Known to all as BDAS, the initials standing for ‘Basingstoke & District Aquarist Society’, the original club was formed as long ago as 1954. The founder members who are no longer with us were all well known and respected fishkeepers in their time and a great deal that we nowadays take for granted both in knowledge and systems was pioneered by them. Some, like Adrian Blake and Mervyn Strange, were well known in the world of fishkeeping and others, such as Arthur Marshall, were local characters. All had one thing in common – a love of fish and fishkeeping in general.

The club was well supported locally and was also well known nationally due to its involvement in Open Shows and competitions. Its displays and tableaux were regularly exhibited at the major national shows at Belle Vue in Manchester and Kempton Park and Sandown Park in the south.  It was also a member, and still is, of the Three Counties Group of Aquarist Societies which still annually hosts an Open Show held at the Bracknell venue of Pinewood Park.

The original society met in a number of different locations over the years and more recently at the Wote Street Club in the town centre. Finally due to parking constraints it was decided to move the meetings to Kempshott Village Hall. Following the sad loss of Arthur Marshall meetings lapsed for a period and were then revived at the beginning of 2010 continuing at Kempshott where we currently still meet on the second Tuesday evening of each month at 8.15pm.

The first 2011 meeting of BDAS went very well and those who were not put off by the cold weather enjoyed an informal meet and greet which brought up many discussion points some of which will be re-visited in the forthcoming meetings. We now have a provisional programme for the coming months. The intention is to mix informal discussion with more structured talks. If I have missed anything important please let me know.

2012 programme to be arranged shortly.

The programme is intended to be flexible and will be subject to change as the focus is primarily on members’ interests. Meetings are at Kempshott at 8.15pm for 8.30pm start. Hopefully you are all familiar with Kempshott Hall located on the outskirts of Basingstoke just off Pack Lane. Drive past Halfords, Staples and Homebase and keep going. The turning for the hall is off to the right after about half a mile. For those of you with sat nav or wishing to google for directions the post code is RG22 5HN. For more details please contact me   Andy Pearce on 01252 325686 or 07969 379988 or email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Thanks and we look forward to seeing you all at the next meeting