TEENAGERS who got hooked on fishing through a nationally-acclaimed police scheme will join star demonstrators at an angling fair.

The four, aged from 15 to 18, are all graduates of Durham Police's award-winning Get Hooked on Fishing project, set up in April 2000 by PC Mick Watson.

They have also helped introduce about 1,000 other young people to the sport. In May, they will help mark 100 years of angling history at Chatsworth Angling Fair, on the Chatsworth Estate, near Bakewell, Derbyshire.

Wayne Collins, 15, a pupil at Bishop Barrington School, Bishop Auckland, is a former junior champion of Bishop Auckland Angling Club.

Jon Soulsby, 16, from Stanley, is a fan of general coarse fishing while his fellow Durham Sixth Form College student Josh Blythe, 17, from Durham, prefers casting for pike and predators.

Phil Farley, 18, from Sunderland, has a reputation for catching giant carp. He is training to be a teacher at Sunderland University.

They were helped by PC Watson, who started the project to encourage youngsters to kep out of trouble by enjoying a sport such as fishing. In its first two years, he involved 200 boys and girls from ten to 16, including 65 said to be at risk of falling into crime.

The Northern Echo supports the project by allowing the use of one of the company's minibuses.

After its success, PC Watson, 33, was seconded to extend the scheme to six other areas of England and Wales.

He has also raised funds towards an angling complex and conservation centre near Witton Park, Bishop Auckland, which will cater for 1,000 youngsters a year.

PC Watson got the Queen's Police Medal in the New Year's Honours List.