Testimonials to the quality of Adcock Stanton Centre pin reels.

MEMORIES OF CLASSIC REELS BROUGHT TO LIFE.

an article by Bob Roberts in The Star

SHORTLY before the last World War Harry Reynolds began making fishing reels. He sold them to his friends at the Stanton Iron Works, In Sandiacre near Nottingham. where he was an engineer. Local anglers referred to it as
The Reynolds Reel’.

It was made from cast aluminium with brass drum pillars and ran on two ball bearings around a central shaft, rather than a centre pin like the Aerial or Young's reel. This made it spin very freely, ideal for trotting on the local river Trent. Harry Reynolds made the reels in his workshop - a simple shed behind his house at Twelve Houses and later at Queens Avenue, Ilkeston. He bought the sand and aluminium needed for casting from the Stanton Iron Works. The brass for the drum core pillars came from a local shop and the bearings from Ransome and Marr of Newark.

Because so many of the materials used came from the Stanton Iron Works, this reel became known as The Stanton’ and is in much demand by collectors.
The war brought an abrupt end to production because the green, or ‘virgin sand, needed for casting was now in short supply, so Harry was unable to make any more reels until around 1942. Derek Reynolds, youngest son of Harry, remembers his dad charging £2 10s for the reels around 1965.

He later offered the option of a black anodised finish to dull the shine of the aluminium of a newly finished reel. The reels were manufactured in two sizes, a large four and three-quarter inch drum and a smaller four inch version, with the options of handles and a check. They would make around half-a-dozen reels each week, then Harry on a Saturday morning, would get on the train to Sheffield, and sell the reels around the pubs, only returning when all of them were sold. Sheffield was then, as it is now, a hotbed of angling with one of the largest population of anglers anywhere in the country, so Harry had little problem selling his reels.

Cliff Adcock managed to keep the name going after Harry was tragically killed in a motor accident in 1968 and the original reels have become classics, much in demand and selling for astronomical sums compared to what they were originally sold for.

Alas, the time came when Cliff Adcock decided to retire. It looked like the Adcock Stanton name would fail by the wayside like so many other examples of fine British engineering. There was no way a precision engineered reel like this one could be manufactured on a production line in a Far East sweatshop. It was the end of the line until Ray Hyland stepped into the breach.
Hylands background is In fancy paving and driveways and as such is probably an unlikely candidate to save a great British brand, but step in he did and his first task was to set about improving and bringing this much loved classic reel up to date and boy, what a job he has made of it.

New reels from Adcock Stanton, carrying on the Harry Reynolds, Cliff Adcock Tradition

Indeed, having been presented with the new version, Adcock told Hyland that he had produced a far better reel than he ever could have.

The engineering tolerances are phenomenal, the materials unsurpassable and the finished product oozes craftsmanship. These are just
a few of the improvements.

100 per cent manufactured, designed, and hand assembled in Great Britain
High grade aircraft aluminium
Solid reel foot with recessed
solid brass label
ABEC 5 precision bearings
Dupont Krytox lubrication
that still works in temperatures as low as -60 C
Polished stainless steel shaft
Quick release spool
Ultra low start up and adequate inertia
Improved clicker mechanism
4.5” and 5” availability
Six fantastic rock solid anodizing colour options
100 per cent reel customizing availability and accessories

The worlwide interest in the ‘new’ Stantons has been remarkable with Canadian steelhead anglers clamouring to lay their hands on them.
I met the man recently and he showed me some of the ways that the reels can be customised including a superb engraving of a fish on the rear plate, plus your very own engraved signature which means no two reels will ever be identical in the future unless the customer specifically requests them to be.

The colours can be mixed and matched. In fact you get a bespoke reel that is only made after you have placed an order. The optional extras include hand crafted presentation boxes with inlaid engraved plates. I can see them being much in demand as retirement gifts because who on earth wants a brass clock these days.

If there is one element of sadness in my heart it is that many of these fine reels might end up on display In glass cases rather than In the hands
of enthusiastic pin’ anglers. Mine, let me tell you, will be splattered in groundbait and grubby as hell when I finally lay my hands on it because it will be put into use at every opportunity

I am buying one because they have no equals. There is simply is not a better centrepin reel to be had in the world and whilst I cannot afford a Ferrari or a yacht, at a push I can treat myself to one of the finest pieces of fishing tackle to ever grace the planet and it will give me more pleasure than I can possibly describe.

Article by Bob Roberts

Originally printed in The Star( www.thestar.co.uk)