As someone who’s always been a great advocate for getting newcomers into angling, joining them in and getting associated with a club from the offset, this week I had the immense pleasure of attending the Annual General Meeting of the Alliance & Leicester Angling Club.

Joining in as a guest and moving on from the formalities of this great club throughout the evening, I was then honoured with the opportunity to present a huge amount of trophies and prizes that the club members had competed for throughout this past calendar year.

As always, meeting many old friends whom I’ve had the pleasure to fish alongside on many circuits over many decades, and as well as being a member for a short while, this invitation was again simply not to be missed as I too joined in with what is most important to everyone upon being a member, the camaraderie within it.

Taking pride in congratulating everyone who had received honours during the evening, more so to the deserving club champion Colin Pellow, on arriving home, this one also saw me take the opportunity to reflect again on just how important it is to be involved.

For everyone, finding the right club is always going to be important. For some, it may take a little effort finding a club offering benefits like friendship, advice and camaraderie. Others, well that would have to be seen and only with experience will you find one that caters for your needs.

READ MORE: 'Like all match anglers, I get a great deal of pleasure competing'

So on looking back at the success of the many attending and successfully picking up prizes at a ceremony like this one, for a newcomer on witnessing such a prize giving, there will be much in the way of encouragement going forward. But again, essentially finding the right club at the right level is really important.

Clubs do come in many forms. Many years ago there were ‘pub clubs’ that ran alongside ‘work clubs’ which were generally restricted to just employees and if allowed, maybe a guest or family member.

Here I can personally remember my associate membership at Pilkington Glass in St Helens, traveling alongside my late great uncle who was an employee. Useful clubs to join in their day as they often saw benefits thrown in from the brewery or the company.

Then come the open clubs. Here, with no restriction on the number of members who are allowed to join these clubs, although once seeing no doubt the opportunity grasped by the sometimes ‘more talented’ angler who was simply looking for some easy gains when it came to the competition stakes.

Moving on, then comes the large associations where today they still holding waters to their names, these big clubs can offer lots to their memberships which can always be beneficial in many ways and although still offering a friendly environment within club meetings or events being held, importantly they can also carry the protection of public liability and insurance when it comes to accident and injury.

For me, a good club should always have a sprinkling of reasonably talented experienced anglers, a healthy membership and access to a venue in its name and a good clear structure in which I’m sure any newcomer will certainly benefit from joining in.

Check out liverpooldistrictangling.co.uk Southport & District AA at sdaa.org.uk and St Helens AA at sthelensaa.co.uk/cms/

READ MORE: Anglers take a hit with changing weather

READ MORE: 'Fishing at this time of year is always hard'