In memory of Chris Ball
If you are able to do so please donate to this wonderful cause in memory of our and Carp fishing friend Chris Ball
JUST GIVING - In memory of Chris Ball for Oakhaven Hospice Trust
A tribute to Chris Ball
No matter how long one has been around, confronting sad news and loss is never easy. Chris Ball has been my personal friend since the early 1970’s, and today as Chair of the Carp Society, I have to pass on the sad news of his passing, after a short, but difficult battle with Cancer.
The Carp Society has not only lost its President, Carp Fishing and angling in general has lost a great angler, a huge and enthusiastic influencer, writer and angling historian. Most of all the world has lost a lovely person! Over many, many years Chris has been my and many others ‘go to person’ whenever we wanted an answer to a Carp Fishing question and I doubt anyone will ever quite replace him in that regard. That he always gave time and respect to the questions we all asked is to his eternal credit. He became a huge part of the ‘fabric’ that holds Carp Fishing past and present together. I know he will always be remembered by the many who knew him and I’m sure I’ll not be alone in shedding a tear at his passing. Back in the 1980’s when we all used to gather at Dunstable for Carp Society Conferences, until the present times at Sandown and Horseshoe, his influence via Carp Fisher, Carp Talk, Carpworld, six books, talks and slide shows, work with the B.C.S.G, Chris has always been there. Memories of him will without doubt be cherished for many years to come.
Thoughts and huge sympathy to his wife Lynne and the family at what is a very sad time for them. Go forward on your journey my friend, and be assured of the huge contribution you have made and the lovely memories you leave with so many of us. God bless and God speed from everyone at the Carp Society.
Derek Stritton.
(Chris Ball with Derek Stritton at Horseshoe Lake event in 2019)
(Chris Ball with Tim Paisley)
(Chris Ball centre with Derek Stritton, Len Arbery, Kris Ford and Mike Wilson 2018)
(Chris Ball introducing Tim Paisley at the 2018 Horseshoe open day)
(Chris Ball and the late Len Arbery)
Chris Ball Tribute - from Tim Paisley
Writing tributes to friends who are no longer with us is a source of mixed feelings: you are flattered to be asked, particularly in the case of someone with so many literate friends as Chris Ball, but sad that such a posthumous reflection has become necessary. When I started assembling some thoughts about Chris it became clear that it was not going to be easy to come up with a condensed version of his life. Where to start? Musician, writer, author, publisher, BCSG and Carp Society stalwart (President of the Carp Society at the time of his death), successful carp angler, floater-fishing guru, in-demand emcee and auctioneer, raconteur, cane connoisseur, ‘vintage’ tackle collector - and photographer... In the interests of brevity something had to give and I decided to focus on Chris the archivist, and Chris the writer.
On reflection I had known of Chris for as long as I can remember. I had actually known him since 1987 when I met him and Fred J Taylor – and befriended them both - on the same day at a Carp Society conference when Chris was the recipient of the lovely carved, cased, Clarissa carving following his success in the inaugural Society quiz. I launched Carpworld in 1988 and Chris became a regular contributor throughout the thirty-plus years of its life. In 1994 Chris, Kevin Clifford and I joined forces in the launch of the weekly Carp-Talk. It thrived for twenty-four years until it felt the chill of Internet intrusion and fell by the wayside. In its lifetime it had become an institution and unless the world of publishing changes dramatically it will always have the distinction of being the only weekly carp publication in the world. It will almost certainly have the distinction of aspiring to the most editions published by a single carp title – 1231. (A monthly magazine would have to survive for over 100 years to match that statistic!) In 2000 Chris, Kevin and I again joined forces and compiled the book A Century of Carp Fishing, a deadline-threatened project we looked back on with no little pride.
By the time Carp-Talk was launched in 1994 Chris was already an author following the publication of The King Carp Waters (1993). This was followed by Best of the Famous Catches (2012), Historical Carp Waters (2017), Historical Carp Waters II (2020), and the embryonic Ashlea Pool (2023). With his Ashlea book ready to go to the printers at the time of his death as an archivist I guess Chris would not have been unaware that as an author he joins the famous angling carpers of the past who have had books published posthumously, John Norman’s Coarse Fishing With the Experts (1957) and Derrick Davenport’s Fishing for Life, 2010. Add to his published books his contributions to numerous other books and regular magazine articles and it is evident that as the years went by his writing output became increasingly prolific.
Chris the archivist/raconteur was a force of nature. At shows he exuded carp-fishing memories and invariably had a crowd around him listening to his illustrated memories of days of yore. He could talk authoritatively about historical events, and from personal experience of the early-seventies’ BCSG meetings at the Crooked Billet onwards, because he was there, and had a myriad of carp fishing facts and statistics at his fingertips. In my immediate circle Chris and Kevin Clifford were the archivists I turned to on many occasions to scrounge pictures, or check facts. As an author Chris was unusual: in an era when many carp-fishing articles are thinly disguised ego-trips, or based solely on personal experiences, his published work was almost invariably about other people’s achievements.
Chris was a personable family man with wife Lynne being a tower of strength throughout his life. I have enjoyed his company down the years, and cherish the memory of the achievements shared with Chris and Kevin Clifford. Chris’s contribution to life, and the world of carp fishing has been unforgettable. He has earned his rest, and his prolific writing output will ensue that his memory will live on.
Chris Ball Tribute - from Bill Ward
I first got to know Chris, albeit then fleetingly, when he attended one of the early Horseshoe Junior Carp Schools where he held the youngsters and instructors spellbound on the road bank of Summer Bay with his masterclass of how to tempt and take fish from the surface in his inimitable 'Bally' fashion.
