Beltack fishing tackle manufactures

[Olly]

Upon further investigation the rod was in fact an Aspindales Dalesman "The Croftdale" - a tubular aluminum rod with patent applied for and built by Aspindales. A good view on the sold items on the bay!

I was trying to point out that several rod manufacturers appeared to have tried this avenue of rod building with aluminum although none long lasting.

[Wagtail]

I have a 12ft float rod by 'Grove Tackle Sudbury' called 'the Light Match Rod'. It has a whole cane butt, whole cane middle spliced to split cane, and split cane tip. It is finished in an interesting dark chestnut coloured varnish, the name etc. all written in white ink.

It is a bit heavy to hold all day, but for stillwater float fishing it is nice and has more power than the name would imply - having landed tench to 4lb+ on it. I'll try to post a photo when I can.

[Nobby]

I think only Aspindales tried aluminium Olly, they had initially approached Accles and Pollock and didn't even get a reply! So Tony Croft approached British Aluminium with his tapers and the short-lived aluminium rods were born. They had some success on the match circuit and were to go into full production until the bank withdrew the promised funding. That was the end of Aspindales third incarnation.

Peter Aspindale had one more go at rod production subsequently and that continued until he semi-retired and just took on restoration work.

I think the previously shown Grove rod was probably a 'glass rod from when they first perfected the shiny 'gel-coat'.

[Harry H]

A few weeks ago my brother in law ask a friend who has lived and fished in Sudbury all his life and he said that Beltack and Grove Tackle were on the same premises but didn't know for sure if they were connected in anyway.
Then the other day I found these adverts in Fishing magazine

[Fred]

I see the Beltack rod has a maker's name on it...Roy.....? If only the seller had shown it all.

The Croftdale rods were built by Tony Croft in Redditch, after Aspindales initially closed down and I don't believe them to be connected.

Nobby that Beltack rod you see on the bay is now with me. There was on other name on it and the ---ROY---- is -----ROD-----. It reads ----The Beltack de luxe match rod 12ft---- and is made of fibreglass.
It fishes very nice, I've just put some nice Tench and Bream on the bank with it.
Fred

[Nobby]

Bit slow again....sorry.


Same advertising style there...could just be the ad editor's default, I suppose. Interesting!

[Kingy63]

Hi - I stumbled over this site whilst searching, and to introduce my self I am the grandson of the founder of Beltack Products George and Ena Cotton.

A little bit of history to help - My granddad George started making Floats in his shed in London after the war and selling them to fisherman on the local river. He managed to purchase some tank aerials as army surplus and fitted these with cork handles and attached rings to make his own rods. They officially started the business from their house in Belmont Avenue and this is where the name came from (BELmont TACKle), selling from a shop in (I believe) Dagenham.
In the 50's they purchased a house with grounds in Ballingdon (Sudbury) Suffolk and had the factory built in the grounds. This was Ballingdon Grove.
Here they made rods, floats and lead weight, later buying in the rods and badging them as Grove Tackle, which was the retail side of the business set up with the 3 children as directors. (my mum being one of them)
I remembe that that the sole import licence for porcupine quills in the UK and so quills at that time were made by Beltack and they used the trade name of Belglow for the floats.
I saw mention of the Tippit float on a post on here and that was invented by my granddad and patented, but never really took off.

I hope this is useful and if you have any questions about Beltack I will try and answer or see if any of the family know.

Paul

[Wallys-Cast]

Hi Paul, welcome to the forum and thank you for sharing your very interesting family history. I am sure there will be more than a few questions coming your way.

Wal.

[Harry H]

Hi - I stumbled over this site whilst searching, and to introduce my self I am the grandson of the founder of Beltack Products George and Ena Cotton.

A little bit of history to help - My granddad George started making Floats in his shed in London after the war and selling them to fisherman on the local river. He managed to purchase some tank aerials as army surplus and fitted these with cork handles and attached rings to make his own rods. They officially started the business from their house in Belmont Avenue and this is where the name came from (BELmont TACKle), selling from a shop in (I believe) Dagenham.
In the 50's they purchased a house with grounds in Ballingdon (Sudbury) Suffolk and had the factory built in the grounds. This was Ballingdon Grove.
Here they made rods, floats and lead weight, later buying in the rods and badging them as Grove Tackle, which was the retail side of the business set up with the 3 children as directors. (my mum being one of them)
I remembe that that the sole import licence for porcupine quills in the UK and so quills at that time were made by Beltack and they used the trade name of Belglow for the floats.
I saw mention of the Tippit float on a post on here and that was invented by my granddad and patented, but never really took off.

I hope this is useful and if you have any questions about Beltack I will try and answer or see if any of the family know.

Paul

Hi Paul
Welcome to the forum
I did manage to find out a bit about the company's history from the phone book which started this post off.
I've recently been talking to a relative of yours (TS )
about the history of Beltack and he was able to confirm my suspicions that Beltack and Grove tackle were connected. He also mentioned that John Wilson and Len Head use to visit the factory and Pele even had their floats.
Also he told me that they use to make floats for Woolworths, incidentally I was given some Woolworths floats by an ex employee who I bought some vintage tackle from although they didn't mention they were made there.
I have some examples of there floats including a Tippet with its tube and patent and instructions for use.
I think it's really important that your families firm has its history written down somewhere for posterity.

[Kingy63]

Yes agreed it would be nice to document it somewhere. I do have some notes from my late Uncle which contains more information, on people and companies they dealt with, I don't remember Woolworths being one but will ask the older members of the family if they remember.
The family are currently sorting all the old stock etc from when the factory closed and they have all the old trade display cases showing off the floats, which I think they are going to donate to a fishing museum they know of.

Paul