The NFA is opening its doors to the angling world this year as the Governing Body for Freshwater Angling invites all involved in the sport to come and attend their conference at Trent Vineyard in Nottingham on Saturday 19th April at 2.00pm and ‘Join the March to Increase Participation’.

The conference will be open to all clubs which are not in membership of the NFA, individual anglers both members and non-members, the angling trade, fishery managers and any other organisation or group which feels they may benefit from attending.

There are plenty of reasons for people outside of the NFA to make the journey as the conference line up provides something for everyone. The NFA will be hosting a question and answer session to some of the leading figures in angling. This will be an opportunity for the angling community to put their questions to Dafydd Evans, Head of Fisheries at the Environment Agency, Sean O Driscoll from the Angling Trade Association, Simon Salem, Head of Marketing and Communications from British Waterways, Jackie Sheldon, Senior Development Manager at the Angling Development Board and get some tips from Two Times World Champion, Matt Godfrey.

Preceding the question and answer session there will be workshops which people can attend on angler safety, angling development and the use of the internet and new technologies which are all aimed at modern angling organisations that want to progress and develop themselves. Please be aware however places at these workshops are limited.

The theme of the conference is ‘Join the March to Increase Participation’ which reflects our overriding objective to make angling a growth sport and get more people fishing more often. It is only by working together that we can achieve our goal.

If you would like to attend the NFA conference, you can download the Programme of the Day and booking form from the NFA website at www.nfadirect.com/conference. This gives details of locations, timings and further information about what you will be hearing on the day. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis

Paul Baggaley, Chief Executive of the NFA comments, “Our primary objective is to increase participation. And to do that the whole of the angling world needs to be involved. Opening up our conference is a first step to more joint working and strong partnerships.”