Lowe stands down after 30 years at the helm

Geoff Lowe joined South Queensferry Angling Club 30 years ago and his drive helped develop a small club into the popular Edinburgh and Lothians Coarse Angling Club which hosts regular summer matches at Orchill near Gleneagles.

The current duties of the 72-year-old include the chairmanship of the organisation and he is also secretary, plus he is responsible for having the club trophies engraved at the end of the season, which is upon us, and treasurer. Almost forgot, he is also a member.

Over the years, membership has ebbed and flowed, but the club currently has a solid core and, in recent years, Edinburgh-based Lowe has enjoyed the assistance of his “wingman”, Tommy Lauriston, who compiles match reports in his own style, takes pictures and provides administrative back-up.

Both are now stepping back to relax and enjoy the sport and so the club are looking for new officials and tributes to the work of Lowe and Lauriston have been noted on social media channels since their departure was confirmed.

Elsewhere, congratulations to Jerry Blythe who beat the existing Sottish commercial match record recently in a memorial match at Broom Fisheries near Annan.

The previous record was 161lb set by local angler Kyle Kirkpatrick at the same fishery but Blythe weighed in 164.12oz on Broom’s Wallace Lake to annex the new mark.

The Scottish Federation for Coarse Anglng pairs match at Broom has been moved back a week from Sunday, October 15, to Sunday, October 22 and the Scottish Ladies Carp Team say they are still £1,000 short in their fund raising for the world championship in France in late September. They have a Go Fund Me page.

PICTURE: Geoffrey Lowe in his office, well it is really his garage, near Drum Brae in Edinburgh. Picture by Nigel Duncan