ALMOST 80 anglers from places as far afield as Birmingham, Northampton, Liverpool and Ilfracombe, joined a strong local contingent at Red Hill fishery, Monmouth to contest the Dennis Powell Memorial match.

In a nice touch, young Jack Powell (Dennis Powell's grandson) was in the line-up.

The match was arranged by local angler Steve Allen and Match Aid chief organiser, Richard Anderson, who has been responsible for a series of contests throughout the UK aimed at encouraging youngsters to fish.

The object of the day was to raise funds for Cancer Research and Junior Match Aid and, thanks to the kind support of Colin Miles, owner of Red Hill fishery, and the anglers themselves, more than £750 was raised.

There was also the small matter of a fishing match which was spread over four lakes at the complex, and four of the top five were on different lakes. The overall prize was won by Bob Giles (left) who romped away to the trophy with a 132 lb catch of sizeable carp from Penny's lake.

In runner-up spot, was Paul Clayton who took 73 lbs to the scales from a peg on Tilly's pool, with Andrew Mumford third from a peg on Sophie's.

Top junior, and fifth overall, was Liam Griffiths who took 42 lbs of carp from peg 2 on Molly's pool.

The top three juniors – Liam, Andrew Cranston and James Allen (son of Steve), all qualified for the Match Aid Champion of Champions match at Cudmore Arena in Staffordshire.

In fact six of the juniors on show are England trialists, which is testament to the quality of the field.