The National Vintage Fishing Tackle Fair

You will find me this morning at the riot of tackle dealers that is affectionately known as the National Vintage Fishing Tackle Fair and which takes place at The Abbey Stadium Sports Centre off the Birmingham Road (A441) in the Midlands town of Redditch, in the County of Worcestershire.  Those of you who navigate by satellite may find the postcode B97 6EJ of use.  Doors open at 9am and tea will be served outside by Mr. Samuel Guyatt.

We Interrupt this Programme

For all those of you who listen to the wireless on a Saturday morning you are directed to Mr. Keith Arthur's 'Fisherman's Blues' on Radio Talksport which can be found at the frequency 1089-1053AM.  There, at around 07:15hrs I will be blatantly publicising the National Vintage Fishing Tackle Fair which takes place tomorrow, the morning of Sunday 15th May, from 09:00hrs at the Abbey Stadium Sports Centre in the Midlands town of Redditch.

Cecil Day-Lewis meets the Compleat Angler Uptown

Found at Spitalfields yesterday a 1915 Oxford University Press Edition of 'Compleat Angler'.  This copy  was awarded to the former Poet Laureate, Cecil Day-Lewis http://www.cday-lewis.co.uk/# for 'School Latin Prose' in 1923 his last year at Sherborne School before he went up to Oxford.   It is not known whether Day-Lewis was a keen angler but this book was amongst others on trout fishing which were cleared from the family home after the death of his second wife Jill Balcon.

Ogden Smiths Fishing Tackle

Once upon a time in Arcadia, and occasionally on a Thursday, ladies and gentlemen in search of Vintage Fishing Tackle for the Soul and other requisites were able to take advantage of the many shops that belonged to London tackle firm Ogden Smiths makers of reliable kit since 1763.  Ogden Smith had shops from number 2 & 3 The Royal Exchange in the City to 62 St James Street in Piccadilly and even as far west as 14/15 Dingwall Road in the new town of Croydon.   The firm had a simple philosophy which was symbolised by the famous crossed hooks 'This business is managed by the same family to-day (as in the 18th Century), and up-to-date production methods combined with years of practical experience, are employed to maintain and improve the well-known Ogden Smith standard.  Attention to customer's requirements is under constant personal supervision of the directors, who are practical fishermen'.

In Arcadia today there are sadly no more Ogden Smiths Fishing Tackle Shops but you may buy the wares that they stocked at my stall in Spitalfields Antiques Market on Thursdays between a half past seven in the morning and approximately three o'clock in the afternoon where I do my best to maintain their standards and drink tea on an Olympian scale.

Dam Angelrolle

Found amongst a lot of tackle bought recently from another dealer in a Service Station Car Park, a 'Dam Angelrolle', the 'Ever Ready', in its original box.  The reel was imported by Lee of Pershore in Redditch in the Post-War years widely known in Arcadia as the 1950's and 60's.

Kempton

Found at Kempton this morning some Swedish Vintage Fishing Tackle for the Soul, an old Barbour Jacket and an enamelled badge for the Lakeland Terrier Club.  Enough to subsist on until opening time at least.

Meet the Disused Fishing Tackle Factory Uptown

The Disused Fishing Tackle Factory a.k.a Ashleigh Works was built on the corner of the Bromsgrove Road, in the town of Redditch in the year 1908 by a Mr. Andrew Douglas Charles who traded under the title of his father's firm T. Hessin & Co.  Like many other firms in this Midland's town Hessin's originally made needles and then branched out into the manufacture of fishing hooks.  After the First War ended it was taken over by Harry Archer Wilkinson, a former member of the Devon and Somerset Light Infantry who survived the Battle of the Somme to return to Redditch and purchase Hessin's and Jas. Smith & Sons who had been making needles since 1698 at nearby Astwood Bank.  At some point in the 1920's Harry Wilkinson moved Smith & Sons from Astwood Bank and incorporated the business into Ashleigh Works.  The factory occupied four floors and had a workforce of several dozen.  It thrived in the first half of the 20th Century making all manner of angling requisites but the second half of the Century was not so kind.  Found when I visited the Factory last week, upon the shelves on the top floor which had been locked up due to its dereliction, were several boxes of 100 cheap Japanese fishing reels which had been imported to Britain by Salter Toys in the 1950's and sent to Smith's and Wilkinson's for distribution.  Selling these cheap imports contributed to the downfall of the company and soon three of the four floors of the factory were closed down with a skeleton needle manufacturing continuing on the ground floor and in the basement.  In 2010 Wilkinson's son died and left the business and the premises to his wife and son, Tom.

In addition to piecing together the broken history of his family's firm Tom is in the process of clearing the factory and selling off the contents, a jumbled archive of items of Vintage Fishing Tackle for the Soul that date back to Hessin's original occupation of the small house next door to the Works.  Many of these items will be for sale at next Sunday's National Vintage Fishing Tackle Fair which is being held at The Abbey Stadium Sports Centre on the Birmingham Road in Redditch.  As you may know it is my honour to organise this event and I look forward to welcoming those of you who will be visiting on the door and pointing you in the direction of Tom Wilkinson's stall and others.