Disabled angling club in Southsea aim to expand with bid to buy their own lake

The Southsea Marina Disabled Angling Club celebrated its first year of operation last month, and has taken on 28 members so far.

One of the club’s leaders, John Wearn, says that the first year was hugely successful, and believes that purchasing a lake of its own will open up the space needed for additional members.

He said: ‘In the next 12 months we’re hoping to hold our own competitions on the lakes that we use.

‘What’s more, we can take as many members as we want, because we delegate time for each group to go out onto the water in the boats.

‘The dream is to have our very own lake that we can take the children out into, to have a space that they can call their own.’

SMDAC was set up specifically to better the lives of disabled young people in the Portsmouth region.

As well as the increase in its membership, the club has attracted significant interest from other people who are looking to apply.

John said: ‘We have got two lakes that we are allowed to use at a discounted price, which is very generous of the landowners and have our own boats – things are going excellently.

‘We’ve even started to branch out from angling and now do almost all types of fishing.

‘We’ve been fly fishing in one of the lakes and are looking into doing some competitions as well.’

The club is now looking towards the forthcoming year, and hopes to solidify its position in Southsea.

However, it is not all plain sailing for the group, as John explained: ‘At the end of the day, we are a non-profit group, so we have to try to raise as much money as possible by ourselves.

‘Although everything with the club is going well, we could really use some financial support.’

For more information about the Southsea Marina Disabled Angling Club, go to southseamarinadac.weebly.com