Whether you’re starting to flies for the first time, a proficient tyer wanting to broaden and deepen your knowledge or refresh your enthusiasm, or a well-versed hand willing to share your expertise with others, The Fly Dressers’ Guild offers you a natural and welcoming home. Our members include many leading fly-dressers and fly-fishermen and women as well as well known authors of books and articles on both subjects, who share their time and expertise generously with the Guild. However we are most emphatically not an exclusive, closed organisation: new members are warmly welcomed and require no qualification or prior experience.
To apply for membership or renew an existing membership, please print and complete our Application/ Renewal form and post it to the Membership Secretary at the address shown on the form.
| Annual Membership Rates due on 1 September each year |
|
|---|---|
| Individual | £20.00* |
| Family | £30.00* |
| Junior | £10.00** |
| Overseas | £30.00 |
| Trade Member | No charge |
* Adult UK-based and BFPO members save £3 if paying by Standing Order. To do so, please complete this form and send to the Membership Secretary, or use the details on the form to create a standing order on your online bank account and inform the Membership Secretary that you have done so on membership@flydressersguild.org.
**Under the age of 18 years on the year of joining.
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IMPORTANT: Please note that the Membership Secretary is a volunteer, has a full time job and a family. He therefore handles applications for membership and renewals in batches. Your applications will be processed as promptly as possible, but there may be a 2-3 week delay if your correspondence arrives just after he’s finished processing a batch.
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Membership Benefits for Individuals
If you do choose to join, here are some of the key benefits you will enjoy:
Flydresser – our full colour quarterly magazine focused exclusively on fly dressing and fly tying. Flydresser is a highly respected publication amongst leading fly-tyers in the UK and abroad, and only available to members. You can access a recent sample copy of the journal here.
Access to the Guild’s national network of branches – members of the Guild can join their local branch. Branches operate separately from the main Guild and organise their own programmes, tailored to the interests of their members. Events typically include talks on fly-tying and related matters by well-known experts on the subject, fly-tying evenings and fishing/ social outings. The Guild encourages its members to join their local branch or – if there is no branch in their area – to create a new branch or meet up informally with other nearby members. Further details can be found on our Branches pages.
Guild Fly-Tying Awards Scheme – The Guild Awards Scheme is an opportunity for members to develop and test their fly-tying abilities against a national standard at their own pace and ultimately receive a recognised award. The scheme is meant to be informative, enjoyable and to encourage co-operation and camaraderie amongst those taking part. Participation is entirely voluntary. Further details can be found on our Guild Awards Scheme page.
Fly-Tying Competition – the Guild holds a national, annual fly-tying competition, with different categories to allow for different levels of competency across our membership. The flies are generally patterns that have been published in previous issues of Flydresser or widely available publications, and the competition allows members to test their progress and get a sense of how their skills match against a nationwide pool of fly-tyers. The patterns for this year’s competition can be found in our Fly-Tying Competition page.
Fishing Competitions – the Guild organises the annual John Watts and Spring Bank Fishing Competitions, sociable events which draw together members from across the country.
Exclusive online content – the Members’ Area section of the website, available to only to members of the Guild, includes fly-tying patterns, hints and tips and other interesting articles. Please see our Members’ Area introductory page for more details and how to access the content if you are a member.
Retail Discounts and Special Offers – members of the Guild are eligible to receive discounts from our Trade Members. Details of our current Trade Members are included in the Members’ Area section of our website and in each issue of Flydresser.
Insurance – Members are covered by an insurance policy giving them £5 million pounds of civil liablility insurance while engaged in FDG business or taking part in an event organised by the FDG.
Lastly, if you are an experienced tyer who feels you’ve learned as much as you need for your purposes, how about joining the Guild to share your skills with other tyers, contribute material for the website and the Flydresser magazine, become an instructor or assesor for the Guild Fly Tying Awards Scheme, or help out at our shows and demonstrations?
Benefits for Trade Members
If you are thinking of joining as a Trade Member, please see this summary of the benefits and ways in which you can support The Fly Dressers’ Guild. For advertising rates in Flydresser magazine please contact the General Secretary via secretary@flydressersguild.org.
Privacy notice
Your privacy is important to us – you can find our privacy notice, setting out how we collect and process individual’s data here.