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What is Cast 4 Life?.

Cast 4 Life is a fishing Match that Ian & Vicki Palmer organise and run in memory of Ian's late sister Debbie Wilson and in aid of Cancer Research UK.

The event is a 48 hour Carp fishing match which starts on a Friday and ends on a Sunday. It is a sponsored pairs match, all the sponsorship raised goes to Cancer Research UK.

Because Ian & Vicki organise and run the match, raffles and auctions 100% of the profits raised goes directly to Cancer Research UK.

Meet the team behind Cast 4 Life

Ian Palmer 

Ian is one of the Co-Founders and organisers of Cast-4-Life. He is a 50+yr old passionate carp fisherman and family man, who also works a full time job. Ian has been married to Vicki for over 20 years and together they have 2 sons.

Ian lives with his wife and son's in the beautiful town of Bishop's Waltham and Ian feels passionate about trying to do as much as he can for Cancer Research.

Ian himself is a 2 x Cancer survivor and has been in remission since March 2003.

Ian's family is no stranger to Cancer, with his older brother and mum having survived but then he has also lost an anutie and his sister to this horrible disease. Its in his sisters memory that he organises and participates in Cast-4-life.

Vicki Palmer

Vicki is one of the Co-Founders and organisers of Cast-4-life and is 40+ years old,she has a passion for  animals and nature. She has been married to Ian for over 20 years and has 2 sons with him. Vicki also works part time.

Vicki has seen the devastation cancer can cause to people and their families both in her previous role as a Healthcare Assistant and in her personal life. 

Vicki's family has been hit with Cancer itself and has lost 2 grandparents & an uncle to cancer as well as some good friends and like Ian, she has those who have survived such as another one of her uncles.

Vicki herself recieved treatment after the birth of her 2nd child for pre cancerous cells in the cervix. She feels passionately about supporting Cancer Research UK any way she can.

Nathan Palmer

Nathan is Ian and Vicki's youngest son at the age of 20, who started fishing at the age of 7 years old.  He lives in the village of Curdridge. He is a keen Carp fisherman like his dad and has also taken up  keeping honey bees as a hobby. When Nathan is not at work you will find him either fishing or watching his bee's. 

Nathan has been taking a keen interest in getting more involved with the running and organising of the event and has said he intends to take on this role when Ian and Vicki can no longer do it.

Nathan has witnessed his share of the pain and devastation Cancer causes and as a result has the same passion to fight this disease.

Steve Grant

Steve is Ian's younger brother and over the duration of cast-4-life has participated in all but 1 match. In the last couple of years Steve has also become more involved in helping to organise the event as well as supporting during the event where needed. Steve is just as passonate about supporting Cancer Research as the rest of the family, and always tries to find ways to try and raise as much as we can to support their work.

Why do they do Cast 4 Life?

They do it because they feel its about time this disease was stopped from taking peoples loved ones. Their family as a whole has had its fair share of cancer victims so know first hand how non discriminate and how destructive this disease is. 

Ian having survived this disease not once but twice gives them hope that someday there will be a cure and that treatments will continue to develop and get better so that one day this horrible disease can be eradicated once and for all. The matches are a way to remember those we have lost, including the lady that triggered the idea of cast-4-life, Ian, Steve and Tony's sister Debbie Wilson.

History of the event

The event was born as an idea back in early 2012 when Ian's sister told him the terrible news that she had terminal breast cancer. Ian was fishing at the time with a friend, and that's when the idea came to him to try and combine the fishing he loved with somehow raising money for Cancer Research UK and Cast 4 Life was born.

Ian & Vicki held their first match later that year at a local fishery in Ampfield called FLE, it comprised of just 6 anglers including Ian, his 2 brothers and 3 friends. Ian found it was great fun to do so decided to make it a regular yearly match. 

Ian & Vicki held their next match the following year in 2013 and again it was a great success , this is the year the raffle made its 1st appearance and has been a regular thing since. Ian after taking part and marshalling that match decided he needed a break and so there was no match in 2014.Then in late 2014 the decision was made to continue with the matches but to change things up a little by making it a pairs match.

In 2016 they had so much interest from people wanting to take part that the match got bigger, so i new venue was needed. The match was held at Broadlands Lakes in Calmore. It was one of the most successful years and had the highest number of anglers to take part, 2016 is also the year the Bait pool and the Auction made their appearances and have since been popular. However it was in 2016 that Ian & Vicki decided that the match would now only happen every other year as both were working full time and trying to organise the match it was too much for them to do yearly. 

The next match was held in 2018 this time at East Lake on the Chichester Lakeside Complex. This was the biggest year to date and they smashed their total raised by nearly £2000. They not only had 15 pairs (30 anglers) but also raised £5000. The 2020 match was also due to be held  at Chichester but because of the unprecedented Covid-19 it was postponed until 2021, but even with the pandemic still having an effect they raised a total of over £4000 some of which was donated to the Countess Mountbatten Hospice.

The 2022 match was held at Willow Park Fishery in Aldershot, unfortunately they didn't hit the £10,000 target they were aiming for, which wasn't surprising considering the cost of living crisis at the time. However they raised around £5331.73. Still a good amount to be raised. The lovely owners of Willow Park Fishery at the end of the 2022 match kindly gave permission for us to hold 2024 at their lake once again. The match in 2024 had a good turn out and they raised £5000. This means that the total raised since the start in 2012 is now around £30,000.00.

Willow Park Fishery has now become the home for Cast-4-life for the foreseeable future with them again agreeing to the next match in 2026, the venue is ideal for the match on the whole due to the size of the lake, the facilities provided by the lake and also the friendliness and support of the owners Mark & Amy and all the staff. So they are hoping for many more matches to be held there.

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