News and Events
This page is intended to carry news and updates about the Guild; on other pages in this section you will see:
Details on forthcoming events that the Guild and its branches will be taking part in;
- Details on particular news items or events that warrant a page of their own, such as our Annual Raffle.
If you have any items that you would like to include in our News and Events section, please get in touch with Caroline Emmet on member4@flydressersguild.org.
Guild updates on Twitter - NEW (May)
We are now publicising Guild events on Twitter (@FDG_Updates) and also on our Facebook page (Fly Dressers Guild). We avoid inanities and we're not prolific, so if you do social media, do follow us or check us out from time to time!
New branch of the Guild forming in Devon - UPDATED - 15th May
Roadford Lake Country Park, Lower Goodacre, Broadwoodwidger, Devon PL16 0JL
(between Okehampton & Launceston)
Roadford and District Flydressers Guild are pleased to announce that their first meeting will take place at The Water Sports Centre at Roadford Lake Country Park on Tuesday 11th June - 7:00 pm for a 7:30 pm start. Charles Jardine will be in attendance. Thereafter, meetings will be held on the first Tuesday of each month, with 2-3 meetings at Stithians Lake near Redruth in Cornwall. If you are interested, or for more details, please contact Wes Ower on wesower@yahoo.co.uk.
Directions: from the A30, exit for Roadford Lake. The entrance to the sports and sailing club can be found on your right about a mile past the dam follow this lane and the meeting site will be next to the fishing permit office.
Longleat Fishing & Country Show on 14th & 15th June - UPDATE - 1st MAY
Fantastic promotion offer for FDG members - discount on 'Limited Edition' advance tickets
Buy advance 'Limited Edition' tickets for the Longleat Fishing and Country Show today and receive a huge discount on the normal prices: the first 500 bookings will pay just £10 adult and £5 for a child - this means that a family can save a further £10 on the already discounted family ticket, making a fantastic saving of £18.
To buy, just visit the Longleat website and quote Promotion Code FDG001. It's as simple as that!
In addition to this amazing offer, you'll also benefit from Fast Track entry thus avoiding any queues AND you'll be able to enter the Free Draw for some stunning prizes. Don't wait till tomorrow - buy tickets today!
For more details on the Guild's presence at the show, please see the Guild Events page.
eBay Auction of Fly-fishing and Shooting Books - NEW (Apr)
The Guild is using eBay to auction a number of fly-fishing and shooting books on behalf of a member, with part of the proceeds going to the Guild. The auctions will be closing during the early afternoon of Saturday 20th April. You can view the listings by following thislink, or searching eBay for seller "Reevo999". Bid generously if you want them!
Update re Terry Griffiths (Life Vice President of the FDG and former Editor of Flydresser) -NEW (Apr)
For those of you who know and appreciate Terry and his work, we are please to report he is back at home and making a good recovery.
Annual Raffle - NEW (Apr)
The Fly Dressers' Guild annual raffle has been launched and tickets are available for purchase. We have a great selection of prizes, which you can see on our Annual Raffle page. The raffle will be drawn at the British Fly Fair International, at 11:00 am on 23 June 2013.
| With tickets priced at £1 each, the cost to you is less than half a pint of beer, but if all members bought just two tickets each, the raffle will once again represent a key source of income for the Guild. So please do try to buy a ticket or two if you can. |
Members of the Guild will have received (or will get) a book of tickets with the Spring issue of Flydresser, which you can buy for yourself, as a present to others (just what they wanted!) or sell to friends with an interest in fly tying*.
If you are running a stand at a local show and think you could sell tickets at the event*, or are not a member of the Guild and would like to buy tickets, please get in touch with Richard Ellis via awards@flydressersguild.org.
* Two important points to note:
1) Tickets are not for sale to or by persons under sixteen years.
2) If you received a set of raffle tickets printed in black ink on white paper, please click on this link.
Update re Flydresser - New update (8 April)
Please note: The Spring issue of Flydresser was posted to members on 20th March. Unfortunately, our printers compounded the mistake they made with the Winter issue by dropping off up to 2 lines from the address labels this time, so many of you won't have received it. Apologies for this, but I can assure you neither of these instances have been the fault of the Guild.
The magazine was due to be re-printed over Easter (at no cost to the Guild), so that it was ready for mailing on 2nd April, but once again the printers let us down. We are pleased to report that it is all now ready for despatch - with complete addresses this time ...
IMPORTANT
Please note that we are having to replace the raffle tickets that went out with the first print run of the magazine. So if you have already received a magazine with raffle tickets printed in black ink, don't sell them to others or buy them for yourself. Wait until you get the magazine with the new tickets (printed in red ink) and use those instead. The magazine will also include a leaflet explaining how to return the old raffle tickets and what to do if you've already sold or bought any of them, or you can click on this link.
Please don't hesitate to get in touch with Richard Ellis, Chris Reeves or Caroline Emmet if you have any questions.
Auction Sale of Roger Loodmer's Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Effects for the benefit of the Guild - Update (Mar)
Roger Loodmer was Treasurer of The Fly Dressers' Guild from 1999 to 2004 and Financial Director of the Countryside Alliance. He was a also member of The London Branch of The Fly Dressers' Guild and a superb fly fisherman and fly tyer. He instructed Mike Humphreys that upon his death, his fly fishing and fly tying effects were to be sold and the proceeds donated to the Guild.
