I only found out about Steve' s passing recently whilst I was researching for a book that I am writing, (it won't be published in print). I emigrated to NZ in 1978. The following are from those memories.

In 1971 a new fishing tackle store opened up, Walkers of Trowel, so off I went to this new store, full of all the latest gear for anything fishing. Whilst at the shop one day I saw an advert on their notice board. Fishing mate required share expenses. I phoned the number and arranged to meet. He swore like a trooper, held two degrees, one in engineering and one in sociology, and the deal was he had the car and we would share expenses. He invited me to his parents’ house to learn fly tying. Steve’s father was a Professor of Engineering at the University of Nottingham. We became great fishing mates and fished together at least once a week, travelling around the midland’s reservoirs in his mini clubman. At the time he was single, he joked he would get married when he found a woman who could fish better than him. His name was Steve Parton. 

I was approached some time later to see if I would run an adult education class for the Derbyshire Education Committee. The course would need a minimum of 12 students to make it viable. As it turned out there were more than 25 that had enquired to do the course, and so I asked Steve if he would join me and we would run the course together. After all it was he that had taught me in the first place. The course was very popular and we had a lot of fun. The fly-tying sessions would lead into other trout fishing discussions and sharing of knowledge. Steve had the notion that we could share our “secrets” because 95% of the guys would only remember 5% of the info. Who was I to disagree, he was the one with a degree in sociology? It was fun sharing though and led to some very interesting debates.

We got to be well known around the midland reservoirs particularly at Grafham and Rutland. People would ask the bailiffs if we were there and what boat we were in. We would hang our cloth drogue over the bow to hide the number, or we would have two or three different coloured hats each and change them through the day so it was harder for people to be able identify us from a distance. We didn’t always welcome company out on the water, although we would always have a chat in the carpark or club house and share our thoughts on the day.

In 1977 the Rutland Water Fly Fishers Club was formed. Steve was the secretary and I was the treasurer. Casting champion Mike Weddell was also on that inaugural committee. 

Sadly, the last time I saw Steve was in 2007 on a trip back to the UK for a wedding, I caught up with Steve then. He was passionate about float tubing by this time. He was a top bloke, witty, reliable and honest. I really enjoyed those years fishing with him, he is sadly missed.