Sue Galloway BEM, from the Northampton Nene Angling Club (NNAC) tells us more about the aspiring angler.
How did it all begin?
Matthew’s introduction to fishing began at the age of five at the time when his older siblings were members of NNAC. He states that his fishing inspirations are coach Sue Galloway and his brothers. This stems from when they were old enough to be allowed to go fishing and he couldn’t. As a little kid, he had always wanted to fish and once he was finally allowed to have a go, he was constantly demanding to know when the next session would be held.
Since starting out, Matthew has not taken a break from fishing. Occasionally he’s missed attending club sessions due to lack of transport or being out of the country. His love for fishing has been so great that he sometimes refuses to attend other family events, choosing to attend the fishing sessions in preference. At home he spends a lot of time reading books on fishing and watching fishing programs.
Joining the NNAC Club
Becoming a club member was an immense joy for Matthew. Upon first joining, he received fishing kit to encourage him to continue fishing outside of club events. The way our club is currently able to operate is that we get enough donated equipment to give away to budding new members who we feel are reasonable prospects to acquire the fishing habit. When keen kids upgrade and purchase their own equipment, a proportion of the original items inevitably find their way back into the club again, thus helping the next person to kickstart their journey.
Canal & River Trust National Celebration of young people and fishing 2023
Matthew decided to register for the celebration a few days before the cut-off date.
Matthew said, “I felt honoured to have the chance be taking part in such a mass participation event, as I had only fished in a semi-competitive with probably ten people at most, many of whom I knew. This was going to be a much bigger occasion with lots of kids from all over the UK.
The big day came, and he weighed in 0.74kg to come 53rd out of 105 participants from peg ten located at Grubb Street. That is exactly halfway. The all-important Fjuka gudgeon mug was duly secured too, and to top off a brilliant day, Matthew was surprised and thrilled to receive the most meritorious performance Trophy award.
Matthew said, “My best moment was being awarded my first trophy and medal at the celebration, as I had been initially so nervous about taking part. This was because there were so many other people taking part too and it felt a bit scary.”
Flying the Zimbabwean flag at the Daiwa Global Communities Celebration October 2023
Once the national celebration is over, the Let’s Fish team buckle down to the task of selecting teams of three for the Daiwa Global Communities Celebration (LINK) in four age groups. Any sporting team captain will know how difficult pulling just one team together can sometimes be. Having to do it for more than sixty teams is challenging indeed. It was decided that 25 teams of three would line up in the cadets section. As the only Zimbabwean, Matthew was named in the Global Superstars team along with Theo Karadia and Aziz Yusif.
Sue recalls the big day. It was an early morning start, 6am on the dot, for Matthew who travelled to the Shropshire/Staffordshire border with Coach Sue and Coach Sam. As we exited the door, Mum called out, ‘make sure you bring a trophy home.’ It was a horrible morning, the incessant rain hammering the windscreen and wipers working at full blast. A drenched Simon Mottram must have been already pegging out the 195-peg match length by the time we set off.
Matthew initially chatted then slept like a log until we arrived at 8.30am at Macdonald’s for a quick breakfast. He only had a hash brown and hot chocolate. It turned out he had had a healthy porridge meal before being picked up, (thanks mum) He proudly carried the Zimbabwean flag at the flag ceremony at Hinstock Memorial Hall, having to wait patiently in the queue whilst the other 33 nations got their turn ahead of Zimbabwe. As we left the hall, the rain had finally stopped, and the sun even threatened to show itself for the first time in several days.
