Rutland Water earns award for accessability

This year’s Alan Faulkner Memorial Award has been won by Rutland Water near Oakham in Rutland. 

Created in memory of the founder president of Wheelyboat Trust this is the tenth year of the award presented annually to the game fishery that provides disabled anglers with the access, service and facilities.

The Wheelyboat Trust is a registered charity that helps fisheries, public waters, groups and organisations acquire wheelchair accessible Wheelyboats. It has supplied 153 Wheelyboats since the Trust began work in 1985. It offers four different types of Wheelyboat to suit different activities – two of these have been designed specifically for fishing.

Previous winners include Chew Valley Lake, Eyebrook Trout Fishery, Grafham Water and Lake of Menteith.

The presentation took place at Rutland Water Fishing Lodge. The main prize was a 4hp outboard motor provided by the award’s sponsors, Suzuki GB. 

Rutland Water, owned by Anglian Water, is England’s largest reservoir at 3,500 acres. It was built in the 1970’s to provide water for households and industry in the driest part of the UK. 

It is one of the country’s most popular trout fisheries and is a fly-only water stocked annually with 130,000 brown and rainbow trout.  

It has a large fleet of fishing boats and in 2008 was the first fishery to acquire the new Coulam 16 Wheelyboat, the Trust’s purpose-built fishing boat with roll-on, roll-off wheelchair access.  

Rutland Water is an important venue on the competition circuit hosting national and international disabled fly-fishing competitions.

John Seaton the head ranger at Rutland Water, receives a framed certificate from Andy Beadsley the director of the Wheelyboat Trust, and a Suzuki outboard from Steven Foy the sales manager at  Suzuki GB. Also taking part are Jake Williams (head of recreation, Anglian Water), Jon Marshall (fisheries manager, Anglian Water), Danny Peet (Trustee, Wheelyboat Trust) and his wife, Kay, and rangers from Rutland Water