Welcome to a new season with our association. I hope you have a successful angling experience in the forth coming year and enjoy the various types of fishing on our waters.

The last 12 months have witnessed unprecedented changes at Poppy Hill lakes due to the threat of Otter predation at the fishery. Having to address the devastating impact Otters can inflict on fish stocks, it became obvious that the only avenue open to us to prevent the destruction of our fish stocks was to erect an Otter fence around the property. This has been a mammoth undertaking and the most expensive outlay that the club has had to commit to since its inception in 1952, and that includes the purchase of the fishery back in 1978!
Because of the fantastic effort by a relatively small number of volunteers we have managed to keep the costs under control and almost within the predicted budget. There has been in excess of 2000 hours of voluntary work carried out by the general membership, committee and officers of the association. Without the generosity of these volunteers we would certainly not have completed the project anywhere near the budget or on time. My most sincere thanks go out to these people, several of whom have selflessly donated over 150 hours of their free time to assist in the project.
The downside is that only 32 members have attended the work parties, some for only one or two sessions, but at least they made the effort to put a little back into the club.
So this might be the spur that other members need to join in and attend the next session of work party being organised over the next six months. I would urge you to give it a go, you might even enjoy it!

As usual I would like to thank the members of the GPC for all their help running the club. The fisheries management team for their effort and hard work maintaining our fisheries and the bailiffs who give up their time to enforce the rules of the club, protect the fish stocks, and preserve the fisheries for you.

I will close on a most serious note. We have spent tens of thousands of pounds on installing the otter fence to protect YOUR fishery, and ultimately YOUR fish. Please report any sight of Otters, incidents of fence damage and most of all anglers being lazy and leaving gates open. Please be aware that anyone caught leaving a gate open, for any reason will be banned from the association for life.

I hope you all enjoy the forthcoming season. Good luck and tight lines to all.
Paul Dalrymple
Chairman