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Stanley Aquarist Society
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Logo: Information needed   (email webmaster)
Formed: 1974
Disbanded: 1990
Specialties: Breeding & showing fish, this club dominated the showing scene for many years in the 70s &80s.
Meetings: information needed
Open Show: Stanley Boy's Club 
Open Show Award Cards:    1st Place, Class Cz, 1981
Auctions: Stanley Boy's Club
Members: Frankie Bell, D. Dixon, Alan Howgate, Harry Lake, Norman Lynch, John Middlemass, Tom Sayers, C. Robinson, John Priestly, J. Urwin
Additional Information:
Stanley Aquarist Society was a  small group of dedicated hobbyists who held around 8 Open Shows and attended about 10 festivals with their tableauxs. Stanley area was blessed with good water and abundant live food (bomb craters left from WWII) nothing was to difficult for SAS members to breed or grow on, they were noted for there furnished jars when they belonged to Northern Federation and later furnished aquaria when they joined the FBAS. RK
Stanley tended to have a lot of excellent show fish and built this large stand to maximize the number of exhibits. This picture shows the stand at the Lambton, TTAA Festival of 1977. It went on to be used at most of the TTAA Festivals. Stanley held the first fish show of the year in March. This may no have been the wised time because the Stanley/Consett area was the first to be cut-off in winter and the last to have its roads opened. 
It was always a cold show and the club had to bring in extra, industrial, heaters to cope. On one occasion, I was asked by a disabled member of my club to help him bench. He handed me a flask to top up his tanks which were on the floor. I poured water into the first tank and was about to top up the second when I noticed the fish in the first tank was upside down with white eyes. One fact had not been imparted to me - namely, because the show was always very cold, the flask had been filled with boiling water and not warm - the fish had been cooked. I still wince at the thoughts of this today. Paul Barrow

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