The Director's Update - July 2026

I am not even going to bother mentioning the heat….

But I am going to applaud, to the rafters, the team who drive Fishing for Schools.

This time of the year is our busiest; it can also be our most awkward.

Wellbeing and health – especially in extremes – simply must take top priority (and I know I wasn’t going to mention it, but...) when taking groups to the bankside.

This requires thought, organisation, selecting venues and assembling risk assessments that will mitigate all but the most severe weather situations. Having the degree of experience amongst our coaches that we have means I know, implicitly, that a school’s – indeed, possibly your – young people are cared for (and hydrated) every single moment that they are with us. Delivering a Fishing for Schools session is about attention to the minutest detail.

It is this professionalism, care and expertise that defines us as an organisation and which has led to the sort of plaudits and comments of excellence from all sectors of the teaching community which we receive.

The thing is, being a coach myself, I know that the actual delivery of a session is the icing atop a very complex “cake” beneath. The gear has to be functioning, first aid packs loaded, hydration, brollies, hats and glasses in hand, risk assessments conducted, waters – appropriate to conditions – booked, gear mended and made serviceable; Lord, does it take a hammering! Give a child a pole, a float, hook, some shot and the prospect of a fish, and I will show you mayhem on a scale little known outside the sacking of Rome.

All these things are conducted away from the session and oft go unnoticed, but we wouldn’t function if they were not done, and properly.

I have said it before: we have the very best of the best as our coaching team.

I and everyone connected with Fishing for Schools – be they teachers, students, staff – know it, too, and we are supremely grateful.

So, to every single coach, instructor and educator that we have: thank you. You make the difference and you inspire.

PS. Couldn’t resist this shot of little dog Cai and I at the recent Orvis Saltwater Festival…that dog inspires, too.