Serial fundraiser Ian Darler raises £2,000 for CPSL Mind by catching fish
Ian Darler, a serial fundraiser who is also head groundsman at Cambridge United, raised £2,000 for mental health charity Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and South Lincolnshire (CPSL) Mind by catching fish.
Ian has been fundraising for charities for 20 years and his latest endeavour was the Big Fish Off Challenge at Rookery Waters near Huntingdon.
Sponsors promised to give him £2 for every pound of fish he caught and he subsequently bagged 204lb 6oz (92.7kg).
Ian said: “It was off the back of the [virtual] London to Berlin walk that I’m doing; one of the sponsors at the football club came forward and spoke to me about what he’d been through with his mental health, and then offered an additional challenge to the walk, to raise some extra money.
“He started off by offering me £2 in cash for every pound of fish that I caught, and then three other sponsors got involved as well.
“So it meant that if I could catch 200lb of fish, it would equate to a minimum of £2,000 going on the London to Berlin walk – and thankfully I scraped by with 204lb of carp in 10 hours.”
[Read more: Cambridge Acorn Project delighted by Tesco toy donation, Something to Shout about as Ian Darler, Cambridge United’s stadium manager, completes 3,229 miles]
Ian has been an angler since the age of four and his son even represents England in the sport.