nigelhaywood

Just to confirm, Paul really is Paul. Or, if he isn't, he's someone very like him! N

Well, I learnt to cast from Paul's Angling article, and a very good one it was too. I'm besotted with a small Carter Roach reel: am I right in thinking Richard carter isn't making reels any more? My wide Match Aerial is a fearsome beast, but runs for thirty two weeks on one flick of the handle. I like it for barbeling. N

I'm not a fishing reel! But I do have a couple of Ambassadeurs for beachcasting. And very good they are too. There are plenty of people in Newt's list of trades who go coarse fishing. I suspect they just don't send their catches in to the mags. Or perhaps they don't catch much. I know I don't. Nigel

Great link, Paul. And there was the two page article in full. Looks to me that the binding confidentiality agreement is pretty well dead in the water - unless, as in the case of Pope John XXIII in Gibbon, the more scandalous charges were supressed. Still, there we are. Mr Angling. Revered by more than four million. I just wondered if the article was slightly tilted?

If it means meeting up with people like you again, Steve, certainly. Nigel

Couldn't agree more, Paul. I don't care if none of the Committee have ever been on television, if they're all good at doing their job. I guess it's why most Boards of successful PLCs contain no-one you've ever heard of. They tend not to confuse celebrity with ability. Fwiw I've written to Stephen offering my support, having - as you know, Paul - avoided the Organisation since mysteriously finding myself no longer a member of the Council in 1996. I'll spare you the purple prose. Suffice it to say my letter doesn't read like Peter Smith's. I think we should all now put aside whatever Schadenfreude we might feel, and get stuck in in support of the ACA. Which, incidentally, I thought began to lose its way when "cooperative" became "conservation". Nigel