At the beginning of 2024 the Farlows Group offered all of its employees the opportunity to take a paid volunteer day to support a charity of their choice. Having supported the military charity Fishing For Heroes as their northern coach for over ten years and, with it now being one of Farlows’ partner charities, it was an easy choice for Marketing Executive and Level 2 Angling Coach, Lucy Bowden, to use her volunteering time with them. Here is her account of the day.
For those who haven’t heard of it, Fishing For Heroes is a registered UK charity, founded in 2009. Working nationwide, their aim is simple – to use fly fishing to help and support forces personnel suffering from emotional issues such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and combat fatigue. Research has shown that even a short fly fishing course can reduce PTSD symptoms by 20% and the charity provides fully funded fly fishing courses and instruction as therapy for veterans and serving soldiers, seamen and airmen of the British and Commonwealth Armed Forces.
In mid-August I joined a group of veterans at Knitsley Mill, Consett, for a day’s fly fishing. As many anglers know, the summer months can make for tough fishing but days spent with FFH are much more than just fishing.
Seven anglers were due to join us - all of mixed abilities and experience - but unfortunately, as is often the case with our days, only three turned up. For some of the veterans simply stepping out of the house on any given day can be an unattainable challenge, so we are never sure exactly how many will make the day.
Army veterans Jon and James had fished before and were keen all-round anglers whereas navy-man Nigel was new to the charity and a complete beginner.
Bright sun and wind (a frontal from Storm Lilian) met us upon arrival as the guys tackled up and headed out onto the fly lake.
The morning fishing was tough with no bites for anyone but by lunchtime an overcast sky and a subtle drop in the wind created more favourable conditions. However, as I mentioned earlier, these days are less about the fishing and much more about spending time together. Spending time with people who have been through similar experiences, who understand you and who you can be completely yourself with. Talking brother to brother without a guard up.
I helped the guys change up their trout fishing tactics – using a mixture of flies fished at all different depths we worked out that the best fly to use was a shipman’s buzzer. The fish weren’t too far out so there wasn’t the need to cast great distances but they were being pretty picky!
I spent time 1-1 with Nigel and went through the basics of both the roll and overhead casts. We moved around the lake a few times so he could get a feel for fishing with the wind both behind and in front of him and looked at tweaking his cast to make it easier when facing into the wind. We had a good chat too – one of the things I love most about FFH is the stories the veterans tell me.
We enjoyed plenty of fun and banter (army versus navy is always a hot topic!) before we packed in for the day. It’s amazing any fish were caught at all with the amount of chat (!) but Jon ended on two with countless missed – all on dry flies - and James had one. Nigel became proficient at casting and, although his first trout eluded him, he can’t wait to get back out.
Following the day, Nigel said;
“Having recently been diagnosed with suffering from Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, I was signposted by a nurse to try fly fishing which was having fantastic results for fellow veterans suffering from PTSD.
They pointed me in the direction of Fishing for Heroes - a wonderful charity that looks after like-minded veterans. At first, I was a bit sceptical as I had never been fishing since I was eleven years old and secondly, I was not sure how I would react to meeting fellow sufferers of PTSD.
I remember my first conversation with FFH National Coordinator, Paul West over the phone, I think he could tell I was a bit apprehensive about attending and said this to me – 'We have big shoulders and even bigger ears. We are not here to judge, we are here to listen and help as much as we can for you to escape from your thoughts.'
Paul West then gave me a call and invited me along to an event being held at Knitsley Mill Trout Fishery in Consett. I met fellow veterans and also the lovely Lucy Bowden who is a Level 2 angling coach. I spent most of the day with Lucy who passed on her vast experience in fishing to me and also made me feel very relaxed. Lucy has a great way of teaching fishing but is also able to listen without judging. Lucy can listen, teach and fish all at the same time along with observing the weather conditions and the water flow! She puts these skills down to women being able to multitask however, I would put them down to yet another remarkable person working for Fishing for Heroes who dedicates their time and effort to helping veterans. The trout still managed to elude me but would pop up near the surface just for good measure… I will catch one day.”
Watch my chat with their National Coordinator, Paul West, at the Sportfish Spring Spectacular below to find out more about the charity... and if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments.
Tight Lines
Lucy
