Now’s your chance to give in to the lure of the river

EVER watch someone fly-fishing on a river and wish you could do something so skilled and so relaxing? Well, now’s your chance – and it won’t cost you a thing. 

Crumlin and District Angling Club, with the support of the Policing Board’s Police Property Fund, will be host free fly-fishing courses in the coming weeks for women and children.  

The aim of the programme is to get underrepresented groups outdoors and to build on the local community’s relationship with the Crumlin River and its surrounding environment building both skills in angling and community safety in public spaces.  

CDAA Development Officer David Kennedy said: “The Crumlin and District Angling Club are delighted to be hosting free fly-fishing courses for women and young people to help boost the number of underrepresented groups in the world of angling.  

“Angling has been proven to be great for learning new skills, boosting positive mental health as a form of outdoor mindfulness, and enhancing an understanding of our outdoor natural environment.  

“As an amateur sport, it is at times out of reach for many people given the cost of equipment. Women in particular are hugely unrepresented with an example being that upwards of 97 per cent of respondents to the National Angling Survey were male.” 

David added that, through these courses, they hope to build on the number of people getting involved in the sport while also enhancing community ownership of public spaces and the concept of community safety, especially along the Crumlin River and in Crumlin Glen.  

“The river and glen are fantastic resources running right through our town and by growing the numbers of people utilising it we can help protect this resource for the future,” he continued.  

“Of course, all of this would not have been possible without the support of the Policing Board’s Police Property Fund which has enabled us to buy new equipment including rods, boots and life vests that will enable us to run first-class courses. As such all the equipment for the course will be supplied to participants.”