Record funds are raised from annual memorial angling event
THE 13th annual Jason Piriou Memorial open bass fishing competition raised a record amount for charity.
A total of £7,200 will go to this year’s chosen beneficiary, Humanitarian Aid Guernsey. Founded in March by Natalia Silvester, the charity works to help those effected by the war in the Ukraine.
Mr Piriou died suddenly while fishing on rocks at L’Eree in November 2009. The competition, organised by his widow Kerry, his children, and Shane Branquet, was first held the following year.
The previous record was set last year when Les Bourgs Hospice received £3,220. Mrs Piriou said she thought the amount of money raised this year was marvellous.
‘I think we all feel distraught when we see the news of what’s happening in the Ukraine and we want to do whatever we can to try and help,’ she said.
She said it could not be done without those who took part in the competition, and the sponsors, Shane & Jo’s Pound Saver Coal, Collenette Jones, Viewpoint Software Services and One2One.
‘I nearly fell off my chair when my employer [Viewpoint] said they would donate £6,000 and I’m so grateful to everyone,’ said Mrs Piriou.
HAG chairwoman Mrs Silvester said it was an extraordinary amount of money to raise and she was humbled that her charity had been chosen as the recipient.
Working alongside a charity called Blagomar, the money would be used to buy food and medication in Austria for onward distribution to people holed up underground in hot spots in various parts of Ukraine. The trailer load of items would cost 20 euros to buy and the £7,200 would be a great help towards it.
Earlier in the week, working in conjunction with another charity, Small Feet, HAG was instrumental in getting 650 boxes of children and baby supplies in a 40ft container shipped to Poland for onward distribution in smaller vehicles into Ukraine.
Mrs Silvester said lot had happened in the past six weeks, having turned HAG into a registered charity with a social media presence.
‘It’s a full-time job for people who already have full-time jobs,’ she said.
In all, 56 anglers took part in the competition. Plumber Andy Loveridge took the top prize of £500 with a fish weighing 8lbs 2ozs – the second-largest ever caught in the competition.
Mr Loveridge would only say that he caught the fish at 2.45am on Easter Sunday during his second night of fishing, but not where.
‘This is a good competition as it’s only for two nights while others are for four,’ he said. ‘I fished from three marks on the first night but when I caught this fish on my first mark on the second night I stayed there.’
The anglers who took fish for the weigh-in all sold them to The Imperial Hotel for a total of £192 and all the money went to the charity.
