2018 Newsletter & AGM

STOKE-ON-TRENT ANGLING SOCIETY

2018 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - MINUTES

Thursday 8th November 2018

Roll Call. There were 40 Members present with John Davey in the Chair
Apologies. These were received from Albert Perkins, Andy Freeman and Steve Reed
Minutes of the 2017 Annual General Meeting. These were accepted as read and approved by Roy Bailey and John Triner
Matters Arising. There were no matters arising from these minutes
Chairman's Report. The Chairman gave his annual report. A copy of the Report is published on the Society's web site
Treasurer's Report and Statement of Accounts. The Treasurer reported that the Balance Sheet showed an excess of Expenditure over Income of £3,684. Copies of the audited accounts were distributed and an explanation of the Balance Sheet was given. Mick Hann stated that the main reason for the deficit was a shortfall in the number of membership renewals for Astbury as evidenced by the reduction in the number of night permits sold. The members accepted the Balance Sheet
Auditor's Report and Reappointment of Auditors; Paul Austen Associates. The Chairman read the report from our Auditors to the meeting. The Chairman then asked the meeting for agreement to appoint the above auditors for the coming year. This was passed unanimously.
Election of Officers.The Secretary gave details of the officers who were up for re-election. All were unanimously elected to serve the Society as nominated.
Notices of Motion. There were no notices of motion
10Subscriptions for 2019 The Committee proposed and seconded that there would be no increase in subscriptions for 2019. Subscriptions to be as follows :a) Senior subscription 22 to 64 years of age on 1 January 2019 to be £65. :b) Senior Citizen/Disabled to be £40. :c) Juvenile subscription 12 to 16 years of age on 1 January 2019 to be £1. :d) Intermediate subscription 17 to 18 years of age on 1 January 2019 to be £20. :e) Intermediate subscription 19 to 21 years of age on 1 January 2019 to be £40. :f) Ladies to be £40 in an attempt to increase the number of female members. :g) Night Permit to be £50 to include Astbury, River Dove and Challinors Pool :h) Non-Fishing Guest Permit £10 for a named individual. The subscriptions were passed unanimously by the members present.
Approval of Match Calendar The proposed match calendar was agreed unanimously by the members present. The AGM closed at 8.55pm and a question and answer session then followed the AGM

Question and Answer Session

Where is Challinor’s Pool ? Details will be included in the 2019 membership ticket
Fishing at Challinor’s Pool has been reported to be very hard?A netting will take place and if the stocking is not right then this will be addressed. It will become a mixed fishery and members were asked not to judge the pool too early but to judge it at the next AGM
Night fishing on the River Dove will now be £50. Is this fair ?This will be up to individual members to decide
What is happening at the car park at Stanley Pool by the Sailing Club since is not considered to be safe parking since a bonfire had been held there ?This will be resolved
What is happeningabout the cormorants on Stanley Pool? Geoff Beckett has applied for a shooting licence
Will the combination lock number at North Road appear in the 2019 membership ticket ? Details will be included in the 2019 membership ticket
To increase income has the Committee considered introducing a 6 month ticket ? This has been trialled previously but membership did not increase
How can members change rules ? A notice of motion needs to be submitted 14 days prior to the AGM and this will then be put to a vote at the AGM

John Davey gave a brief update on Stanley Pool – he reported that work is still planned for CRT to carry out repairs to the Bagnall wall and that CRT have promised to cut the hedgerow along the shallows . He added that some modifications will take place to the platforms at no cost to the Society

CHAIRMANS REPORT 2018

Good evening and welcome to the 2018 AGM. I hope you have all had a good year and have been enjoying your fishing.

It’s been a challenging year for the Society with the weather doing its best to spoil our fishing in 2018. We had the beast from the east with arctic blasts resulting in anglers not venturing out ,Spring arrived and gave us some hope .Summer followed with record temperatures and low water levels in our reservoirs, Stillwaters, and even worse in our Rivers. Autumn arrived and conditions improved, resulting in a more productive period.

The changes we made to allow people to join online have proved to be a success with many people using this facility Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to promote our Society. We all have a part to play in promoting the Society, so please all continue with the excellent work you have done this year.

Astbury Water Park– Astbury continues to improve and the money we have invested in fish stocks is resulting in some great catches, creating segregation from the public in the fishing areas is proving to be a success, However more work needs to be done on other areas of the water .

River Dove– All our sections of the Dove have fished well this season with members having excellent catches of chub, barbel, trout and grayling. It is very nice to see more members enjoying the river.

Stanley Pool– All members who have fished Stanley this year have seen the improvements made to the fishery, with more bream being introduced and the increase in perch and roach stocks, have resulted in some great catches ,The fishing platforms along with all the hard work on the footpaths have completely transformed the fishery.

Rode Pool- Rode Pool. We have seen improvements this year on the fishing front following the removal of the net across the lake , A lot of work has been done on the fishing pegs and other areas of the pool.

River Sow- We don’t get much feedback about the Sow, work needs to be done on clearing some fallen trees and this will be done early 2019 .

Blithfield- Members have enjoyed fishing Blithfield this year, the new system has worked very well , also the river has fished well with some excellent catches of chub and dace, we are planning on improving the fishing pegs ready for 2019

North Road- Continues to improve each year a lot of improvements have been made this year and will continue in 2019. The introduction of the tench have gone down well with the membership with some excellent catches, We have a very large fallen tree by island and this will be removed as soon as possible.

Woore Fruit Farm- We have seen improvements this year on fish catches and will continue to monitor the water over the next twelve months

General Rule Changes- River Dove. We have now decided to allow night fishing on the river, which will be controlled with the introduction of a night permit.

No coarse anglers allowed on the river during the close season.

Trout Fly fishing allowed from 18thMarch to 7th October 2019 All members can now fish the river from the 16ThJune 2019 we have now scrapped the work party rule.

Please note no visiting the river prior to the start of the season

Fishing sessions from first light to 12.30am all anglers must be off the farm land by 1.00am for non night permit holders

Strictly no camping on the banks between sessions

Failure to comply with club rules or behaving in an inappropriate manner will result in loss of membership.

Juvenile Fishing- We will continue with a cheap ticket with the view of attracting more juveniles , Special rules will apply ie child protection, fishing in the same peg with an adult , 3 rods max per peg we will also be working with CRT on some Lets Fish events for juveniles during 2019

Well this is the time of year when I can publicly thank people for all there hard work, once again Mick Hann ,Tony Burt, Geoff Becket.

The committee for all their contributions, Brian Banks and his team , Jim Thomas at Trentside Angling , John Triner for all his hard work on Rode Pool .And now a special thank you to all the A B C work party teams who have worked tremendously well on all club projects this year, its been hard work but we have also had some laughs . and the last person to thank is Mark Berrisford for all his hard work.

Well I nearly forgot some good news to mention we have a new water called Challinors Pool at Cellarhead with time and hard work i'm sure it will become a members favourite.

Well that’s it for another year, 25 years as Chairman Mr. John Davey Chairman.

Astbury Manager 2018 Report

First of all, I would like to thank the work party team for their outstanding hard work throughout the year. On the fishing front, there has been some fantastic catches reported. We had Catfish to 40lb, Grass Carp to 34lb, a Mirror Carp of 38lb, large Bream to 14lb and Pike to 24lb.

The stock fish are piling on weight; a carp caught recently at 31lb was stocked in 2015 at 17lb. The work has just been completed to the North East and North West corners of the Mere and planted with saplings to keep out the general public.

Overall it has been another exceptional year for the society.

Mr. Brian Banks Astbury Manager.