Chairman

ATA Chairman Andrew race has been involved in the angling industry for over 30 years.

A lifelong angler, Andrew began fishing with his grandfather at an early age and quickly became involved with the junior match angling scene in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s competing in several All England Junior National events.

A keen hockey player, antique tackle authority and one time racing driver, Andrew has settled on angling as his main hobby with fly fishing now replacing the shooting and match angling of past seasons.

Having completed a three year HND in fish farming and fisheries management, Andrew entered the angling industry 1989 working at Reuben Heaton. Now managing director and owner of Reuben Heaton Ltd, he has expanded the product range and developed the Reuben Heaton into the well respected heritage brand we see today. A member of the ATA for many years and a board member since 2014, Andrew took up the mantle of Chairman in April 2020.

Vice Chairman

Martin Greene has been involved in the Angling Industry for over 25 years and currently Commercial Manager of Daiwa Sports UK and has been with the Company for 18 years.

After getting into the Sport through the guidance of his Grandfather Martin quickly fell in love with the competitive side of the Sport. By the age of 15 he was a member of the England Youth team and competed at two World Championship’s and also captained the Milton Keynes Junior side to National Champions.

After taking a break from fishing whilst studying for a HND in Product Design, after graduating he then settled into a management role for Fashion retail empire Arcadia. Martin soon got back into fishing again and decided on a career move into fishing and worked for several high profile retailers through the early part of the 2000’s before going out on the road as territory sales manager for Leeda. During this period Martin was back fishing at the highest level in both the UK and European circuit and winning matches on the open circuit plus once again being part of a National Championship side with Starlets A.C. His love has always been for team fishing and the ‘work ethic’ that goes with it. Whether it be in business or on the bank Martin takes his passion for both incredibly seriously.

In 2005 he joined Daiwa Sports UK and spent 11 years as an account manager looking after some of the UK’s biggest fishing retailers. By using his strong business skills and angling retail experience Martin has an incredibly strong backdrop of business relationships across not just the UK domestic market but also European wide. His passion for the trade and sport comes across like a natural ability but this individual has worked incredibly hard to continue to learn about new parts of the Angling Industry.

Director

An experienced marketer gained over 30 years firstly in Health & Beauty Retail followed by  Opticians retail, Daryl brings a broad range of skills and knowledge to the ATA.

Passionate about the team environment with a strong emphasis on customer focus Daryl moved into the industry in 2011 where his first passion lay – fishing, initially as marketing manager for Dynamite through to his current position as Joint MD of Rapala VMC UK.

Daryl is a results driven and creative dedicated individual and thrives on getting things done.

Coming from a total non-fishing family, Daryl’s very early passion for water and fishing was a little surprising but over the years has been firmly embedded. Self-taught from an early age through books and a lot of trial and error, Daryl now enjoys nothing more than being waist deep in the Trent, Wye or Severn trotting a stick for barbel and chub or flyfishing for trout and carp, or throwing some lures for perch or pike. With much of his spare time dedicated to showing his two sons how to fish – there is always an excuse to get bankside.

With a good knowledge of retail, consumers, events and design, Daryl is committed to help make a positive difference to the fishing industry moving forward.

Director

Joe Sheehan has been with Bauer Media for 16 years, working across a variety of markets and specialising in print, digital and event marketing. He is currently Commercial Manager for the Outdoor portfolio, which includes Angling Times, Improve Your Coarse Fishing and The Big One Show.

Director

Mel Bagnall began his journalistic career as a reporter on Angling Times before becoming editor of Sea Angler and Sporting Gun magazines. He was Launch Editor of the weekly football magazine, MATCH, and remained there for 10 years before becoming publisher across a number of other markets including walking and running.

He returned to angling in 1990 to take on overall publishing responsibility for six magazines and their websites, plus the Go Fishing Show at the NEC.

He won awards for reporting and editing and in 2003 was named Publisher of the Year for his work on the angling portfolio at EMAP. Angling Times also won the Magazine of the Year award.

A flawed decision to take early retirement ended after three months when he became Launch Editor of industry magazine Angling International in 2007, having attended every ICAST and EFTTEX show since 2008. He is a long-time member of the ATA Board after first being elected in the early Nineties.

He was an avid footballer from the moment he could walk and played competitively until his mid-forties. Playing at West Ham’s Upton Park and Peterborough United’s London Road grounds stand out in the memory. He has been a season ticket holder at Port Vale since 1990.

Mel began fishing as a small boy, cycling to the local Fenland drains to catch tench and bream among the lily pads. He remains a keen angler, with a preference for tench (personal best 8lb 14oz) rudd and perch fishing.

