Lifelong angler CYRIL PEARCE casts his line into the river of time and reels in a fine catch of memories about a unique little shop in Usk loved by anglers worldwide.

OVER 60 years ago at the tender age of ten my father was trying to teach me the ancient art of tickling Trout, the method was to lie on the bank with an arm in the water and when a fish swam by to grab it by the gills.

At a small brook in Llanbadoc near Usk I tried my luck, I felt a fish swim by the next thing I felt was a sharp pain, I pulled my hand out of the water with a very large Eel hanging on the end of my finger. That was the end of my trout tickling career, but from then on I was hooked on the sport of fishing.

My father then took me to what has turned out to be one of the oldest retail establishments in Usk, Sweets Fishing Tackle shop.

The shop was opened in the 1930s By Harry Powell and then taken over by by Usk's legendary fly fishing champion Lionel Sweet and his wife Molly. Lionel won many Fly casting competitions but pride of place was when he became Champion of Europe in Scarborough 1953 and held the title for nearly 20 years.

As a kid I used to watch him practice on the river Usk, he would anchor saucer sized plastic plates 10 yards apart near the far bank and hit them with successive casts from the other side of the river. Such was his tremendous skill. Many showbiz stars of the day such as singer Frankie Vaughn came to Usk for his tuition, and stayed in the Three salmons Hotel much to the delight of the local ladies.

The shop run by Molly was a huge success, anglers came from far and wide to purchase Molly"s hand tied artificial Flies, and as trade grew she enlisted the help in 1962 of a pretty young local girl by the name of Jean Lewis, daughter of Usk Bus driver Harry Lewis.

Molly taught Jean how to run the shop and also the delicate art of Fly tying which Jean still practices to this day.

Time wore on and Molly eventually passed away in 1974 followed by the death of Lionel in 1978. The shop was then bought by to Jean who had in 1973 become the wife of businessman Mike Williams. They have been married now for 40 years and are still going strong.

The first thing you get when you walk into Sweets Fishing Tackle shop is a smile, a cup of tea and biscuits. The second thing you get is a sensation that you have entered a time warp and

are travelling through the history of Usk angling, as you are completely surrounded with ancient rods, reels, photographs, and preserved catches of massive Salmon and Trout caught by Lionel Sweet.

All this has been carefully preserved by Jean Williams (she has had no other job since leaving school other than running the Usk branch of Girl Guides for the last 40 years) and succinctly demonstrates her lifelong love and dedication to angling.

I believe Sweets Fishing Tackle shop is the most nostalgic port of call for fly fishing folk in the country, maybe even in the world, and long may both it and Jean remain.