.
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). Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have, or if you have caught a new “Known best”, the current ones can be found on the water’s pages of the website.
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 bankside during the year.
Best wishes & tight lines on behalf of the CDAA committee.
December 2025 Newsletter.
Welcome to our December 2025 Newsletter
We hope you are all keeping well and looking forward to the Christmas holiday period, and with any luck and some decent weather you will get a chance to grab an hour or two on the bankside.
This year we have rebranded the “Up to 3 months free” memberships and they will become “Early-bird”. This still gives new members up to three months of free fishing on our waters 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 membership will give them access to our varied waters until the end of March 2027!
Current members will have the option to renew their memberships for the 2026-27 season from mid- February 2026, 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! We have increased the prices across the board for the coming season by an average of 10% but this is the first increase in ten years and I am sure you are aware that most things have gone up by far more than that in the past few years and some in the last year alone. We have also removed the £2 surcharge for online purchases so you now pay the same however you choose to join.
We are still getting people who do not supply us with the name(s) of additional members they are signing up and this does cause delays in sending out memberships so please try to give us all the details to save us having to contact you to gain that information please.
Matches - Sadly, we have had to finally call it a day for our match section as no one is willing to run it next season, this is a real shame as the club was first formed because of men, having come home from the second world war, who wanted to go fishing and so organised sea fishing matches which then progressed to freshwater.
Fortunately the junior matches will continue and these may well run alongside “open sessions” where youngsters, and adults, can have some tuition without having the pressure of fishing a match. More details of this will be included in our March newsletter as well as being posted on our website and social media.
If you think you might like to be involved in assisting with the junior matches/open sessions please contact us as we will need helpers, so if you could give up a Saturday morning about every three weeks from April to September, this will help us to encourage the next generation of anglers.
Parking – please remember to park safely and considerately at all of our waters especially during the wetter months as the parking areas can be slippery, particularly at Underhill and Nordens Green Farm. Also, on the subject of Nordens Green Farm, please do not go beyond the parking area as it is private property and a working farm.
Mill House Farm Lake – as many of you are probably aware this has not been fishing well due to high ammonia levels and we will be doing some works over the winter which will hopefully remedy this situation. Earlier in the autumn we allowed water from the stream to flood the lake which saw an immediate improvement in catch rates proving the fish were still there but not feeding due to the poor water quality so we are hoping to install a leaky dam in the stream allowing the lake to flood in a more controlled way when the stream is running high and therefore refresh the water throughout the year.
Underhill Lake – we are looking into supplementary feeding this water in the coming season as this has produced good results at Pennybridge over the past few years and will hopefully do the same here. There have been reports of quite a few Tench being caught this season which is good news as they had all but disappeared seemingly in the past couple of years, probably due to Cormorant predation which the bird scarers and fallen trees will continue to prevent.
Nordens Green Farm – our newest water is becoming very popular and this is no surprise as it is quite an easy water to both access and fish. We will be carrying out some improvements over the next few months which will include rebuilding the toilet surround, clearing the scrub on the north bank and making the slope from the car park to the lake a bit less slippery.
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 for our members on Sidewinder & Canal lakes only, if you wish to fish the other lakes at this venue you need to make prior arrangement with the fishery. New members 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 that are eligible to fish this venue.
We have carried out some stocking of better-quality fish at one water this season and we intend to expand this next year, maybe even this winter. We will wait for reports to see if these fish start appearing in your catches.
This appears in pretty much every newsletter, and we know this is very much the same for every sports club in the country, but 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, and generally keeping an eye on the waters. You would be looking at giving approximately 5 hours a month and we can supply equipment and fuel if required and will certainly reimburse your costs. We also love to have new eyes & ears on the committee as this brings fresh ideas and a younger mind set, the average age of the committee is currently the far side of 65!
Dates for your diary –
Our AGM will be held on Tuesday 21st April 2026 (TBC) at the Social Club
Family weekend to be held on a weekend in August (TBC)
Work party & Junior match dates - see website
Further details will be available on the club website and Facebook page in due course.
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
Finally, as always, please contact us with any news or suggestions you have.
We hope you all have a great Christmas and wish you a healthy and Happy New Year.
From your committee.
Chairmans corner:
Just a few words to thank you all for making this another good year for the Club
A special thank you for our committee members I know how hard they work!
In jest a poem.
Fish poem "Early to bed Early to rise Fish all day Make up lies"
ALL the best Dave S
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.
