The Canal and River Trust has been one of the leading lights in angling recruitment for many years.
Its particular forte has been in generating of thousands of new anglers and taking them from “have a go” youngsters into regular anglers whose enthusiasm spreads to all who interact with them.
This is no mean feat and is down to the organisation of some incredible events backed up by serious coaching and finance. One of its headline events that has grown year on year is the National Celebration.
Held every year on the third weekend of September, this event is the UK’s largest National Celebration of Young Peoples’ fishing and C&RT’s aim is to make sure participants have a fun day, land a few fish, learn something new, meet new friends and end up being inspired to come back to our waterways time and time again.
The success of the 2022 National Celebration event has resulted in the best registration figures yet for 2023 with 97 entrants in the first two weeks. Latest figures as of the end of April are 123, which is on track for the first 400 peg junior event for nearly 20 years.
The National Celebration caters for juniors of all ages and there are several age-based categories. Cadets (**7 to 10yrs); Young juniors (aged 11 and 12yrs); Full juniors (aged 13 to 15yrs) and Youth (aged 16 to 20yrs). All age groups are as of the day of the respective event. **6 years olds many participate if they have an elder sibling also participating
Everyone who participates in the National Celebration event takes home a medal or trophy, a goody bag and special event certificate. In addition, those skilful enough to land a gudgeon will get one of the coveted C&RT special 2023 edition gudgeon mugs.
Winning a special prize or being crowned champion would of course be a dream come true, but taking part in this unique occasion is something that every young person aged between 7 and 20 is now able to do. Let’s Fish! is there to help each and every on along their journey to the celebration.
As part of their sponsorship package, ATA member Daiwa will be filming the Cheshire West & Wales regional celebration, so if any of your kids love the cameras and want their 15 minutes of fame get them booked. There are just 25 places left: Daiwa Let’s Fish! Regional Celebration – N.Wales & Cheshire.West- 22/07/23 Tickets, Sat 22 Jul 2023 at 09:30 | Eventbrite
If you or your customers know of any interested parties, bookings can be made via the following link The National Celebration of Young People and Fishing 2023 | Canal & River Trust (canalrivertrust.org.uk)
Contact: Mark.Parry@canalrivertrust.org.uk