Clubmark Award for ECL Angling Club

James Roche of the ADB (L) with members of the ECL Angling Club as they received their prestigious Clubmark award

ECL Angling Club has become the first angling club in Northamptonshire, and only the fifth in the East Midlands, to receive the prestigious Clubmark award for angling.

Clubmark is a nationally recognised indicator of quality assurance and the Sport England initiative enables parents and carers to identify those clubs who are committed to providing a safe, effective, child-friendly environment where sport, in this case angling, can take place. Since the club was set up they have looked to introduce more young people in Northampton to angling by offering the perfect introduction to the sport.

The club have a number of fully qualified, insured and experienced coaches who have been delivering high quality sessions at fisheries both inside and outside the Northampton area and they have been successful in applying for a number of grants from both the Environment Agency and the Northamptonshire Community Foundation, the most recent of which will see the club delivering a programme of sessions to young people with disabilities.

Achievement of Clubmark has been the result of the club’s desire to ensure that every young person is given the best possible introduction to fishing, ensuring that the appropriate child protection policies, equity policies and initiatives are in place to provide the best environment possible to take part in angling.

James Roche, Angling Development Board Regional Development Officer, commented:

"This is a great achievement by ECL Angling Club who have launched a number of really successful initiatives to get more young people from Northampton into angling and this award is greatly deserved".

For more information on the Clubmark award in the East Midlands contact James Roche via e-mail at: James.Roche@anglingdevelopmentboard.org.uk or by telephone on: 07791 786251