THE STORY BEHIND FISH 4 KIDZ

(DREAMS CAN COME TRUE)

 

Fish 4 Kidz came about from an idea by Steve Frost.

 

Steve is the Secretary for the Eastbourne Nomads Angling Club, in 2011 he started to notice a decline in junior (under 16's) memberships, not just in the Nomads, but also in the other beach fishing clubs in and around Eastbourne. There was also a decline in junior attendance in open beach competitions.

To give you an example, in 2011, The Anglers Den had their open in March, they only had a couple of juniors enter, Tony's Tackle open was in November, no juniors entered, and the Nomads had their Christmas open in December, again there was no juniors entered.

 

Steve had been toying with the idea of a special day for juniors for a little while, he decided it was time to do something about it. He mentioned the idea to a few people, everyone said it was a good idea.

 

When Steve mentioned his idea to Kevin & Glyn Morgan at the Anglers Den, they said it was a brilliant idea, and because they had held something similar about 8 years ago, they would give their advice and help, as and when it was needed.

Steve then designed the "Fish 4 Kidz" logo. Kevin & Glyn helped Steve with ideas for this event. A date was worked out.

 

The first ever "Fish 4 Kidz" event was to be held on......Sunday 25th March.

 

When Steve first thought of the idea, he was thinking of a dozen or so kidz and a couple of anglers, but he sensed that his idea could be BIGGER.

He approached the Eastbourne Angling Association, they said that their facilities could be used for this event.

Then Tony Kirrage of Tony's Tackle & Arran Aghili of A & T Tackle (Eastbourne Pier) came in to help.

Steve Frost & Kevin Morgan went to see Stephen Lloyd (Eastbourne MP), Stephen was very interested and eager to help.

Stephen Holt (Stephen Lloyd's P.A.) sent Emails to all the Eastbourne schools with a copy of the poster. Some schools put the poster on their notice boards, while others put it in their Newsletters.

After a short wait, some bookings started to trickle into the tackle shops.

 

Steve then started to ask businesses for their help with donations;

Booker (Eastbourne) didn't need asking twice, they donated a load of soft drinks.

Sean Tester (a member of the Nomads who works for Walkers Crisps) asked his bosses if Walkers would like to help, they did, with a huge donation of boxes of Crisps.

This meant that every child had something to eat and drink whilst on the beach.

 

Glyn Morgan spoke to "Pure Fishing", they said that they would love to donate prizes for all the children, they gave 5 rod & reel sets for the 5 to 9 year category, 5 reels for the 10 to 12 year category and 5 rods for the 13 to 16 year category, they also donated smaller gifts for every child that entered.

 

Steve then sent an email to Barney Wright from "Total Sea Fishing" magazine, he received an immediate reply, it read "Great idea Steve, simple reply, Total Sea Fishing will be there".

 

Steve spoke to many more people about different ideas, almost everyone wanted to get involved and help. Including Steve Domsalla, of "Domsalla Building Services Ltd", Steve donated a flag, it was printed by "Nima Printers".

 

People seemed to be queueing up to help in different ways; digging bait, making rigs and Stewards.

 

It was taking shape, Steve may have been snowed under with paperwork, but bookings were starting to come in.

 

A pre-event photo shoot was arranged with the Eastbourne Herald, and with the help from Stephen Holt a Press Release was prepared.

 

After a lot of hard work, everything was arranged.

 

From a small idea that Steve Frost came up with.....................

 

................................FISH 4 KIDZ was born................................