Here follows an article written by Graham Marsden.
Mabel – Still Able at 85!
by
Graham Marsden
Mabel Perry is 85 years young. She lives in
Earl Street, Crewe, and still fishes three or four times every week.
She doesn’t specialise in any particular species, but simply fishes
for pleasure for ‘anything that comes along.’
I was fishing next to Mabel in a club match
last week and the fishing was slow, to say the least, so with my
editor’s hat on (I’m editor of the FISHINGmagic web site
http://www.fishingmagic.com) I took my chance to wander over for
a chat and see if I could pick up some tips from a lady angler with
lots of fishing experience.
‘I’m happy to catch anything,’ Mabel told me,
as we sat baking under a hot sun, the fish not bothering to feed.
‘But I have caught carp to 13lb and had match catches to about 15lb,
which isn’t bad on the local waters I fish.’
She catapulted a pouchful of maggots to her
float, the Diawa eye-shade pulled low to keep the sun out off her
eyes, one of which is failing due to a cataract.
‘How long have you been fishing Mabel?’ I
asked.
‘Not long, I didn’t start till I was about 45.’
‘Oh, so you’ve only been fishing for about 40
years.’
‘Yes, something like that. I can still remember
the first time I went. It was on a farm pond, and I enjoyed it so
much I’ve fished ever since. I still fish three or four times a
week, but I only go once or twice in winter, specially when the
weather’s really bad.’
She fishes all her local club matches and has
lots of trophies for wins and places. ‘Float fishing is my favourite
method, but I’ll change to legering with a swimfeeder when I think
that’s what’s needed to catch a few fish.’
‘What’s your favourite memory of fishing?’ I
asked.
‘Well, I don’t know about my favourite memory,
but something I’ll never forget happened about two years ago when I
was fishing. I saw this length of hose pipe at the side of me. I
picked it up and it squirmed in my hand. It was a snake about 3ft
long. It frightened the life out of me. I don’t fish in that spot
any more.’
Mabel cast her float out with her usual
accuracy, tightening and sinking the line in a fluid motion.
‘You make me feel ashamed of myself.’ I said.
‘I often have a whinge about aches and pains and here’s you still
fishing at 85 and fishing really well too. How do you do it.’
‘I don’t think about it. I just keep going.’
She answered, not taking her eyes off her float, staring at it with
the concentration of someone less than half her age. ‘I’m under the
doctor now though, taking beta blockers for a heart condition. But
I’ll keep going for as long as I can carry my tackle.’
I felt very humble as I walked back to my rod.
I would like to thank Graham from Mabel's
family for allowing me to use this article which is a fitting
tribute to a very strong Lady.
In conclusion I would now like to share with
you the words that were spoken at Mabel's funeral by the lady who
took the service, Jan Ferguson.
Mabel was born in Market Drayton on April 26th
1915, one of three children in a farming family. It was war and
times were hard. The family moved to the Swetenham area and Mabel
spoke of having to walk 3 miles to school and home again every day.
Her parents were very strict with Victorian rules and regulations;
not much fun, I suspect. After she left school Mabel worked on the
farm, hard, unpaid work as a member of the family. War came again
and Mabel worked as a land girl. It was at this time that she met
Margaret's father and she found herself to be expecting a baby.
Again these were very different times. Sadly her parents were not
supportive of her but she determinedly chose to have and keep her
baby daughter Margaret, a very brave decision in 1941. Mabel took
lodgings in Crewe and when her baby was 6 months old she was put
into a nursery so that Mabel could start work at the Rolls Royce
factory. She couldn't have predicted then that she would continue to
work there for 33 years.
Mabel at her retirement from
Rolls Royce.
After a few years of working
Mabel achieved another remarkable success; she bought a house.
Again, this was really difficult for a woman to do alone, it was
almost unheard of for single women to get a mortgage. The house was
in Martin Street and she continued to live there until moving to
Earl Street 10 years ago.
Mabel gave Margaret a good home,
she was a strict parent who was not openly affectionate but she
provided well for her daughter, they always had summer holidays away
and she maintained contact with Margaret's father, allowing her to
stay with him during school holidays. She has also been a kind
Grandmother; Karon who has been very close to her over the years
remembers the times when, as a working mum she would call on her
Nana for help. Mabel would arrive in her car at 7am to look after
Josh if for some reason he couldn't go to school.
Mabel with Great Grandson Josh
in 1990.
The car is another indicator of
Mabel being ahead of her time. She had owned a car since the late
1950's, again that was very unusual for a woman at that time. Karon
remembers her workmates being very impressed that her Nana drove a
Datsun Cherry with spotlights. Mabel had continued driving until
very recent years although Margaret and Karon were in agreement that
latterly she hasn't driven very well.
So far I haven't
mentioned what has been one of the great pleasures of Mabel's life
and that is fishing. I'm told she was a good match angler and she
shared her interest with her grandson Gerry, teaching him to fish
and taking him along with her. I have looked at the Wheelock Angler's
website to see her picture. A friend of mine who is a keen angler
once said that 'fishing is like life really, its difficult. If it
was easy it would be called catching'. Well, compared to other
hurdles she had to overcome, perhaps for Mabel fishing wasn't quite
so difficult. Margaret keeps with pride the newspaper article about
her Mum, I like the headline '' Mabel Still Able at 85''.
Mabel has indeed been very able.
Gardening and decorating came easily to her and she would help her
family do them. One evening when Andy and the men were trying to
light a bonfire in the garden, it was Mabel who was able to get it
going. In recent years she hasn't been able to do so much but she
has always resisted such a thing as a walking stick and has -
infuriatingly, I believe - been very stubborn about her deafness.
I wanted to use some words about
angling in this ceremony and this has been written by a local
fisherman, Dave Holman.
