Fishing In The Stort Neil Riley

A Memory of Sawbridgeworth.

I was 6 years old when I first went fishing at Sawbridgeworth. We lived in Sayesbury Road from 1948 to 1960 and at the back of our house was Chalk Farm, where I spent a lot of time playing football with the farmer's son and shooting rats with our air guns.

I spent much of my other spare time on the tow path fishing all day long. There was a fishing warden called Mr Waller, an ex-policeman, who had a lovely labrador. Regular visitors to the Mill were the canal barges, unloading corn, and the families that lived on them. I always envied the children as they never seemed to go to school.

There was a shop in the high street that sold fishing tackle and maggots and Thoroughgoods, the sweet shop was the place to fill up with Tiser and lemonade.

Very happy childhood there