Looking for other koi-keepers.

Dear Eric,
I sometimes wonder if koi keeping is something that is sometimes kept rather secretive.I say this because you see an awful lot of people buying koi food, etc but never seem to hear of people in the area with koi ponds. I once asked a pet shop owner who I buy my copy of koi carp magazine from if he new of anybody else in the area who kept koi. He said he did, but there was no way that he would give their names and addresses. Do you know of anybody in the West Cumbria area who keeps koi, without breaking any official secrets act. I look forward to hearing from you
Stephen, Cumbria.

Dear Stephen,
Koi-keepers seem very reluctant to state they have koi because there have been many cases of fish being stolen from the pond. I would not expect the Newsagent, or any shop keeper to give out names and addresses.
There are a very large number of koi-keepers who keep the fish in sort of large goldfish ponds. They seem to have no interest in joining a club or mixing with other koi-keepers.
I do not know of any koi-keepers in your area, but if you look at the The British Koi-keepers' Society you can see if they have any Section in your area that you can contact. They usually allow koi-keepers to go along to a couple of meetings before they decide if they want to join.
Why not put a card in the window of the Newsagent or local shop asking other koi-keepers to contact you. In that way you may be able to form your own small club. That is how many clubs do start.
Eric.