the fly dressers guild
Pat Kerley passed away on 28th June 2010 after struggling with a difficult illness for the last few years with love and support from his family and friends. He will be remembered as the life and soul of the party, one of life's real characters whose wit and mirth had provided entertainment on numerous occasions. At the same time he was passionate about fishing, fly tying and the countryside and bonded easily with those who had similar interests - many a conversation rolled into the night on the magic of fishing, a tale about a fishing trip or some new way to catch fish.
For a long time he was equipment officer and then membership secretary of the Guild, maintaining the membership list using what now seems archaic equipment before computers and spreadsheets became commonplace and the web was in its infancy. Pat's support for the Guild was unswerving, he wanted it to succeed and the members to benefit from being able to learn how to tie flies; locally he supported the Wiltshire Chalkstream Branch by inviting his numerous fishing contacts to speak, encouraging fishing outings, tying competitions and providing materials; his home cold smoking service was also very popular and smoked trout was a highlight of branch social gatherings.
Pat was most likely to meet members at various shows including the Game Fair; never one for political correctness his familiar greeting to a couple watching a demonstration of "What's a nice girl like you doing with a bloke like him?" often caused a wry smile from the husband or boyfriend and fishing and fly tying discussion swiftly followed. Celebrities were also "embraced" and a session of banter between Pat and Bernard Cribbins had those present collapsing in fits of laughter. Pat was also noted for his own patterns, the Terminator (a sort of Montana/Gold head woolly bugger hybrid) was popular at small stillwaters to the extent he had several boxes of them; another "Mrs Whickam's Fancy" of which a single example exists, was known by reputation only. Pat's gear was always well used and customised to suit - offset rings, shaped handles, tailored shooting heads; the experiments knew no bounds - when the national press ran a story about big game fishermen using childrens dolls to tease up marlin Pat set out to determine if pike were similarly interested and furthermore the merits of Barbie vs Cindy - the venue was the River Avon in the middle of Salisbury and he did "rise" several and a few spectators to boot - more rational pike flies, using hair extensions made of Yak hair he had procured proved more successful. He fished across the UK often taking his boat and an infamous seagull outboard; what set out to be fishing trips frequently turned into adventures and acquisition of new friends in distant fishing locations, these epic tales were recounted at branch meetings to a captivated audience.
Such a great countryman, wonderful storyteller, passionate angler and friend to many - someone, somewhere is now hearing the story about the one that got away, and the one that didn't, and hopefully they will smile as much as we did - he will be sorely missed by us all but especially by his wife Jean and family.
the wild trout trust auction 2010
The Wild Trout Trust auction this year features 12 lots donated by Malcolm Greenhalgh – there are (almost) all the flies used to illustrate his recent book, ‘Fishing Flies: A guide to flies from around the world’ .
The flies are tied either by Malcolm or the original tiers, and Malcolm has grouped them by type so that the lots vary from 11 dapping flies to 269 dry flies. The flies are not mounted but packed in a variety of containers. The auction take place by post and on eBay from March 16th – 25th (postal bids must be received by March 23rd).
For a copy of the catalogue, postal bid form and link to the auction on eBay, go to www.wildtrout.org.
The Sussex Branch Instructors recieve their certification
Alan Middleton, Chairman presents the instructors with their awards at a recent branch meeting.
Left to right: Alan Chamberlain, Phil Ellis, Paul Davis, Paul Bond, Peter Buss, Albert Horne, Jim Harris, John Plowman and Brian Hendry.
bffi 2009
A short extract from Sky's Tight Lines at the fair available here
The seventh running of this event proved to be the most successful the Guild had attended. Sales of merchandise exceeded all of our expectations with the new range of fleeces just flying off the stand.
On Saturday we received a visit from the Sky television crew and Richard Vipond ably demonstrated with a young person the art of tying a Black and Peacock Spider. We hope it will appear on a feature on their TV channel.
The prizes for the BFFI raffle were drawn and the lucky winners should receive their prizes in the next week or so.
Whilst there were plenty of admirers of the great fly tyers on display it was good to see so many interested parties in the clinics, answering queries and problems thrown at the presenters.
Although the weather was typical of a November weekend we were pleased to welcome a large number of new members as well as meeting with so many existing members.
Thanks go to all who worked tirelessly on the stand and to all of you who took the time to come and see us.
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2010 tying competition announced here
The Flydressers' Guild is a non-profit organisation whose sole objective is to promote and cultivate the art of fly dressing. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in flytying.
We are a UK based organisation, but have over 450 overseas members, including a Branch in Tokyo, Japan and the Southern Appalachian Fly Tyers in the USA.
The Guild originates from the mid-1960's when a group of Hampshire flytyers, led by Don Haynes our founder, decided to form a Fly Tying Club. The Club's first official meeting was held at the Anglers Inn, Bishopstoke, Hampshire in October 1967.
Membership is currently £18 (UK Family), £15 (UK), £12 (UK retired) and £23 for overseas tiers.
Benefits of membership include:
Generous 10% discount scheme with our Trade Members.
Insurance scheme to £5,000,000.
Excellent full colour quarterly magazine (download an example PDF copy here).
Branch Network
Instruction and Advise
Competitions
Fly Swaps
Growing Online Community
Whether you are novice or expert we welcome your membership and currently have over 300 new members joining every year from all over the world. Joining couldn't be easier, we have an online shop with secure checkout. Just use the Membership and Shop menu to the left.