As you are all aware knife crime in the local community and the country is at an all time high and still on the rise. We have created Reel rod squad in the hope to attract some youngsters, give them something to focus on, while being outdoors with nature rather than videos games , street gangs and being at the risk of peer pressure in the streets.

At the start of our journey we were lucky enough to have the knife angel in our town, a sculpture made from over 100,000 seized blades from around the country. This felt the right time to acquire the slogan… PICK UP A ROD NOT A KNIFE.

Within our team we have certain members who’s full time job is security, this bring its own dangers many of which incur knifes/blades and being attacked with sharp objects sometimes on a daily basis. With this being so close to us we have all greatly seen the increase of these events, and have made it our mission to try and deter youngsters from this growing trend. We would rather them pick a rod up and go to a local water and fish than hang about streets being influenced by others.

So it all began, we created a social media page took to Facebook and went off like a storm advertising our first open event and to our astonishment what a success it was. We held it on a venue where you’d catch a small fish no matter how you fished which was ideal for the first timers that turned up. The smiles on there faces and the encouragement from their parents was amazing and boosted our confidence on what we were doing. We did have some members of the angling trust attend who also gave us so much credit along with much needed advice and some guidance. Working alongside the angling trust has not only gave us knowledge but also certificates and equipment for the progression of the returning newcomers to our events.

Our future plans

Since the first open day we have held open matches and experience days, after the first match it seemed obvious among the young anglers the different skill level that were attending, so our aim is to focus on getting the new youngsters into the sport by offering them more experience days and small prizes after every match. We hope that this will equip there tackle box and slowly boost their confidence level so they feel they can start entering matches for bigger prizes. Big matches look scary and daunting to some people so we are hoping by building the kids confidence that when they become young adults they will have the confidence to enter bigger matches and keep the sport growing in the future.

We are a non profit organisation and run solely on donations and our own pocket. Everything that gets donated gets given back to the kids involved. We know how times are hard and every penny matters which is why we work very closely with our local tackle shops.