Borderlines founded in 2005, is a non profit making organisation, our aims and objectives are set out below. This often requires funding from various sources so these day's can be laid on for parts of the community free of charge.

www.borderlines.org.uk

Board of trustees:

Brian Irving, manager of Solway Coast A.O.N.B.

Jim Henderson, manager of Nith and District Salmon Fishery Board.

James Carr, chairman of Salmon and Trout Association.

Instructors.
Glyn Freeman, and Clive Mitchelhill both hold the Association of Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructors Certificate, and Chris Bowman holds the Professional Anglers Association Qualification. They are licensed angling coaches, licensed under fishcoach.org the coach-licensing scheme of the Joint Angling Governing Bodies. They are members of Sports Coach UK the national coaching foundation and have enhanced CRB Disclosure, hold valid first aid certificates and appropriate insurance cover for the purpose of coaching angling. They all live in north Cumbria and are passionate about angling and the benefits that it can bring to individuals from all backgrounds and abilities.

As well as providing private angling instruction for adults and youngsters alike, for the last eight years they have worked with a range of agencies, organisations and charities to provide angling tuition to juniors and adults from widely differing backgrounds.

During their private coaching activities it has become apparent to them that those who stand to benefit most from participation in angling are for a variety of reasons not able to easily access the sport.

To this end they founded Borderlines to achieve their aim to remove as many of the barriers to participation in angling as possible for all groups of the population regardless of age, ability, race, religion or social background. With particular emphasis within Cumbria, Northumbria, Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders for, disadvantaged and disabled juniors and adults, those at risk of criminal or anti-social behaviour and those undergoing rehabilitation from crime, drugs and alcohol to:

· Introduce them to the sport of angling for sea. coarse and game, for free.

· Encourage and support them to continue to fish on a regular basis (with equipment, water access, club membership, licenses).

· Provide opportunities to expand their interest into associated education (e.g. environmental training) and/or vocation (e.g. angling & fishery management qualifications).

In order to:

· Provide opportunities for enjoyment and achievement.
· Develop self discipline, confidence, self esteem and a sense of belonging.
· Build personal life skills - leadership, team work and mentoring.
· Improve educational levels, particularly literacy and numeracy.
· Enhance wildlife conservation and biodiversity.

Leading to a reduction in crime and anti social behaviour, truancy, first time offending and reoffending.

Nine per cent of the population aged 12 and older of England and Wales can be considered as anglers, and as many people again are interested in taking-up the sport (Simpson, D. and Mawle, G. (2001) Public Attitudes to Angling. Environment Agency R&D Project W2-060/TR pp40 ). Interest is even higher among young people, with a quarter of children between 12 and 14 years showing an interest. Half as many women as men were interested in going fishing, although only five per cent of rod licence holders are women.

In a poll of lapsed anglers and non-anglers Simpson and Mawle discovered, the principal barriers to going fishing were identified as:

- Not having someone to go fishing with - this was particularly evident among younger age groups

- Not knowing where to go fishing within an easy travelling distance

- Not having any equipment to use as a beginner.

Research in 2003 showed that among people who do not fish, the possibility of going fishing had simply not occurred to about half of them (Environment Agency (2003). Attitudes to freshwater angling among black and ethnic minority groups. Environment Agency Report, Bristol, pp 67.)

As well as generating considerable economic benefits, angling is widely accepted to be a healthy form of recreation. Recent convincing evidence [ www.ghof.org.uk] shows that, when properly organised, angling can play a very cost-effective role in reducing youth offending, anti-social behaviour and truancy and so raising educational performance.

Yet during our time as professional angling coaches it has become apparent to us that the very people who stand to gain most from participation in angling, the disabled and disadvantaged have difficulty in gaining access to the sport because of the barrier of cost as well as the reasons laid down above.

Simpson and Mawle found that lack of information was one of the major barriers to participation, and so we will be working with others to raise awareness of existing angling opportunities.

Initially our target markets will be:

The disadvantaged, disabled and those requiring rehabilitation from drink, drugs or crime.
But we also wish to make inroads into schools particularly those schools falling within the most socially and economically deprived units of the county, of which 27 units in Cumbria are in 10% most deprived nationally namely:
Barrow 13, Allerdale 6, Copeland 5, Carlisle 4.

Do you remember your first fish? A little over forty years ago, my father took me on the bus to the Bristol Avon at Keynsham. After tackling up and getting the shotting right so just a small part of the tip of the porcupine quill float was showing, I impaled my first maggot on a hook. As an incentive I was to be given sixpence for every fish I caught, I swung the rig out into the stream followed by a small handful of maggots. The float slowly cocked as it swam down the current, and then the little red tip just disappeared, instinctively I lifted and found myself connected to something vibrant. It was a dace of around four ounces, and there it was, wet and cold in my hand. I had found my passion; or had it, found me? After five more, the sixpence per fish I had been given did not matter anymore, I had enough silver in my hand to last me a lifetime. Such is the power of these experiences, and I still get the same buzz today.
That was Glyn Freeman's first memories of angling, just as vivid now as it was then, all those years ago. For the last eight years Glyn together with colleagues Clive Mitchelhill and Chris Bowman have been working to bring experiences like that to more people.

As well as their adult coaching and guiding activities over the past eight years the trio have been committed to introducing youngsters to all forms of angling and over the last two years alone have introducing well over 2000 youngsters to the sport.

