Mike Willmott - Essential Baits

PARTY TIME!
It’s always a welcome relief when I can break
up the workload with a social event, though,
and in December I got an invite from Pete
Springate to attend his and Dougal Gray’s
joint 60th birthday party at the Fisheries pub
in the Colne Valley, which was organised
by all-round good egg, Les Bamford, and
what a night it was!
Apart from celebrating
the night with Pete
and Dougal, I was
able to catch up with
some old mates who I
hadn’t seen for a few
years, people like John
Carver, Chris Haswell,
and Bob Baker, among
others. Many old-school faces from far and
wide had gathered to celebrate the occasion
and it was pleasing to see so many stalwart
names within carp fishing history, such as
Bob Morris, Robin Monday, Vic Cranston,
Kenny Hodder, Steve Edwards, and Albert
Romp, and others. During the night we
presented Pete and Dougal with a ‘birthday
copy’ of my book, Carp Life, which was
signed by everyone present. So, Pete
or Dougal, if you’re reading this,
guard those books with your
life – they will be worth a
Everything was going
well, until all of a sudden
the landlord came
running out of the pub
hurling abuse at us
fortune one day!!
I can remember sleeping in my van in the
car park that night, as did Pete Springate,
Kenny Hodder, and Dave Gawthorn in their
respective vehicles. However, before retiring
to the warmth of our bags, we decided to
have a late drink, and without giving it too
much thought, I decided to light up one
of those wax logs to
keep us warm.
Everything
was going well,
until all of a sudden
the landlord came
running out of the
pub hurling abuse at
us, with Les Bamford
and Dougal Gray in
close pursuit because they thought we were
setting fire to the outside tables and chairs!
Now I can put up with most things
in life, but getting on the wrong side of
Dougal isn’t one of them! Fortunately, the
situation was soon resolved and the fire was
extinguished before anyone got hurt! (me!).
Coincidentally, this was the very same night
of that big oil refinery explosion in Hemel
Hempstead a few years ago. I don’t
know what time it was but I
was asleep in the van when
I heard this huge explosion
Pete Springate, Dougal
Gray and Chris Haswell.
Old friends that I never get
tired of meeting up with.
Sir Pete offi cially being
knighted by Les Bamford.
that shook the floor and rocked the van.
After the earlier events of the wax log fire
and associated aggro, I came flying out of my
van expecting to see Dave or Kenny’s motor
going up in smoke! Goodness knows what the
landlord must have thought when he heard it!
See you next month. MW
Life and Carp Life Mike Willmott
This tremendously long 45
was one of a hat-trick of 40s
and payback time for the lake
icing up on our previous trip.
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