AMATEUR fishermen were given tips from top sportsmen at a charity event.

About 60 people spent three days at Brasenose Lakes, near Witney, having one-to-one sessions with professionals and learning how to improve their technique.

It was part of an event held by Linear Fisheries Oxford, based near Hardwick Village, which raised £34,000 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association between last Monday and Wednesday.

Mike Russ, 35, travelled from Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire to go carp fishing with professional angler Chris Lowe.

He said: “It was absolutely amazing and I really enjoyed it.

“I just honed everything I was doing already and he basically just gave me the confidence to realise that what I was doing was right.”

The fishery first hosted the event in 2011 after Milton Keynes-based director Len Gurd’s wife Shirley died from motor neurone disease eight years ago.

Other professionals included Ian Chillcot, Ian Russell and Iain Macmillan.

The event included live music from band Ocasan and an auction, lifting the fundraising total in the past four years to £100,000.

Some £10,000 from this year’s event will be donated to the Oxford Motor Neuron Disease Centre.

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