Catching the Smile at Pheasants Wood Fishery

The Masonic Fishing Charity’s aim is to bring an interactive fishing and countryside experience to people with special needs. It is a charity completely run by volunteers and is a non-profit making enterprise.

The Secretary of the West Lancashire Masonic Fishing Charity, Bob Malcolm said “On the last Thursday in Maywe held our second event of the season, this time at Pheasants Wood Fishery, Out Rawcliffe, on the north bank of the River Wyre.

We were delighted that twelve students, aged 11/12 years old, from Brookfield School in Poulton-le-Fylde joined us for this one-day fishing experience. (Brookfield is a school which delivers an exciting, innovative and holistic curriculum specifically designed to meet the needs of pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan).

Some of the young people make the daily journey to Brookfield School from the local areas of Abbeystead, Lancaster, Heysham and some from as far away as Liverpool. The weather was very kind to us, considering that the day before it never stopped raining for over twenty-four hours, which caused the River Wyre to flood some of the roads leading to the Pheasants Wood site. In fact, it only stopped raining at 8.30am that morning”.

Bob added “There were plenty of fish caught, with a couple of the students boasting they had caught 30,another lad said he'd caught 40 and "one of them was this big" holding his arms as wide as he could. I must admit, I didn't see that one. We were very pleased that the cost of funding this one-day fishing experience for Brookfield School was fully covered by the members of Silverdale Masonic Lodge, so it was equally pleasing that the Master of Silverdale Lodge, John Robson was our guest of honour and he took great pleasure in presenting every student with a certificate of achievement, medal and goody-bag.

"As we say in the charity strapline, our wish is for us to see youngsters ‘catch the smile’ and throughout the day at Pheasants Wood we saw every one of the twelve students smiling, learning about fish and fishing and having fun in what is a big outdoor classroom; receiving tuition from skilled fishing practitioners”

For further information on Freemasonry in the Community and details as to how to join Freemasonry please visit www.westlancsfreemasons.org.uk