"The Redmire Pool 20 Club"
On 1st February 2017 Fennel wrote 20 letters telling a short story of his love for Redmire Pool. The letters were written in ink made from Redmire water, and were penned to commemmorate 21 years of Fennel's Priory.
As a 'special edition' of Fennel's Journal, they were a return to the Journal's origins – which was originally sent in this manner. It took a whole day to write them, and a further day for Fennel's hand to recover from writer's cramp, but the effort was worth it. It was, after all, a gesture of friendship. The recipients became known as 'The 20 Club' – each the guardian of a small piece of Redmire Pool and the DNA of Fennel's Journal.
The Redmire Pool letter
Here's a copy of the letter (there's a transcript below, along with a list of the Friends who received it):
Transcript
If you can't decypher the handwriting, it says:
Dear Friend
“Follow the wind,” said Chris as he gave me instructions of how to fish at Redmire Pool, “and you’ll find the carp.” Wise words from the carp record holder. But what I actually heard, and felt in my heart, was that I should ‘follow the wind that blows’ in order to fulfil my dreams.
I did follow the wind, to the famous Willow Pitch, and – as fortune would have it – I caught my first-ever twenty pounder on my very first cast into the legendary pool. Weighing 20lb 2oz, the common carp proved that Redmire Magic really does exist.
And it exists here, too, contained within these words – in this very ink. I made this ink today from water collected from Redmire Pool, and am sending you this letter to ensure that you will always own a little piece of Redmire.
The lake itself is up for sale, so who knows whether we’ll ever be able to fish there again. But you’ll always have this letter as proof that dreams exist for our well-being and safekeeping.
It’s always a ‘red letter day’ a Redmire.
Fondest fishes
Fennel
The Redmire Pool 20 Club
The recipients of the letters, known as The Redmire Pool 20 Club, were as follows:
- John 'Stan' Summers
- Andy 'Cornish' Roberts
- (31.04) Shaun 'Bengal' Harrison
- (44) Nigel 'Snape' Evans
- (51.08) Stuart 'SK' Harris
- Tim 'Vintner' Pike
- Peter 'Teifi' Whipp
- John 'Hermit' Haynes
- Scott 'Overbeck' Winstanley
- (First double) Chris 'Purdey' Robinson
- Ed 'Norton' Whitby
- Les 'Teme Lad' Darlington
- Martin 'Northmoor' Herrington
- Edward 'Putnam' Barder
- (Mid-double) Jakobus 'Jake' Durstewitz
- Alan 'Pilgrim' Schenk
- Kevin 'Tenor' Wilmott
- Steve 'Durham' Cullen
- David 'Hartington' Preece
- (20.02) Bob 'Brookes' Brookes (so good they named him twice)
If you like this blog, and fancy making writing ink of your own, then you might like The Magic Within – a chapter taken from Fennel's book A Writer's Year. You might also like his books Wild Carp and Traditional Angling.
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