Gamages of Holborn

Once upon a time in Arcadia, ladies and gentlemen abroad in the City of London and in search of Fishing Tackles would have taken advantage of their account at the giant department store Gamages of Holborn whose frontage spanned from Leather Lane to Hatton Garden.  There, in a department dedicated to Fishing Tackles and Other Requisites all manner of delights were on offer to the passer-by.  Sadly, Gamages of Holborn closed in the decade known as the Nineteen Seventies and its facade glorious was razed to the ground not long afterwards.

Should you be a lady or a gentleman abroad in the City of London today in the year of Our Lord and Other Excuses for Development 2013 and in search of Fishing Tackles and Other Requisites you are directed towards my stall at Spitalfields in the district of London E.1 which opens every Thursday at 8am and which offers for sale a similar range to that which you might once have found at Gamages and where with solemnity we drink tea in honour of all those who have gone before us in this noble trade.

Insignia

 Three enamel angling club badges found over the weekend including one which was a generous gift from a gentleman floatmaker and incorporates an example of his art.

Field Day

Once upon a time in Arcadia, namely this coming Saturday 25th May in the Year of Our Lord and Other Excuses 2013, I shall be in the company of many good friends and especially my Partisans: Mr. Luke Jennings and Mr. Charles Rangeley-Wilson in the Caught by the River Tent at Field Day , a Festival of Music and Other Delights in Victoria Park in the district of London known as E.9.  There, upon the stage at 3pm, we shall be reading aloud and in conversation summoning up the ghosts of The Duke of Wellington, communing with lost members of Hackney Downs AS and telling the Tale of the Huge Perch in the Heart of a City.   Should you be in attendance we look forward to your good company. 

The National Vintage Fishing Tackle Fair - Next Date - Sunday 17th November 2013

Across Arcadia, in parlours and in makeshift kitchens kettles are boiled, dogs yawn, cats cradle and Elgar is once again on the radiogram as the last of the stragglers leaves the town of Redditch.  And, whilst impromptu signs are removed from lamp-posts by overworked street urchins, trumpets sound throughout the Arrow Valley in thanks to all those who stalled out so stoically whilst outside the sun shone and to those who rose early and queued so patiently before the doors opened at 9am for yesterday's National Vintage Fishing Tackle Fair.   Your presence was gracious and made for a most enjoyable and convivial day for all.  We look forward to reviving the art of the fair on Sunday 17th November.  For all enquiries including those about availability of stalls and requests for handbills please call me on the field telephone, number 07980 274 383.   Thank-you.

The National Vintage Fishing Tackle Fair - Today!

Footsteps

Along the old streets and cut-throughs, emerging from front rooms and factory gates past, the ghosts of Redditch fishing tackle makers gather in silent readiness to shake the hands of all those in the queue for tomorrow's National Vintage Fishing Tackle Fair.   Doors open at 09:00hrs.

Spitalfields

Found yesterday at Spitalfields amongst a batch of postcards an attendance prize dating to the years Edwardia Arcadia 1900-1909 for Capworth Street School in the district known as Leyton.  Bearing a scene to the front of a child fishing in view of a watermill, most notably the card is blank.