The second Fishing buddies event was fished on Wednesday 22nd July at Rookery Waters fishery on Magpie lake and I must thank Richard Arnold of Wrenbridge Sport & Martin Crook of M & M plumbing & heating for supporting the event. The event was very successful with all those attending having a great day and some catching large numbers of fish whilst others had personal bests after starting fishing again after 20 years.

The aim of the events are simple- to improve mental health, reduce stress and isolation and create new friendship. Fishing buddies provides the opportunity to have a day out and chat with new people. There are a few other people I must thank for making these events so successful firstly Chris Mann at Radio Cambridgeshire who kindly interviewed me in the radio studio when fishing buddies was first announced and I have been told by some of the anglers that interview is what inspired them to sign up,

The second person to thank is Dan Mason of Hits Radio who came along to Rookery waters this week and took some video and did a few interviews, One of the anglers spoke about his journey through life and it has gone viral with the interview appearing in several papers and on social media platforms. The power of this interview has already attracted more enquiries for future events.

I must also thank everyone at Rookery Waters who always continue to support the charity events I stage it would be impossible to run these events without the support of the venues and special thanks to Becky and her team for serving up a great lunch for all those who came along. 

Thanks also to Paul Birch who has come along to both events to help set things up on the day for the lunch. If you are interested in signing up to Fishing Buddies please contact Graham Saint at the Cambridge United Foundation his email is [email protected] or you can email Ian Darler on [email protected].

The next event is on Wednesday August 26th at Rookery Waters . The events are non-competitive and all standards of anglers are welcome but those interested must book through Graham Saint. Photos of some of the anglers having a great day out.

Watch the slideshow below to see the photographs

As most of you will be aware over the past two years, I have been set the BIG FISH OFF challenge to catch 200lb of fish in 10 hours.

The previous events have currently raised 15.5k for local charities and the 2026 BIG FISH OFF is scheduled for Thursday 16th July 2026 and we are hoping companies and contacts that we have will be able to support the event again this year with a donation of some kind.

The charities that will benefit from this event are E.A.C.H , The Cambridge Acorn Project, CPSL Mind & Cambridge United Foundation.
 
Our target figure this year is 10k if you are able to support this event in any way I would be very grateful.
 
Please see the attached details relating to the event and donation link
https://cufoundation.enthuse.com/cf/big-fish-off-2026