During that time they have witnessed time and time again just how angling can improve the quality of peoples lives and not just the participants lives, but the lives of all those around them. Anyone can achieve success in angling, and with that success comes an improvement in both self-confidence and self-esteem. Many people for whatever reason never achieve success in life, they may never achieve academic success, they may never achieve sporting success, and they may never achieve success during their working life. But they can achieve success in angling and with that success comes an improvement in their whole outlook and attitude to everyday life. Anyone can catch fish and go home feeling good, and it is that feel good factor, that sense of achievement that is so important, and wanting to pass that feeling on. You might argue that that could be true of any sport or hobby, we would argue that in what other sport could a relative novice with the most basic of equipment break a national record, as happened when a young angler broke the British perch record only a couple of years ago. There is a level playing field as far as fitness and academic ability is concerned; you do not have to be a top athlete or a member of Mensa to do well. Every angler knows the buzz that making a good catch can bring, it can carry you through the days and weeks a head. We want to bring that experience to more people, not only that, we firmly believe that angling has a place to play in reducing stress, anxiety, crime and disorderly behaviour as well as improving educational performance and the environment.
We are not so naive to think that angling is some sort of panacea, a cure for all ills, but we have witnessed the significant individual and social benefits that participation in angling can bring to so many people over many years.

When talking about junior tuition, we do not just see it as teaching youngsters how to catch fish, on all of the introduction to angling courses we run whether coarse, sea or game, youngsters are introduced to the environment, taught about the water cycle, plants, invertebrates, the fish themselves, as well as tackle, tactics, watercraft, angling etiquette, fish handling, conservation and how to behave in the countryside. We try to instil both a caring attitude and a respect for the environment so that those youngsters will become good anglers in every sense of the word.

If done properly introduction to angling courses can bring a sense of belonging and a caring attitude to the participants that continues away from the angling environment, they do not just teach angling, but life skills, thus having tremendous social implications. Young people are very soon going to be the responsible adults that will eventually take over the helm of the future of our beloved sport; we need to invest in our youth. We believe this is a message those of us working in angling and its allied trades, need to shout from the rooftops, we must get over to the schools, potential funders and let government know the rewards that participation in angling can bring. We would like to see every one, but especially youngsters being given the opportunity to take up angling, We would like to see angling on the national curriculum and available to all, and not just a few schools up and down the country, Karl Humphries has had some success with this at Dearnford. It is not just about catching fish it is the whole package.

Despite the fact we have introduced many to angling over the last eight years, it became apparent that those who stood to benefit most from participation in angling were for a variety of reasons not able to easily access the sport. After talking to many people over the last year or two and after much deliberation Borderlines was born in July 2005. Borderlines is a not for profit company with the aim of removing as many of the barriers to participation in angling as possible for all groups of the population regardless of age, ability, race, religion or social background with particular emphasis on the disadvantaged, disabled and those requiring rehabilitation. The Solway Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty was our first serious contributor, a £6822.44 grant from their Sustainable Development Fund enabled us to take 120 youngsters from deprived wards in Cumbria on to the Solway Firth in 2006 to not only learn about fishing but gain an introduction to this nationally scarce habitat and the invertebrate, plant and wildlife communities it supports, thankfully Shakespeare also supported Borderlines with this project by providing tackle and equipment at substantially discounted rates.

With all of our sessions safety is paramount, this is particularly so with sessions involving youngsters, during the last decade or so several tragic incidents have occurred on school out of bound trips, If we allow coaching standards and attention to detail to drop, an incident such as this could happen within angling, such incidents illustrate all too graphically the need for constant vigilance, by properly trained and qualified angling instructors. As coaches we have a duty of care to provide a safe and secure environment in which to learn angling. You would want nothing less for your own children.

Things are now going full circle, We are now getting youngsters who have attended our junior angling courses doing their works experience with us, some have become very competent anglers, they will become the angling coaches, tackle dealers and fishery managers of the future, we are not just showing people how to catch fish we are casting better futures and if all of us within angling and it's allied industries work together on this, things, as they say, can only get better.

There is a new Scottish initiative to bring 50,000 newcomers into the sport called SNAP (Scottish National Angling Program), the Scottish Countryside Alliance Educational Trust www.scaet.org.uk is running this, and also the initiative started by Eoin Fairgreave called Tweedstart, they all have the same aims and objectives. The object being that all organisations, clubs and fisheries with similar interests will pull as one to achieve that end, not a bad idea!
We are pleased to announce, as we already do junior days in that part of the world, that Borderlines will be working with SNAP and Tweedstart to achieve those aims in the South of Scotland.

Borderlines are also pleased to announce that Carlisle City Council have recently given them use of their show piece Talkin Tarn which is about to undergo a £1 million upgrade with the provision of new classroom facilities. This will greatly assist us in improving our provision of angling sessions and vocational training in both angling coaching and fishery management and we look forward to working with the council to achieve these aims.

We see Borderlines becoming a self sustaining organisation that will eventually be training its own angling instructors, fishery managers, and staff of the future and not only providing angling experiences, but will be angling for a better environment for all.

Borderlines as well as seeking public sector funding are looking for backing from the private sector, they are looking for individuals or companies who would be willing to fund one off days as well courses for schools, hospitals, adult education centres, children's homes etc. Funding is the key issue, Borderlines are receiving so many applications for assistance from potential user groups; they are unable to assist in all cases.

Contact Chris if you think you can assist Borderlines in angling for a better environment for all. 01228 674519 or 07714168939.