Faye's Charity Match - Monk Lakes

Well today was the day that so many members of Maggotdrowning.com were waiting for.

A while ago a young lady called Faye asked the members for help in coming up with an idea for a present for her Dad for Christmas. Faye suffers from an awful illness that keeps her more or less bedridden so as is the way with Maggotdrowning.com not only did some ideas come forward but a collection was made and some lovely items of tackle purchased and delivered. Faye was delighted by the members generosity.

it was decided that a charity match would be held to raise money for Fayes favourite charity, postpals, which helps people in a similar situation to Faye.

27 brave souls arrived at Monk Lakes not only looking forward to the match but also eagerly awaiting the arrival of Faye who was maiking a special visit to say thankyou.

As many of you know I always have a £1 side bet with Peter Morton and as luck would have we drew next to each other so it would be easy to see how he was getting on.

Well what a day!!

First and foremost, a huge thankyou to all the Maggotdrowners who came along, as well as those who supported from afar, to help such a wonderful young lady. Faye truly is an inspriration to us all, despite her illness she was desperate to come along today and show her thanks for what this great online family of ours is doing for her. She never stopped smiling the whole time she was with us and certainly brightened up my day even though the fishing where I was was hard. It was lovely to see her get involved at the recording the weights from her wheelchair, she clearly enjoyed doing it.

Liz (Faye's mum), how you managed to get through today without bursting in to tears is a mystery to me, you have a beautiful daughter who you must be very, very proud of. Dave your speech at the presentation brought a lump to my throat and I'm not ashamed to admit, a tear to my eyes. As the above shows, today had a profound effect on me and the memories will live with me for a very long time.T

he fishing for me was today was hard, not helped by the fact that as I said earlier I'd managed to draw next to Mugger Morton on a day that I really wanted to beat him. It certainly added some extra pressure.

Needless to say I lost another £1 + a fiver I promised to the kitty if I didn't beat him. Things looked good for a while with 3 carp in quick succession then it all went t*ts up, and while I sat looking a a motionless tip or pole float Peter was slowly nicking Barbel on the maggot feeder. (Guess who didn't bother to take any maggots today). At the weigh in it was clear I'd had a mare, only weighing 13lbs 8ozs. Peter had easily beaten me with 25lbs 4ozs.

The match winner was Al with just over 94lbs.

The amount money raised was superb and when the final total is in it will be well over £700, a marvellous effort.