Help save the UK's unluckiest fishing club

Can you help save the UK’s unluckiest fishing club?

That’s the call going out to fishery owners and angling associations this week after a Leicestershire-based outfit revealed that it is facing the prospect of closure following a run of natural disasters at its three lakes.

The club, B. Marco AC, has three lakes at Sewstern Gullet, near Melton Mowbray, and suffered its first major blow 12 months ago when prolonged droughts forced its waters to dry up and stocks to perish. Soon after restocking in November 2012, the fishery was then hit by severe flooding, which saw fish carried away across surrounding fields. Now, with no more club funds remaining, it could be forced to disband and give up its lakes - unless a donation of new fish can be found.

Club member Leslie Potter said: “It would be a tragedy to have to close. We’ve been going almost 40 years, and the fishing used to be superb. We just hope somebody, somewhere might have a load of unwanted silverfish to kindly get our lakes going again.”

Following the floods late last year, head bailiff John Barnes held a whip round and even donated £1,000 of his own money to purchase new stocks.

“We put in 200 carp, 100 tench and 100 crucian carp - it was nothing really over three ponds but it got us fishing again. Then a couple of weeks later we had loads of rain, the nearby dyke flooded, water came pouring into the lakes which spilt out into the fields. We found stranded, dead fish up to a mile away, and some probably ended up in the Witham. We were left with about 20 carp and so now we’d be grateful of any donation of fish at all,” he said.

*Can you help the club by donating fish stocks? Please call Les directly on 07979 012396.