Goldfish, everyone seems to start with Goldfish and our club history is no different! It all started back in 1982 when one of our founder members, Dave Scriven, was out one Saturday night. More often than not he would stand at the bar having a chat with his old friend Jim Grain. At the time Jim was more into Goldfish (there we go again, goldfish!), Shubunkins and Orfe and not so much into Koi. Dave on the other hand preferred Koi, so you can imagine what the conversation was like: totally conflicting, but enjoyable and informative nonetheless.

It was after one of those Saturday night discussions that someone suggested to Jim that they should form a fish club. Two weeks later they held their first meeting at the Hare and Hounds to see if it was viable, the short and overwhelming response was YES, so The Hoyland and District Koi and Goldfish Society came into existence.

Within a couple of months the ranks had swollen to 20+ members and they just kept coming, soon a new home would be required for the 200+ members at the clubs height.

The section enjoyed success at the highest level when one of its members, Eric Sida, won the 1991 National Koi show with a 70cm Sadazo Sanke called Mary.

Fast forward 30 years and the club is still going strong, now known as the East Pennine Section – B.K.K.S. We still have monthly speakers, outings to other clubs, BBQ’s and of course the Open Show.

Get yourself along to one of our meetings (for directions, click here »). We have members of all ages and levels of Koi keeping and we can promise you an informative night all about Koi. But not so much about Goldfish!

We look forward to seeing you soon!