In his inscription on the front free end paper Jack has kindly written: “Swim feeder invented by a member of the Early Darnley Angling Society.”
I was more than interested by this inscription. Could this possibly be true? I decided to scan through from January 1949 to May 1951 for any mention of the feeder. Quite by chance I stumbled across the "Competition News" where it mentioned the aforesaid Earl Darnley AS. The date was August 1949 and it went something like this:
”It is interesting to note that the Earl Darnley were using the "R.F." Swim Feeders, and there is no doubt that the accurate ground baiting which can be done with these swim-feeders gave them the advantage over the clever Waverley team, for they brought 22 fish to the scales to the Waverley's 15."
Common place accessory
This means the swim feeder was a common place accessory for members of this Hackney club as early as August 1949. At the bottom of the page was the advertisement for the "dual purpose Feeder that will both FEED and FISH a swim simultaneously. Price just 10 shillings."
A little earlier in the same month there was a Sowerbutts advert for a 16ft match rod "ideally suited to use with the RF swim feeders and Gentle droppers." So not only were they used by the Earl Darnley AS but were well known to tackle dealers. I turned back the pages to July. Once gain the mystery “R.F.” swim feeder popped up but this time for "Fog Dust Anglers!" The mystery deepened. Then came “R.F.” Feeder Supplies of 43, Dalston Lane, London E.8. Then nothing, nothing, nothing. So July 1949 could be the earliest date that the “R.F.” swim feeder appeared in print.