Chris's knowledge of our pastime is legendary, with his books, archive, always entertaining personal appearances, presentations and a very appreciated master of ceremonies at Carp Society Shows, auctions and angling events up and down the country. He reset the bar for how Carp Angling heritage evolved ever since Chris Yates embedded the Redmire expectation and excitement in anglers minds, bringing Carp to the forefront of an anglers quarry along with other like-minded 'Dick Walkers'. As President of the Carp Society Chris will be rightly and fondly remembered for his immense contribution to Angling.
The picture below is from an original, taken by Chris's own hand, and I believe to be his first of a tail-walker, saying as much about him as it does now about him being a free spirit.
Kindest regards, condolences and commiserations to Chris's family and friends. Bill Vice President
Tribute from Miles Carter
This week we heard the sad news we never wanted to hear. The Carp world lost one of its greatest ambassadors. Chris Ball passed away peacefully on Monday evening. Although we all new it was imminent, it didn’t lessen the impact of loosing not only our president, but a man we all regarded as our friend.
Upon meeting Chris for the first time, it didn’t take you long to realise you were in the company of a special person, his whole persona just screamed good guy. He was well spoken, charming, respectful, he just had all the qualities you’d look for in a good guy.
I first met Chris about ten years ago at one of our Sandown shows. Chris had volunteered (as he often did) to be MC and compare for the slideshow and talks at the show. On the Saturday evening of the show, it was traditional for the Carp Society team to go to the Chinese as a way of thank you to everyone who was helping us out at Sandown. This particular year Chris came along, and I was fortunate to be seated next to him. The next 5 hours just blew me away. Now this won’t come as a surprise to anyone that knew Chris, but he never stopped talking for the whole 5 hours, give or take a few seconds here and there to get a bit of crispy duck inside him.
There are not many people in this world (certainly not in our Carp world) that you could listen to for 5 hours non-stop, but to be honest if Chris had of gone on for another 5 hours, (which knowing Chris as I got to, wouldn’t have been a problem for him) I don’t think I’d have ever got bored. Of course, the talk was all Carp, but it wasn’t the run of the mill Carp stuff, it was fascinating, and his delivery was only upstaged by his knowledge (and recall). I genuinely don’t think I’ve met anyone who knew as much about anything as Chris knew about Carp and Carp fishing. I remember saying to someone the next day that Chris could go on mastermind and not get a Carp related question wrong if he sat in the chair for 24 hours. He’d start off telling you a story about someone catching a 16lb’r in 1963 and by the time he’d finished that story you’d know the history not only of that fish, but the rod it was caught on and the net it was landed in. His knowledge was, I’d say, second to none. Like I say, he blew me away that night. I met Chris a few more times during the next few years and he’d always come up to me and ask how the fish in Horseshoe were doing and ask if anyone was having them off the top. Surface fishing, of course, being Chris’s main passion.
Following the shake up at the Carp Society in 2015/16 our paths crossed more frequently. Chris was one of the guys who stood up to be counted at the EGM and became more involved in the following years, culminating in him become president, a position I know he was immensely proud of holding. He was also the instigator of turning the lodge here at Horseshoe into a museum for Carp fishing, furnishing it with a variety of objects and memorabilia. It was on one of his visits to Horseshoe that he brought his good friend Len Arbery. Now I mentioned earlier that I thought Chris’s knowledge was second to none, that was before I met Len. I’m not saying Len knew more but I bet it was a close thing, but that’s neither hear nor there, because combined, well, if you knew them you’ll know what they were like together, just phenomenal. They came to Horseshoe together a few times, each time bringing items for the museum and each time they’d run me through the history of each item. I did manage to sit them down on a couple of occasions and record two episodes with them for our Carp Radio podcast and they didn’t disappoint, not at all. Individually they were both fantastic but together they took it to another level. The friendship, comradery, knowledge, just everything about the pair of them together was class. Again, all I can say is they blew me away. If we can take any comfort from Chris’s passing, it’s the hope and believe that him and Len are together again.
On a more personal note, my favourite ever fishing related memory is down to Chris. I mentioned earlier about interviewing Chris and Len for the Carp Radio. After one of the interviews Chris casually mentioned I should interview Chris Yates, my first thought was “Yeah, in my dreams”. But low and behold Chris (Ball) phoned me a couple of weeks later and said he’d spoken to Chris (Yates) and sorted it for me to go to Chris Yates house and interview him. To me, that was like being granted an audience with the Deli Lama. Unbelievable.
Anyway, the day came for me to set off to Chris Yates House, I was due to meet Chris Ball a mile or so away from Chris Y’s house. I don’t mind telling you I was nervous as a kitten, all the way down I was saying to myself “Don’t say anything stupid, don’t say anything stupid”. I met up with Chris B and we made our way to Chris Y’s house. I think we must have woken Chris Y up because after a couple of knocks on the door Chris Y’s head appeared from the upstairs window and said “Hello”. He came down and let us in, Chris B introduced me, and Chris Y said “welcome, let me introduce you to Mr Green”. Mr Green of course being Chris’s first fishing rod (I think, I hope) and probably the most famous fishing rod in history. But what an introduction and what a start.
Chris’s house is a little cottage in a lovely little village, his garden was full of growth and inside the house was very warm and homely, and as I sat there with them both I couldn’t help but feel like I was in the heart of the Shire, it really was quite surreal for me. If you can picture Bilbo, Frodo and Gandalf sat in Bag End, then that’s exactly where I was. We were probably more like Compo, Foggy and Gleggy sat in Nora’s in reality, but to me we’ll always have been in the Shire. To cut a long story short, the day went amazingly well, it was nothing short of brilliant and an experience I will never ever forget. I thanked Chris B every time I met him afterwards, but I’ll never have thanked him enough. Sadly, I’ll never get the chance to thank him again, and that saddens me.
