Rochford Angling Club raises £1500 for SECE Mind
Rochford Angling Club chose to support South East and Central Essex Mind at their annual Charity Fishing Match this September and raised an incredible £1500.
Each summer, Rochford Angling Club’s committee come together to select a local charity they would like to raise money for. They welcome suggestions from the club’s 350 members and this year, a young angler who recently lost a friend to death by suicide proposed SECE Mind as a service to spotlight.
The club’s Match Secretary, Del Smee, said:
““We’re a local club and we work closely with our local community, so we’re always keen to make sure we select a genuinely relevant charity to support with these events. Anglers often describe fishing as their “escape” and we do a lot to encourage young people to get involved and reap the benefits of being outdoors and finding that time for themselves.
“Giving back to the local community has always been our priority and we’re thrilled to be able to share this money with SECE Mind in order to support the incredible work they do.”
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Rochford Angling Club have three fishing lakes and regularly work with nearby schools, to encourage young people to take up fishing. They have also had Members from a local dementia centre try their hand at fishing too. You can learn more about the club by visiting their website at https://rochfordanglingclub.org/
On 7 September 2025, 33 anglers took part in the fishing event, including some junior anglers too! Each paid a donation to take part, half of which went straight to SECE Mind, with the other half pooled for prize money. Further donations came from the day’s raffle, including some prizes that were generously donated by Fils Tackle (Canvey) and Reeled In (Southend).
The day started with breakfast, provided by the club, then the five-hour competition began! Throughout the day, members and locals showing their support, soaked up the atmosphere and tried their luck in the raffle.
After five hours, the winners were declared and they each generously donated their winnings to the fundraising pot. This, along with donations from individuals and an extra donation from the club, brought the total to £1500.
On 4 October 2025, the club presented their donation to SECE Mind’s CEO, David Sollis. On the day, David expressed the charity’s gratitude to those involved:
“A huge thank you to everyone at the Rochford Angling club who so generously gave up their time, money, and stories to support SECE Mind. The kindness and impact shown through this club members to its community, both young and old is both inspiring and impactful. I felt honoured to meet them and receive this donation of £1500!!”
Thank you to everyone at Rochford Angling Club for their hard work on the event, to local tackle shops Fil's Tackle and Reeled In, who kindly donated raffle prizes, and of course to the winners who added their winnings to the fund.
If you would like to fundraise for SECE Mind, please get in touch or visit our fundraising page to learn more. Your donations allow us to provide our life-saving services, including Counselling for adults and children, Supported Housing, Wellbeing Mentoring for young people, Mental Health Training and free Mental Health Signposting for anyone who needs it.