Regional Structure

Angling Trust’s great strength is in its numbers. Our membership is not only the foundation of our political influence and the source of most of our income, but it is also the driving force behind the campaigns and policies of the organisation. As a membership organisation, it is vital that we are able to let our members know what we have been doing, what we plan to do and, most importantly, to find out what you want us to do at a regional and national level.

We need a structure that leads to action, not talking shops; that is relevant to our members’ interests; that lets volunteers know how they can help; and that allows us to engage at a regional level with decision makers. This structure has taken too long to be established and we are very keen to clear up any uncertainty now so that our members understand what meetings are available to them to share ideas and to find out what the Trust has been doing for them.

There are four key strands to our proposed structure: Marine Regions; Freshwater Regional Forums; County Angling Action Groups; Competitions.

Marine Regions

The AT Marine Regions have been based largely on the old NFSA Divisions, which are defined loosely by the boundaries of the new Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities. The Chairmen of each Marine Region is represented on the national Marine Committee which advises the AT Board on marine policy and competitions. A sub-group of the Committee is meeting shortly to appoint a Marine Technical Advisory Group to provide expert input to conservation policy. Some of the Regions had historically become inactive and we are looking for volunteers to help set up new groups. If you would like to get involved in these Regions please get in touch with those volunteers; if you could spare the time to help revitalise inactive regions, then please contact us. A model of AT Marine Regional Rules is available for download at the bottom of this page.

Freshwater Regional Forums

Formation of a network of Freshwater Regions is still very much a work in progress. Midlands, Thames and South West have all been established, but the planned inaugural meeting in the North West had to be cancelled because of intractable differences between key participants about the procedures for voting in the draft constitution. A new meeting will be set up in the summer to finalise arrangements in this Region, with a constitution which will be standard to all our Freshwater Regions. We are looking for volunteers who would be willing to chair and organise Regions in the North East, Yorkshire, East Anglia, South East and Southern Regions.

The Chairmen of each Region will be represented on a national Freshwater Committee which will advise the AT Board on issues relating to policy, with additional expert advice from a Freshwater Technical Advisory Panel which has already been established. Specialist angling groups with an interest in particular fish species meet up at a national level through the Specialist Angling Group, which is also represented on the Freshwater Committee.

Many clubs are represented at Regional Forums through their local fisheries consultative. If you run a consultative Angling Trust is happy to show meeting details for the future on its website, to encourage attendance by more anglers.

County Angling Action Groups

Our sister organisation, the Angling Development Board, is funded by Sport England to set up groups at a county level to secure funds to increase coarse, sea and game angling participation. In the past year, 23 of these groups have been set up, involving member clubs, fisheries and coaches who are interested in projects with this aim. These groups are focussed specifically on angling development. See page 8 for more details.

Competitions

Coarse angling is managed by a team who assist Sandra Drew, the Competitions and Events Manager, in the running of all our national and international competitions. Sea angling competitions are overseen and managed by the Marine Regions and the Marine Committee. Game angling competitions are managed by the Confederation of English Fly-Fishers and its constituent bodies. Our aim is to set up a national Competitions and Performance Committee to link all three disciplines into a single strategy and brand. This will help us secure sponsorship and if possible government funding to support competition angling at national and international level.

Get involved!

All our members are welcome at these meetings, details of which will be flagged up in our e-updates and posted on the Noticeboard section of our web site. It helps if you let the Secretary of the meeting know that you are planning to attend. If you don’t have the time or inclination to attend meetings, then please join our online discussions on the official Angling Trust Forum on our web site which has been kindly set up by Carl Hoyle, one of our volunteer members.