LINGMERE, Ben Pickup Memorial, 24/8/14 ~ Gnome denies fairytale ending for Lee

Another great turnout in memory of Ben Pickup and the reward was a sunny, warm and flat calm Lingmere. Everyone had a day's sport and banter was in abundance. The return of Pete Clueless certainly helps as he is the main target for abuse. Strange really, but all great comedians need a stooge and Pete is the perfect foil.
Once again, Yozzer's venue experience came to the fore. Despite the threat of a next peg battering by Dennis, who was coached at his peg all match, the Gnome held his nerve and put 89lb 03oz of F1s, big skimmers, barbel and carp on the scales. It proved to be more than enough to retain the trophy.
A win for Ben's dad Lee Pickup would have provided a perfect ending to the day but, alas, Lee fell short, although his 68lb 08oz was still a great effort. He also put a dent in Dirk's section winners challenge.
Dirk Wriggler again produced a polished performance at Lingmere, but agonisingly for him 64lb was not enough for qualification this time. It was however, sufficient to merit a third place finish, so well done to Lord Leasowe.
The Lord's butler, Andy Lawton gained an excellent section win with his silvers-based catch of 31lb 12oz. He too put the brakes on challenge progress. John Edwards psyche suggested another early bath, but as he was drawn at the far end of the lake, the walk of shame wasn't an option, as he would have disturbed the whole field.
The plan was to sit it out and try for (a) 20lb, and (b) a section win. Plan A worked when Sumo managed 25lb, But the pressure is well and truly on now as only a section win next week will be good enough.
The other sections were won by the ever reliable Ian Simpson, with an honourable 57lb 11oz, Cookie Monster with 39lb 12oz, and Chairman Lynch with 62lb 04oz. Well done to all these members.
Not content to chair club meetings however, Spadger decided to 'run' this match too, calling all-in, much to the amazement of Jamie, who hadn't even filled his pole pot, and then all-out when Jamie was expecting another 2 minutes! He was even cheeky enough to supplement the all-out with a cry of 'fish on' too.