In July 2019 the joy of celebrating our 10th anniversary was tinged with sadness with the passing of two or our beloved members – Life Member Tony Bendiech and Jim Eccles.
James “Jim” Eccles passed away unexpectedly on Thursday morning, 11th July 2019.
Left is a smiling Jim Eccles with his raffle prize he won at the July 2019 general meeting. You can see he’s wearing the same fishing cardigan (knitted by Julie) he wore when he joined the club.
Jim, and his wife Julie, moved to Port Macquarie in 2005.
Jim started fly fishing after talking to some of our members at one of our Demo Days at Settlement City. He was inducted into the Club on July 10, 2013.
Jim enjoyed fly fishing at some of his favourite locations to Harty’s Plains, Ellenborough, Settlement Point, Lake Cathie and Googleys Lagoon. He was also a regular attendee at many Fly Tie Nights and other social Club activities.
Jim was born in Southport, near Lancashire, England, at the Christina Hartley Maternity Hospital. He grew up in the nearby village of Ainsdale, about five miles from Banks and five miles from Lancashire.
He had one brother and one sister. His father worked as a window cleaner and also grew vegetables for the family, while his mother—born in Montreal, Canada—devoted herself to caring for the family after marrying Jim’s father.
Jim attended the local primary school in Ainsdale and later went to secondary school in Birkdale. He left school at fifteen and began working for a building firm, doing roofing work with slate and assisting with scaffolding.
At fourteen, Jim and his friends fished for Rudd in a local lake using sapling rods with string tied to the ends. At fifteen, he entered his first fishing competition and won second prize.
During the harsh English winters, he sometimes saw lakes freeze over, with many fish killed by the ice, and he remembered seeing huge slabs of ice washing up on the beach.
Jim met his future wife, Julie, when he was 17, shortly after her family moved to the same village. Coincidentally, Jim lived in the last house in the village, while Julie lived in the first. They married in April when Jim was 22 and Julie was 21. Later that same year, they immigrated to Australia as “Ten Pound Poms.” They arrived at Pyrmont, Sydney, in 1963 and settled in Fairfield.
Jim first worked in a furniture factory, then at the Viscount Caravan Factory in Fairfield and later at its Liverpool site. After 20 years at Viscount—without taking a single sick day—his boss rewarded him and Julie with a free holiday. They flew to Adelaide, then Alice Springs, toured Uluru by bus, continued on to Cairns to visit the Great Barrier Reef islands, and finally returned to Sydney.
Their daughter was born in 1964 and their son in 1969; both still live in Sydney today.
Jim began playing darts as soon as he was old enough to enter pubs in England and has competed almost continuously ever since. His highest “pegout” score is 156—two treble twenties followed by a double 18. He proudly displayed his collection of “180” badges, the highest possible score in darts, and played for a Port Panthers team called The Misfits.
Jim and Julie travelled back to England roughly every five years, most recently about two and a half years ago. They also toured Europe and have travelled around Australia three times, including a journey up through the centre to the Daly River.
The couple lived in Fairfield for 26 years, during which Jim was a member of the Fairfield Fishing Club. Afterward, they moved to Sandy Point near Heathcote in the Sutherland Shire, where Jim served ten years in the local Fire Brigade. Around 2005, Jim and Julie settled in Port Macquarie, where they have lived ever since.
