Lisa and Andy May, owners of one of Sheringham’s top Fish and Chip Restaurants and Takeaways have agreed to sponsor England’s Home Nations Championship winning Ladies Sea Angling Team for the coming year, ahead of next years Championships that are to be staged along the North Norfolk coast.
After their gold medal win at this years event, which was held in Wexford Ireland in July, the team are already preparing to defend their title in 2016.
This years championship venues were Cheekpoint and Ballyhack, the fishing being staged on the Barrow estuary some 30 miles to the west. The two matches both 4 hours long, saw catches of mostly eels and flounders. Fishing is based upon a catch and release system so that all fish are returned to the sea alive.
The Home Championships is an annual two-day contest between England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Ireland having team members from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Each country is represented by Mens, Juniors, Youth and Ladies teams, each team consisting of 5 anglers, 1 reserve and a manager.
The current Ladies team is Wendy Metcalfe (captain) and Kay Brown (manager) from Holt, Norfolk, Rachael Jarman, Nicky Frewin and Becky Adams from Somerset, Heather Lindfield from the Wirral and Lorraine Perry (reserve) from Southampton.
This Years Home Nations Shore Angling Championship which was staged over a four-day period from 1st to 4th July saw team success for the other English teams who together bagged three-team gold’s and one bronze medal.
Commenting on this years Ladies Championship, Team Captain Wendy Metcalf said “We had a very positive start with four section wins and a second, which could have easily been five, but unfortunately an eel broke free on my last pull in, so I had to settle on second place. After attending the second managers meeting we found out they had a 5 point lead over the Irish team which put us in a brilliant position going into day two.”
“We knew on the final day of the championships we had a real chance of success in all of the categories, and although the Irish team took an early lead we kept up the pace and after a hard fought match and gaining valuable points for a coup-le of second place positions we ended the match with a score of 35 points and the Gold Medal.”
Wendy continued “The ladies teams have only been part of the Home Championship since 2013. The Welsh team and I had campaigned for some years to be allowed to enter the competition and finally our governing body the Angling Trust agreed. In 2013 we won the silver medal followed in 2014 by a bronze and this year we got the gold, which we will do our best to achieve again in 2016.”
Andy and Lisa May owners of The Sheringham Trawler said “With next years event being staged in North Norfolk and two of the team living in Holt it seemed the natural thing for us to do. We are both proud to be sponsoring the Ladies Team, and as a Fish and Chip Shop we have a natural connection to the sea so when we heard of this opportunity we said yes straight away.”
Lisa added “Our first Fish and Chip shop was in Holt so knowing that two of the team came from our home town we simply had to support them.”
Team Manager Kay Brown and her sister Wendy Metcalfe are both delighted with the sponsorship from The Sheringham Trawler Kay said, “We normally cover all expenses ourselves and this can be very costly. The team is selected from all over England and this deal will help towards their travelling expenses and accommodation. This means that the ladies can concentrate on preparing for the matches and defending our title. We would like to thank Andy and Lisa for their support it means a great deal to us and we will do our best to bring home the medals in 2016 and if we do we will certainly be celebrating with Fish and Chips at the Sheringham Trawler”.
