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To many Bernard Venables is the greatest angler and angling writer of all time. With a life that spanned the greater part of the twentieth century he has been described by many as a visionary. Bernard had an intense love of the environment, the countryside and the gentle art of angling - sentiments that so closely match the philosophy of the Trust. After his death in 2001 aged 94 his widow Eileen allowed the WTT to create an award using his name, something we are intensely proud of and very grateful for. The award is for: supporting the aims of the WTT over a lengthy period and for inspiring by example many other volunteers to give freely of their time and energy in the cause of conservation of the wild brown trout throughout the British Isles and Ireland. This year we decided to cast our net a bit further to recognise some of the unsung conservation heroes outside of WTT. We are delighted to announce this year’s winner is Theo Pike of the Wandle Trust The award is presented in recognition of Theo’s outstanding contribution to the Wandle Trust, an ecological charity committed to cleaning up the River Wandle in particular, and improving the Wandle Valley as a whole (www.wandletrust.org). A lot has changed on the River Wandle in the last two hundred years: ”the best and clearest stream near London”, once fished by Lord Nelson and Fredric Halford has died and been reborn. During the 19th and 20th centuries, London enveloped it: the Victorians recorded at least ninety mills on eleven miles of water, and by the 1960's the heavily re-engineered stream had actually been designated as a sewer. The water was so polluted the river used to regularly catch fire. Enter stage left the Jet Set Club which was later to become the Wandle Trust. In the last five or so years this fantastic group of local volunteers has been co-ordinated by Theo, who had by now assumed the role of Director. There are three main thrusts to the Wandle Trust’s work: The Wandle Trusts mission is clear – to restore the Wandle to full health and biodiversity as the very best sustainable urban showcase chalkstream in the world. Things were going well, that was until..........one fateful morning in September last year a large quantity of sodium hydrochloride cleaning solution was released from Thames Water Group’s Beddington sewage treatment works into the Mill Green area of the river, killing at least 2000 fish over a 5-km reach. Thames Water Group (TWG) pledged to work with all local groups to repair the damage. In the weeks and months after the event the Wandle Trust, the Wandle Piscators, the Environment Agency, and the Anglers’ Conservation Association worked with TWG, putting all the necessary safeguards in place to ensure that the unceasing work on the Wandle can never be compromised in this way again. Following the pollution there were public meetings and press interviews and many of these duties fell on Theo’s shoulders...at times we really felt for this guy. One approach would have been to have attacked TWG and settled things in court. But the Wandle Trust has worked with TWG and has secured £500,000 of funding to go towards conservation work on the river. This is in addition to any fines TWG incur. Two hundred years ago the country needed heroes like Lord Nelson. Today our rivers need heroes too - conservation heroes like Theo and his fellow volunteers. They are simply prepared to make the effort and fight for every inch of the way on the journey to conserve the Wandle’s precious natural heritage and return wild trout to this most special of trout streams. The Wild Trout Trust couldn’t think of a more worthy recipient of this year’s award, which is marked by this wonderful trophy sponsored by SAGE along with a rod from the Sage catalogue. At this point we must mention the constant support Marc Bale at Sage has given to the Wild Trout Trust. Sage was right there from the start and we are tremendously proud of our association with them. |
