Letter of Thanks To MTSFC
MESH held our monthly bush craft event at Jacklands Fishing Lakes Tickenham on Friday the 14th of July 2023 courtesy of the MTSFC. The day started with a briefing given by Rob Collins who is the Branch chairman of the Somerset Branch of The Masonic Fishing Charity and who was in charge of his fantastic team from the MTSFC.
A bag of gizzits was issued to all fishermen, including safety goggles and a good old rain mac, and we wasted no time in getting to the banks for a tremendous days fishing. It turned out that most of the team who were running the day for us were military veterans so we wasted no time in forming new bonds and fresh friendships, and also taking the mick out of each other, a military staple.
We all stopped for a spot of lunch provided by the Lakeside café and paid for by the MTSFC. During the lunch break challenges were made and the competition was on to catch the biggest game fish or the day. That award went to Ferral by who was only just in front by about 10 grams.
The afternoon was much the same as the morning with anglers swapping between coarse fishing and fly fishing, Taff also ventured onto the big boy’s lake but was soon back with his tail between his legs, probably the weather?? Yes, definitely the weather! Although the wind and rain decided to pay a visit it was given a stiff ignoring and we caught loads of fish and smiles
The fishing part of the day was soon over, much to Rob “Just one more Fish” Killingsworth’s dismay. So we moved onto the obligatory grab and grin awards ceremony in order for us to say thank you to the team from MTSFC and give them a little gizzit to remember the occasion.
This was attended by their APGM Richard Winter a veteran himself, we soon headed back to base camp for the bush craft part of the weekend to show off our skills at fish preparation and how to cook on an open fire without any kind of pan or container using only 1 stick of hazel and a sharp knife. I feel that if we do this event in the future we should do this part by the lakeside with the hosting team to pass on some of our skills to them.
A great thank you is in order to Rob Collins and the team from MTSFC who laid on a fantastic event for us, new skills were learned and new friendships have been made, and a promise to repeat this at some stage in the future.
