The Nottingham Anglers Association was founded in 1895 by a small group of enthusiastic anglers and has grown into one of the largest angling clubs in the Midlands.

Up until the late 1950’s the club remained relatively small with possibly one or two sections of rented fishing rights on the River Trent being available to members. The association took a major step forward when the then President, Albert Whitsed purchased a small overgrown pond and area of land near Papplewick out of his own pocket. Over the next few years Albert along with his lifelong fishing companion and great friend Ken Orchard, Syd West, Ron Turton and other hard working volunteers cleared the pond to become what is now Bestwood No1 Pond. A Memorial to the great man now stands at the side of the pond to remind us of the efforts Albert made for his beloved Association.The Pond was at that time Bailiffed by two local lads, Ron Turton and Pete Tasker, both later to become Honorary Life Members of the Association and Ron the Head Bailiff and a Trustee. The construction of further ponds over the years to cater for an ever increasing membership took the number of ponds to four. During this time other waters were either rented or purchased giving the vast range of waters that we now have to offer.

Although predominantly a Coarse fishing club, the association have also offered members some Trout fishing facilities in the past with the construction of No5 pond at Bestwood. A long standing member, Terry Porter (father of Jan Porter) became a Bailiff and gave many members a great amount of help in learning the art of casting a fly, after about 10 years or so it was decided that the Trout pond would be turned back to coarse fishing, Terry later became the Treasurer of the Association.

Whilst all this work on the bankside was going on a dedicated team of Officers and committee supported the Secretaries that carried out the day to day running of the Association, Eric and Jean Collin, Sandy Simpson and John and Ann Collin all played major roles in taking the Club Forward, in recognition of his efforts, John has now become the Associations first Honorary President.

Match fishing and Team fishing have also played a large part in the success of the Association with the N.A.A. team winning the ‘All England’ championship in 1913 and 1957 (The photo left shows the 1957 winning team with Albert Whitsed as Captain and Ken Orchard, John Moult, Geoff Lowe, Tom Nightingale, Joe Barlow and Horace Storey amongst others who represented the association) the team were runners up in 1954 and 1972 we were also division 2 Champions in 1978. Over the past 50 years match fishing has changed and the 200 peg opens on the Trent at Shelford are a distant dream but our match secretaries over this period (Jack Johnson, Bill Turner, John Zawadzki, Simon McCormac, Brian Richmond, John Johnson and currently Derek Gill and Bob Walker and Keith Parnham and John Johnson who run the Disabled Matches) have all managed to keep the thrill of match fishing alive.

It would be impossible to name everyone who has helped to shape the Association Into the sucessful position it is in now but as well as all those previously mentioned The name of former Trustee Dick Gibson must be included, Dick epitomised everything that is good about the volunteers who run our Association, dedication, Pride, and hard work, but above all, that angling is all about enjoyment.

Many of the aforementioned people are sadly no longer with us whilst some still play an active role in the running of the association. Since 1895 every Officer, Committee Member, Bailiff, Volunteer and Friend of the Association have made The Nottingham Anglers Association the Great Angling Club it is today. We remember them all with affection and remain forever in their debt.

In the attached photographs Albert is seen with the wheelbarrow working on the construction of number one pond at Bestwood and seated left in the photograph of the 1957 National winning team.