The Motueka RSA Fishing Club is celebrating a significant milestone this weekend, almost 25 years to the day after the group’s first meeting was held.
The club’s silver birthday party is to be held this Saturday, 20 April, at the Motueka Bowling Club.
The fishing group is an adjunct of the Motueka Returned and Services Association, and people need to be RSA members to join.
Several of the group’s 16 original members are still casting their rods into the water, although the club has swelled to a membership of about 50 people. These members include Viv Krammer and Tony Bisley, as well as Pat Hall who joined shortly after its inception, and together they credit the group’s longevity to the fact that it provides a sense of community and a supportive network for its members.
“It’s a social club,” Pat explains. “We’re not just out there to do fishing – we look out for each other.”
Officially, the group meets each month, and members have inhouse fishing competitions or head off on planned fishing trips that are sometimes local and sometimes as far away as Kaikoura, the Cook Strait, Fiordland or Gisborne.
Unofficially, there are various other social gatherings, including a proprietary table at Motueka’s RSA.
The fishing club’s first meeting was held in April 1999, in the living room of Viv and her late husband Neil, who was the club’s first president.
“They all had the same interest at heart, and that was fishing,” Viv remembers fondly.
She says that Neil’s life revolved around the club and that the members offered her huge support after he passed away five years ago.
The group’s Christmas parties started off in the same location as their inaugural meeting, and as membership steadily increased, the venues needed to expand to keep up.
The oldest fishing club member is Ken ‘Doc’ Nicholls at 91, while others have their pre-schoolers tag along to meetings and events. Even members who no longer have the mobility to go fishing are forever welcome in the club, and in a show of solidarity, they still get a share of the fish to take home after the weigh-ins.
“We’ve got one member who just looks at a boat and gets seasick,” Pat laughs. “He does fishing off the beach.”
The club is welcoming new members with open arms, particularly younger people and children, as the RSA and the fishing club are not just for older people, Pat notes.
“They’re the ones who are going to be coming through, aren’t they, so we have to encourage them.”
The monthly meetings are held on the last Thursday of every month at the RSA, and new members are always welcome to attend.
