Aspindale - Avondale

[PershoreHarrier]

I see yours has a transfer. I believe that makes it a later rod, possibly made by Peter Aspindale himself. Peter has retired now, but he and his wife still live in Redditch just down the road from the Sports Hall where John Andrews holds his Redditch Tackel Fairs. Until recently they still undertook restorations of their rods.

I hadn't seen an Avondale with a transfer before. Others had all been hand-written in that distinctive hand with the unusual 'A's.

Nice rod!

Things are not always what they seem to be Nobby and that is true in this case. The rod was rescued from a skip in Redditch in the mid 1990s and whilst it was in a very poor state the script, in I believe Peter Aspindales hand, was largely intact just above the corks on the cane.

I contacted Peter Aspindale in 2009 I think and asked if he could restore the rod. He was very enthusiastic and said he would providing I did not chase him to which I agreed. After 12 months I summoned the courage to give him a ring and he said the work had been started but he was not well and would contact me when matters were complete. Some 12 months later Peter's wife (Audrey I think) rang me to say when they had started to refurbish the rod they had fully stripped it including the text and that Peter had intended to re-write it as the original but did not feel up to it and would I mind if they added the Dalesman sticker (it is a sticker and not a transfer) instead. I readily agreed to this.

When I collected the rod just above the sticker Peter had written ' The Avondale' in black ink in a somewhat shakey hand and clearly at the time it was not his usual script and I could detect why the sticker option was offered instead.

I have a couple of letters from Peter Aspindale written just after our first meeting in 2009 in that flowing script which are tucked away in my memorabilia folder.

It is likely that my rod was one of the last Aspindale rods that Peter and Audrey restored and I am extremely grateful for that.

It is a fine roach rod which I use on a local farm pond and whilst it has seen some decent roach it has also encountered the bream and tench that also inhabitat said pond. I like the rod immensely and I feel quite priveledged to have been part of its salvation from a land fill site.

[Nobby]

Well there we are then. It's probably the only Avondale with a sticker .

I had heard that Peter did not enjoy good health, so it might be one of the last rods he restored.

Over the years there's been a few hands doing the rods, but I hadn't known it was Peter writing them..I was told it was his wife. I wonder if is was also Peter who wrote the Aeros and Suredales?.......it looks the same hand to me.

I had thought them the work of the previous generation, but perhaps Peter started youing and had always been blessed with good writingskills?


I thought the same hand ( Peter's ) was also on some other rods......Falcons and Croftdales.