Man raises £2k for charity by catching fish

Ian Darler said he caught 204lb 6oz (92.7kg) of fish

A football groundsman has raised £2,000 for a mental health charity by catching fish.

Ian Darler took part in the Big Fish Off Challenge at Rookery Waters near Huntingdon on Tuesday.

Sponsors promised to give him £2 for every pound of fish he caught and he bagged 204lb 6oz (92.7kg).

He collected cash for Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and South Lincolnshire (CPSL) Mind and added: "Every single fish I caught... I thought another person could be helped and it genuinely felt like that."

Ian Darler - who is head groundsman at Cambridge United - was diagnosed with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder after what he described as a "serious accident" in 2013.

However, his health improved, and he wrote a book about mental health in 2019.

Mr Darler said he felt the pressure while he was fishing

Speaking to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, he said of the challenge: "I really felt under pressure because I don't like failing.

"But the fact that we had so many people come along... it's just been pretty incredible really."

Mr Darler said he had been fundraising for charities for 20 years and received "incredible" support from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.