M.A.C. – AGM & Nov / Dec Roundup 2025 – Club News, Notices, Points of Interest & Information for Members from the Clubs Annual General Meeting held on Monday 24th November 2025.
Middlesbrough Angling Club
Annual General Meeting
24th November 2025
Meeting Minutes
Meeting opened : 7.30pm
• Members were welcomed by Mr Jeff Herbert (Chair)
• Minutes from the 2024 AGM were read out
Proposed as a true record of the meeting by David Biggs
Seconded as a true record of the meeting by Tommy McNamara
• The Club Treasurer handed out financial reports for the year. These showed an income of £35314 with outgoings of £46107.
• The Members were advised that during the year 3 members of the Committee had resigned from their posts, Mr John Bond, Mr Dave Horsfield & Mr Dale Conway. They were all thanked for their service to the Club.
Three members were co-opted onto the committee, to ensure continued smooth running –
Mr David Atkins
Mr Darren Watson
Mr David Bennett
Mr Martin Metcalfe has stepped in as Membership Secretary to ensure continuity.
• All current members of the Committee were willing to continue in situ & were voted in.
The Club Committee for 2026 is
Chair – Jeff Herbert
Secretary – Steve Watkins
Treasurer – John Burton
Membership secretary – Martin Metcalfe
Welfare officer – Phil Dunne
Marske fisheries officers – Darren Watson & David Bennett
Hutton Rudby fisheries officer – Martin Metcalfe
Rivers fishery officer – Jeff Herbert
General Committee – Ian Kirton, Martin White & David Atkins
• It was agreed to keep the Annual membership fees the same for 2026
• As no additional business was received from Members the meeting was closed.
Meeting closed at 7.50pm
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After the meeting the Committee took questions from Members
• The Committee were shown pictures of fish caught at Hutton Rudby/Marske against fish now being caught at Lockwood Beck which from scaling patterns look to be the same fish. We are aware of rumours circulating of fish being moved from our waters to Lockwood Beck but at present we do not have a name. Members were asked to forward any information they may have onto the Committee. These are “OUR” fish and if the rumours are true & the person is caught they will be banned from the Club and the crime will be reported to the Police & Environment Agency for further action.
• CCTV is in the process of being installed.
• A question was asked about a toilet being installed at Marske reservoir. A passionate debate followed with many good points being raised including, cost, female members or Junior members who may not be comfortable going behind a bush, it would solve the problem of Members leaving excrement for others to pick up, it was agreed by the Committee before so why hasn’t it happened already, we aren’t animals we should have toilet facilities, should we have toilets on all our River stretches too.
The Committee advised that yes it was agreed in the past but after further research & discussion it was thought to be too expensive at £30 P/W and so that decision was rescinded. All the comments have been taken on board and it will be discussed again at a future Committee meeting.
• The Night syndicate at Marske Reservoir was discussed and if it needs to be changed to allow more Members the opportunity to fish nights. Again a passionate debate took place with a lot of very good points raised including, I think il be dead before my name gets to the top of the list, it’s a shame that only a small number of the current syndicate fish it regularly, we should take anyone who doesn’t fish regularly off the syndicate to allow new people on, we should have a booking system, we can’t get to a situation where the Reservoir is full of Night Syndicate members every weekend fishing for 48hrs, should the cost of the Night syndicate be increased.
At the end of the debate everyone could see there isn’t a simple solution however we are trying to make the night syndicate as transparent as possible and that this is something that will be looked into by the Committee.
Before the end of the questions Steve advised that the Committee is here to manage the Club on behalf of the Members not control it, in other words we do what our Members want. We didn’t receive any letters from Members in time to be added to the Agenda for the AGM.
Thank you to all those that attended
Steve Watkins
Secretary
Middlesbrough Angling Club
- REMINDERS… Please take extra care when visiting Club Venues during the autumn and winter when the banks are more likely to be slippy – nobody wants to go for a swim, especially during the colder months.
- We have been contacting the Environment Agency on a regular basis to keep us at the forefront of their minds when it comes to Fish allocations from their fish farm at Calverton. This time around we have been been successful and will receive the following :
- Marske Reservoir – 500 Roach, 250 Bream, 187 Tench
- Hutton Rudby – 375 Rudd, 300 Roach, 200 Bream, 187 Crucian Carp
- These Fish will be delivered on Friday 5th December.
- Plans are in place to source & stock further fish for both venues.
- Only members of the club should be present on our venues. Any non-members are not covered by our insurance policy.
- Membership checks will continue on all our venues, by our Fisheries Officers, Committee Members and Bailiffs. Please remember, all members can ask to see another members membership card
- Environment Agency & Rural Police Officers have been given permission to attend our venues at anytime and continue to visit Marske Reservoir and Hutton Rudby Ponds on their rounds to check rod licences.
- If you are asked to show your membership card or Rod Licence or maybe just asked to reel in to do a rig check please don’t be offended – it is merely to ensure fish welfare and continued enjoyment of our venues for all members.
- Please ensure all landing nets (keep nets for matches), weigh slings and unhooking mats etc are dry and left out in the open air before fishing to avoid the spread of disease. UV light kills off any unwanted bacteria.
- Please ensure the gates are locked at all times – when opening the first gate at Marske reservoir please don’t use the lock to keep the gate open – this causes damage to the lock.
- Please take all of your rubbish/litter/cans home with you and dispose of them responsibly. Leaving rubbish for somebody else to pick up will not be tolerated, if caught memberships will be revoked. LEAVE LITTER – LEAVE THE CLUB.
- If you have any concerns or issues with anything listed above or any other Club related matter please contact us on [email protected] or [email protected]
Wishing all our members all the best and tight lines for the new year
MAC COMMITTEE
