You’ll probably have noticed from the Angling Press that Christchurch AC are to lose the Royalty stretch when their current lease expires. A lot of people I talk to think this will have a big impact on the membership levels of Christchurch AC and Ringwood DAA, in the form of a swing away from Christchurch to Ringwood and possibly a reduction in the Christchurch annual fee. I’m not so sure, because this argument kind of supposes that the only waters that matter are the Royalty and Throop, which is a fairly narrow view of two impressive club books. To be honest I cannot remember exactly when Christchurch took over the Royalty lease, but certainly when I moved down here in '98, the Royalty day tickets from Davies Tackle were direct from Bournemouth and West Hants Water Company. Nevertheless memory tells me that the Christchurch annual sub was still a fair old whack and their membership was at a fairly healthy level.

GG