World Carp Classic - Official Global Website
Lake Bolsena 2nd - 8th September 2012

My name is Lee Hellawell, I am 26 and in my fist year at Sparsholt College in Hampshire studying for a degree in Sport fisheries and Aquaculture. I am engaged to my partner Donna and have two girls - Demi and Lauren.

I am a keen angler and have been fishing since the age of 13. I have travelled to various places internationally over the last ten years and have been lucky to sample some excellent breem fishing in Ireland and some amazing carp fishing in Canada - of which numerous fish to over 30lb were caught.

For the last 5 years I have been heavily involved in Commercial style match carp fishing. I currently fish for 2 local angling clubs in my home town of Leeds, West Yorkshire and have managed to win the seasonal league competition for the last 2 years running. I also fish lots of open matches in the north of England on various venues such as Woodlands Lakes and Lindholme lakes.

However, other commitments will prevent me from doing so this year - studying mostly!!. I must admit I havent been fishing in a lot of matches of late through lack of time but have been 'grabbing' instead some pleasure fishing session whenever I can. At least this way I am still managing to wet a line. ( the fishing is soooo much easier in the south Ha Ha...)

Before Sparsholt I was in the construction industry, working as a site foreman. I had been in this position for about three years when I realised that I wasn't happy and it certainly wasn't what I wanted to do for the rest of my life - so I started to look at other options. That's when I came accross Sparsholt. It seemed like the perfect choice as I could take something I have a great passion for and combine it with a potential career.

Although only in my first year and I am loving it. It is by far the best career decission I have made so far. I am learning so much about the fishing environment, fish habitat, water quality etc etc... After graduation, I hope to secure a job as a fish health and environmental inspector, maybe for CEFAS or the Environment Agency. My ultimate goal would to be to offer my services freelance as a Fisheries Consultant nationally - specialising in fish welfare and aquaculture design/management. But all that seems a bit far away at the minute and I have enough to be concentrating on for the fore-seable future.

I have known about the World Carp Classic for a few years now and have allways enjoyed reading/watching the reviews about it. As said, I am a competition angler myself - so I know the amount of effort and determination needed by both the competitors and the organisers alike. The competitions I fish are small-scale compared to the WCC and I have the greatest admiration for the organising staff, ensuring that the competition is a success. As you can imagine, I was greatly appreciative when offered a place as part of the marshalling team in this year's event. I 'jumped' at the chance. I believe I will take a great deal away from this competition and am really looking foreward to the interaction with the competitors and marshalling team alike - it should be a great event.

See you all there - Lee

My name is Jonathan Clifford and I am from Louth, Lincolnshire. I can’t begin to tell you how lucky I feel to be given this opportunity to be a part of the largest carp fishing organization in the world.

I started my life in a little village near Louth called Yarbrough. Life as a country bunkin was amazing and I loved being surrounded by trees, water and wildlife. While at school my brother and I would go fishing every weekend with my dad and friends.

We all learnt the basics, fishing the drains and old farm ponds locally. We would even go sticklebacking it didn’t matter as long as we where fishing. Every weekend would be different, we would go to; lakes, ponds, rivers, canals, drains even estuaries.

I never did that well at school and just felt too distracted, always staring out the window day dreaming about being by the bank somewhere, anywhere but cooped up in a class room. I have been fishing for 25 years and hope to carry on for as long as I am able.

I dropped out of college where I was learning to be a carpenter. It just wasn’t for me. I moved from job to job never settling anywhere for long. I travelled to Scotland working on pipelines as a welder’s mate and learned valuable lessons in team work. I’ve also worked all over the country doing construction work like ground works, labouring, demolition, concreting and brick cleaning all of which have needed team work and a lot of hard work. The wide ranges of jobs have all been great but i just couldn’t accept that, that was my life. I really wanted to do something that would contribute to what had given me so much pleasure through my life.

I enrolled at Riseholme College in Lincoln doing sustainable management of natural environments as it was the only course that had a unit on water quality. This course would help me understand the importance of Bio diversity and sustainability. The two years went fast, and living on campus meant I could fish the college's lake every spare minute. I managed to tempt fish up to 27.10 which was the biggest fish in there. I was nicknamed granddad as I was almost twice the age of my classmates!!!.

I never dreamed in all my life that I would go to university. I ended up with a triple distinction which gave me the chance, so I took it. I had never heard of Sparsholt until my interview with a lovely lady at Riseholme where I was trying to get onto a conservation and biology degree.

She refused my application because my personal statement was all about lake restoration, fisheries and the like. She brought up Sparsholt on the computer and asked whether this would suit me more. My jaw hit the ground after reading about the Sports fisheries and Aquaculture degree. It really would be a dream come true to get on the course.

Nearly one year on I am having the best time of my life learning more than I ever thought possible. The opportunities that are available are second to none. I went to Linear Fisheries for 4 weeks on work experience and was lucky enough to fish every night while on my placement. I had the best time there even if it was in January!

While there I, fished St John’s and had my first 30 at 31.10 and 6 others up to just over 20 I really was on top of the world. I am doing my open water diving course this year and working in France through the summer. So when the opportunity came up to be a marshal at the WCC, I had to everything in my power to secure a place.

Luckily there were just enough places for everyone at Sparsholt so no bribe needed. I feel privileged to be representing Sparsholt at such an event and can’t wait to go.

Looking forward to meeting you there.

Jonathan