4 minute read
Claire House Fishing Club Challenge
Fishing for funds
By SARAH TAYLOR
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The weather was wet and windy, but it didn’t dampen the high spirits or the competitive buzz of the anglers taking part in the Claire House Fishing Club challenge.
Along with my fellow competitors at sites across the Wirral last weekend, I took up my place and got ready to enjoy the day and help raise funds for Claire House Children’s Hospice.
Starting in 2012, the Fishing Club Challenge consisted of just three teams who raised more than £3,000. However, the challenge soon grew in size, with 2017 and 2018 generating a staggering £16,000 and £17,500 respectively from just one day’s fishing.
This year, 88 anglers (forming 11 eight-man teams) took part in a fishing contest, all split over five different lakes across the Wirral. At the end, the team with the combined lowest score of points were crowned champions and took the trophy.
As the team captain for ‘Sazbo’s Sharks’, it was my responsibility to get a team together, place them at venues where they could score good points and hopefully drive our team to victory.
I put myself at a place in Moreton called ‘The Brickworks’. The weather wasn’t great but despite that I just tried to catch as many fish as I could.
Once the competition had ended, I found out that I had gained three points for the team – a good start for us. Hearing reports from the other venues, the team had put in a stellar
Colin Cook and his fundraising friend at Macchu Pichhu, photo credit Colin Cook on Facebook
performance. But, unsure as to how the other teams had faired, it was a tense wait for the results to see if we had done enough.
Eventually, the results were released. Team ‘Rivacre’ took bronze with 42 points, second place went to team ‘Yew Tree’ with 41 points, and our team ‘Sazbo’s Sharks’ collated 27 points to be crowned champions and retain the trophy for the second year running.
However, whilst the competitive nature calls for some light-hearted banter and a lot of winding people up, the most important thing is raising money. With the current pandemic, numbers are expected to be down on previous years because of the Welsh lockdown stopping those in Wales from fishing, some people were shielding, as well as the inability to hold a presentation night. But still, it is estimated that this event could raise more than £5,000.
The aim of Claire House is to help chronically and terminally ill children by providing care and giving them incredible opportunities for them to enjoy life when times are tough. They also provide support to families to help them deal with some of the hardest times of their lives.
Because they receive no funding from the Government, the hospice relies on volunteers and fundraisers, such as this one, in order to carry on providing the service they do.
Colin Cook, the organiser of the challenge, explains why this fundraiser is so important to the charity: “With less events taking place because of Covid, such as marathons, bike rides, tough mudders etc, it is even more important that we were able to do something this year.”
In action at Yew Tree Fishery Photos © Sarah Taylor
Mr Cook has devoted his life to raising money for Claire House since losing his daughter Ellie at just seven years old to a brain tumour. The hospice looked after Ellie and the rest of his family through this incredibly tough time and continued even after Ellie passed. They still check up on his youngest daughter Mia and support her development.
Since then, the family have helped raise more than £90,000 for the charity with no signs of stopping. In the future, Mr Cook hopes that the event will continue to be a success.
“I’ll run the match for as long as I can and hopefully someone will take over from me after that.
“I do want it to grow, but the only thing restricting the size of the match is the venues. I’d love to be able to open it up to Liverpool and Cheshire. We’ll just have to see – never say never!”
He also discussed his targets for the future: “We started off with 20 odd lads and raised over £1000. I don’t think anyone that day would have thought eight years later we’d be going into this year’s match trying to build on £70k total raised. I think £100k will be a real milestone.
“Personally, this competition and event is really important to me as it’s keeping the memory of my little girl alive.”
