Plough Angling Club Minutes

Meeting: 18^th August 2026

In Attendance and Apologies

Present: L Teale; J Blackwell; J Rolf; C Judkins; B Sutton; D Dance; T Warncken; J Pike; N Ponting; P Wilson; A Earl; R Stone

Minutes:  L Teale

Actions from Previous Meeting

None outstanding.

Club Welfare Officer’s Report

• Our Club Welfare Officer is Richard Stone (mob. 07551 031857; rstone0311@yahoo.com.)
• The Club’s welfare policy is available on our website (www.ploughangling.org.uk/safeguarding/)
• No issues were reported this past month.
• New guidance has been issued by the Angling Trust regarding the safeguarding of children. This will be looked at to assess its applicability to our Club.

Sea Secretary’s Report

• The next sea date is the annual 3-day event:  14 to 16 September 2026, sailing from Weymouth.
• The sailings for 2027 will be midweek (apart form one Sunday sailing).
• Contact Chris Judkins if you would like to be involved in the Sea Fishing Group.

Match Secretary’s Report

• Three matches have been fished since the last meeting. Full results are published on our website.
• The third leg of the Jon Blackwell Trophy was fished at Plough Pond on Friday 31^st July, with 7 Members attending. The match was won by Leslie Teale with 24lb 8oz of bream (12 fish). In second place was Jim Pike with 17lb 0oz of bream (7 fish) and perch. In third place was Des Hurst with 7lb 1oz, which included a 7lb 0oz mirror carp. The trophy was won by Leslie Teale.
• The fourth leg of the Plough Angler of the Year Trophy was fished at Buscot Park on Sunday 2^nd August, with 8 Members attending. The match was won by Danny Dance with 23lb 14oz, which included a 11lb mirror carp. In second place was Terry Warncken with 14lb 04oz (2 carp). In third place was Nick Ponting with 13lb 2oz.
• The Colin Rice Trophy was fished at Plough Pond on Sunday 16^th August, with 10 Members attending. The match was won by Nick Ponting with 3lb 13oz, which included 3 tench. In second place was Jim Pike with 2lb 4½oz. In third place was Barry Sutton with 2lb 4oz, which included a 1lb 12oz tench.
• The next match is the second leg of the Gerald Sedgewick Memorial Trophy. This match will be fished at Plough Pond on Sunday 23^rd August. The draw will take place at 07:00, fish 08:00 – 13:00.
• The Team Match against Wantage & Grove AC is now scheduled to take place on Sunday 15^th November 2026 at Grove Pond.
• If you would like to fish any of the matches, then please book in with Danny. He will not be chasing you in future. If Pegs are limited and you haven’t booked in, then you might be disappointed.

Treasurer’s Report

• Refer to printed minutes.

Secretary’s Report

• Plough Pond Water Testing:

Water quality testing was carried out on 17^th August. Nitrite; Nitrate; Phosphate and Ammonia were all below detectable limits (0 ppm). Dissolved oxygen measured between 28.5% (Peg 16) and 60.6% (Peg 1). Water temperature was between 22.2^oC (Peg 10) and 22.8^oC (Peg 1).

• Water Quality Monitoring Network (WQMN):

Water quality testing on The Thames at Newbridge was carried out on 18^th August. Phosphate was measured at 0.56 ppm, above the reportable level (0.3 ppm) and nitrate was at 10 ppm. Our Fisheries Manager at the Environment Agency was emailed with these results. Dissolved oxygen measured 87.5%. Water levels are low and clear.

Vice Chairman’s Report

• Plough Pond: I met with the Landowner and discussed the work carried out by the Club on the island. He was pleased with what we had achieved and was encouraged by the appearance of the boat shed, apart from the coiled wire cormorant deterrents. I explained that we still had more work to do on the boat shed and tree work in the vicinity.
• Newbridge: We have a visiting Club on Saturday 26^th September (Coldstone AC). A member of our Club will be present at the start and end of the match, following our 2026 River Rules.

Chairman’s Report

• Work Parties: Thank you toall who attended the work party on Saturday 8^th August to sort out the Boat Shed. A tree will need to be felled before we can work on the next phase. Materials required: 4 posts; 6 bags of post mix and 4 trellis panels. A Work Party will be arranged for the construction and to address the current unfishable swims.
• Stocking:  Thanks again to our anonymous donors for their contributions to our ongoing stocking programme at Plough Pond. The next stocking will be February 2027.
• Catch Reports: bream, tench, crucian carp and rudd are all showing. One of the large chub has been lost, but not thought to be by predation.

New Actions

• 214 Crayfish have been caught at Plough Pond since the traps were set this season.
• Our Fisheries Officer at the Environment Agency has suggested that we could apply for a grant from the Fisheries Improvement Programme to have platforms installed at the Pegs currently unfishable by reeds at Newbridge. We will ask the Landowner for permission to proceed with the grant application for 2028.
• The Secretary will email Peter Moss at Coldstone AC to secure a booking at Priory Farm Lake for May 2027.
• The Secretary will produce a list of the number of matches fished by current members. Note that Danny Dance has fished 350 matches since our records began in 2006.
• Our Vice Chair is keen to arrange a match on the Float Lake at Linear Fisheries in 2027. This will likely be a midweek invitational (12 Pegs).
• The availability of the Hungerford Canal (Tavern or Church stretch) for September 2027 match will be investigated (Danny).
• Paul Wilson has kindly arranged for a team of 4 from The Plough AC to fish the Turner 400 competition on The Thames on 6^th September 2026. Good luck to our team!
• The possibility of our Club entering a team for the Thames Championship in 2027 will be looked in to (by Paul).

The meeting ended at 21:10pm.

The next monthly meeting will take place at the RBL Sports & Social Club in Hanney at 19:30 on Tuesday 15^th September 2026. All welcome.