Director

Pat MacInnes is the Marketing Manager for Leeda, one of the UK’s largest and most forward-thinking fishing tackle companies.

Pat is also a hugely experienced photographer specialising in outdoor sports photography and videography, product photography and corporate identity, with strong editorial knowledge and skills.

Director

Ross Honey’s expertise is in International event management, moving into the global arena. His skills include creative vision, planning, marketing, and social media through to event completion.

Ross is a fully qualified commercial captain and uses his boats for a full range of activities including product testing for global brands, film production, corporate entertainment. He has a wealth of knowledge he uses to create fresh angling competitions globally.

Ross brings energy, new ideas and a wealth of experience to the creative table, together with an entrepreneurial caring character.

Media Lead

A journalist all his working life, John has spent the last 25-plus years serving the tackle trade, working on consumer and trade publications, organising events and, more recently, handling the media for a number of influential brands, including acting as media lead for the ATA.

A lifelong angler – originally learning his coarse fishing skills on the River Thames before moving onto carp fishing and, latterly, fly fishing on rivers and sreams – he began his journalistic career on local newspapers, working his way up the ranks to become an editor at still quite a young age.

At this point John switched to magazines to combine his writing and fishing passions and joined David Hall Publishing. Here he edited a general coarse title before moving onto carp magazines, setting the group’s house style and then taking on the editor’s role with industry ‘Bible‘ Tackle & Guns, helping found and run its associated trade show and even found time to launch global sister publication Tackle Trade World.

After more than 20 years with DHP, back in 2017 he left to set up his own PR/marketing/events consultancy, HunterMedia, working with a string of well-known outdoor industry brands as well as organising the fishing village at The Game Fair; something that has now come full circle with major ATA involvement.

He has spent the past two years on the Executive Work Group as a media advisor and acts as media lead for the ATA as a whole, helping keep the website up to date as well as providing general editorial and social media consultancy for ATA, National Fishing Month and Take A Friend Fishing.

Honorary Member

Dr Bruno Broughton is an independent, highly experienced fisheries management consultant who operates throughout the UK and in parts of western Europe. Through his advisory work spanning 36 years Bruno has undertaken assignments for some 2,300 clients.

In various roles, Bruno also served the Angling Trades Association and its (former) sister organisation, the Angling Foundation, for a continuous period of 31 years. Before standing down in 2018, he worked for a decade in a part-time capacity as ATA Chief Executive.

His duties included: formulating and organising various national environmental initiatives; defending angling during attacks by anti-angling groups and when threatened by Government legislation; and planning and implementing youth-orientated recruitment programmes, as well as the ‘Take A Friend Fishing’, ‘Give Angling A Go’, ‘Get Into Angling’ and ‘National Fishing Month’ campaigns. He is a previous Chairman of the Federation of Sports & Play Associations.

Bruno is an avid specialist coarse angler, preferring to fish at quiet, picturesque venues. He has catholic musical tastes, usually attending about 30 live ‘gigs’ a year, is an able gardener and a keen cook.

Honorary Member

Lifetime pleasure angler, Rolling Stones fan and Rugby Union enthusiast, Mike Heylin has been a devotee of the angling cause throughout his life.

Alongside an extensive business background in the power tools industry, Mike has amassed many years in a consultative capacity both in business and angling sectors.

A lifetime of experience across Europe in sales, marketing, product development, trade exhibitions and even a stint in the computer security business, has put him in good stead for a role in European angling.

“Having been active in an international trade association in my Robert Bosch days I know the value of sharing information across companies”. “The ATA has an important role to play in developing the market for fishing tackle – working with its members to do so. I am excited by that challenge”.

An angling club secretary over 20 years, Mike has been involved with many pivotal groups within angling including Specialist Anglers Conservation Group, Specialist Anglers Alliance, Canal & River Trust Fisheries and Angling Advisory Group and European Anglers Alliance to name a few.

Past chairman of British Record (Rod Caught) Fish Committee and Angling Trust Committee, Mike is a member Fish Legal and a qualified L2 Angling Coach.

Honorary Member

Robin Morley has been involved in the angling industry for over 35 years having recently retired in April 2023 as Managing Director of Daiwa Sports UK after working for the Company for more than 32 years starting as a salesman in 1990.

Robin has been a lifelong angler having luckily experienced many different disciplines of angling all around the World however his main passion is match fishing having competed at the highest level (albeit over 20 years ago) winning numerous matches and being part of the successful Daiwa Dorking Team in the 1990’s.

Robin has been actively involved with the ATA as a Director for over 25 years and prior to retirement from Daiwa was the EFTTA (European Fishing Tackle Trade Association) President for 8 years.