Hereford Times article

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Troydog
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Hereford Times article

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Some multi-talented business people manage to excel at several different, unrelated activities during their life. A few of these are lucky enough to combine their passion, their business and their hobby all at once.

One who did this so successfully that he elevated the county of Herefordshire onto the national stage back in 1952. At 5am on 13th September Richard (Dick) Walker caught the then British record carp which weighed 44lb at Bernithan pool, nestling in the hills at Llangarron near Ross on Wye.

The fish was originally named Ravioli because that was the food that Dick and his fishing companion Pete Thomas had eaten during the night. But when the London Zoo decided to find a special aquarium for this enormous carp they called her Clarissa.

Dick Walker wrote a thirty – year Angling Times column and published over thirty books with the first being called: The Book of the Flemish Giant Rabbit. He was revered not just for his outstanding angling ability but for his overwhelming generosity; he helped very many people that he knew but also complete strangers as well. When I asked Dick how he managed to get the time to fish weekends at Bernithan pool he replied:” I was writing articles and books about it; with three children, my wife didn’t need convincing that we needed the money!”

Dick was educated at a Quaker School in Saffron Walden before reading Engineering at Caius College, Cambridge. Shortly after the start of the Second World War Dick was requested to attend an interview at the Admiralty where he proceeded to work on airborne radar equipment.

After the war Dick joined the family business in Letchworth where they made lawnmowers. He became technical director whilst developing a rod building business in parallel. He died in 1985, but 2018 marks the centenary of the birth of angling legend Dick Walker.
Trouble is, the fish just don't read the books......
John Harding

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Mark
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Re: Hereford Times article

Post by Mark »

Lovely article Tim.
Mark (Administrator)

The most precious places in the English landscape are those secretive corners,
where you find only elder trees, nettles and dreams. (BB - Denys Watkins-Pitchford).

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Troydog
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Re: Hereford Times article

Post by Troydog »

Thank you Mark - you are very kind. I think that it was the discussions about the Angling Trust and the Otter petition on TFF that made me think that whilst we cannot do much to alter large organisations or even the political tide towards the commercial side of fishing, we may all be able to contribute a little bit individually to promote the positive side of angling to the broader public.

The Hereford Times article will only reach a few people locally, but there may be other members that could do something apprpriate in their part of the world.
Trouble is, the fish just don't read the books......
John Harding

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Re: Hereford Times article

Post by Crucian »

Mark wrote: Sat Feb 24, 2018 4:12 pmLovely article Tim.
I'll second that :Hat:

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Re: Hereford Times article

Post by DaceAce »

I've long been an admirer of Dick Walker but the article refers to him 'publishing' over 30 books yet many of those books were put together by others after his death as collections of articles etc. which is very different to writing a book and getting it published, surely?

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Re: Hereford Times article

Post by Troydog »

You may be right DaceAce but there is something called poetic licence and sometimes its best to go there for the sake of the 'big picture'. Many thanks for your thoughts.
Trouble is, the fish just don't read the books......
John Harding

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