The auction took place on 9th February and raised a total of £2,473 for the Guild, as the London Branch very generously absorbed the costs of the event.
The Executive Committee is exceedingly grateful to the Loodmer family and the London Branch and will be reviewing options for how the Guild could best use this very generous contribution.
Upcoming auctions and shows - NEW (Jan)
Please take a look at the Guild Events page to see our upcoming auctions and shows.
Dressings Reference Library- Update (Jan)
As some of you may have already seen, Bernard Sunderland from the Craven Branch of The Fly Dressers’ Guild, was instrumental in resurrecting the dressings from the old Guild website and turning them into a searchable database.
The Dressings Reference Library represents a valuable resource for fly tiers researching original dressings and the development of patterns, styles and materials. It provides a record of around 2,000 established, named patterns taken from reputable published sources, listing the basic materials and the source of the information which can be referred to by anyone who wishes to verify the detail.
The Guild is pleased to announce that in addition to making his software available to Guild members, Bernard has also agreed to become the curator of the Dressings Reference Library. He is keen to keep growing the Library by adding other established patterns sourced from similarly reputable sources, with the help of other members. So please do get in touch with Bernard if you would like any patterns added to the database, or would like to suggest any other sources or can help out with this project (bernardsunderland@gmail.com).
From time to time, Bernard will publish a PDF extract of the Dressings Library based on a particular word search or theme – at present, you can find a list of all the dressings for flies which have the word “Greenwell” in their name or in the materials used.
45th AGM of The Fly Dressers' Guild (December 2012)
The 45th AGM of The Fly Dressers' Guild was held on 21st October 2012, as advertised in the Summer edition of Flydresser and on the website. Copies of all the AGM papers can be found on our "AGMs and SGMs" page.
The Fly Tying Boutique Big Fish Competition (December 2012)
Congratulations to Lee Hooper and Tony Lorrimer for winning the Brown and Rainbow Trout categories of the 2011/ 2012 Big Fish competition respectively. Details of their respective entries and the flies used can be found on our "Big Fish Winners" page.
The Guild is pleased to announce that Trade Member Phil Holding of Fly Tying Boutique has agreed to sponsor the 2012-2013 competition, providing a prize of flytying materials for each category. This prize together with a Guild certificate will be awarded to winner of each category at or after the AGM in 2013. In recognition of Phil Holding’s generous support, the competition will be known as The Fly Tying Boutique Big Fish Competition for 2012/13.
There are seven categories to enter:
A full set of rules can be found on our "Fly Tying Boutique Big Fish Competition" page, but the key element is for you to catch a fish on a fly tied by yourself. So record your catches and send them in and who knows, you could be next year’s winner!
37th Annual John Watts Fishing Competition (August 2012)
The John Watts Competition took place on 25th August. A report on the day and the full results are available on our John Watts 2012 page. Pictures of the day have been posted in our Picture Gallery.
Update on the Annual Raffle (June 2012)
The Annual Raffle was drawn on 24th June at BFFI and prize winners are being notified and the prizes despatched to them. Could it be or was it you?
The raffle raised a fantastic £2,685 gross and £2,329 net - a huge increase on the last couple of years. A very big thank you to everyone who bought tickets and provided prizes, and lastly to Richard Ellis, who orchestrated it all.
The lucky winners are:Main Prizes R Kilroy
H Kesbeth
J Morris
D Peters
C Foster
Fly Box
J Kendrick
B Marshall | Devon
Herefordshire
Gwynedd
Kent
Lancashire
Buckinghamshire
Hampshire | | | | Flies D M Thomas
B Peak
P Lawrence
M Hall
G Gosen
M Blaber
C Emmet
N Kinghorn
D Dicks
Mr Heymer
S Fisher
K Russell | Cheshire
S.Wirral
Oxfordshire
Gloucestershire
Norway
Eastbourne
Surrey
Northumberland
Hampshire
London
Wiltshire
Fife |
Malcolm Greenhalgh draws the raffle whilst organiser Richard Eliis looks on
(photograph courtesy of Richard Ellis)
Fly Dressers' Guild Questionnaire(February 2012)
In response to feedback from members who attended the November 2011 AGM, the Executive Committee circulated a short survey with the Spring Edition of Flydresser, to give all members the opportunity to make their view known.
Thank you to all of you who took the time to respond and in many cases, provide detailed feedback. You can review the results here.
Fly Dressers' Guild forum (January 2012)
The purpose of the forum is to give members a way to communicate with each other, branches and of course the Executive Committee of the main Guild. Branches are welcome to publish their programmes or details of events here. We also welcome non-members to the forum and hope that maybe they will join the Guild in time.
Please note - this is not meant to be a vehicle for attacking individuals or committee decisions; that said we welcome constructive ideas and genuine offers of help. Please remember that your committee are all volunteers, running the Guild for your benefit.
It may not be appropriate to answer some questions via the forum, e.g. individual membership issues, other other issues which would be best dealt with via an email to the relevant officer of the Guild. We also reserve the right to refer questions to the EC and reply to individuals rather than through the forum.
Last modified on 16 May, 2013