It is with great sadness that I add Bob Church to the list of famous fly tyers. Bob was not just a fly tyer, he was an all round angler who excelled in both coarse and game fishing. He was an original at Grafham when it opened and became a legend amongst midlands anglers. His original patterns and articles in Trout fisherman magazine influenced my early days as a fly angler and his later works on patterns influenced my development as a fly tyer. I met him on several occasions, most notably at Cobinshaw loch in Scotland when Bob, Brian Leadbetter and I shared a long liquid dinner following an ACA event. We caught a lot of fish over the two days on one of Bob’s inventions, the appetizer lure.

It was in 1963 that Bob started to write articles for the angling press, writing for his local paper for 15 years. Then from 1972 he wrote for the Angling Times, and that continued for 28 years.
He fished for England eleven times winning in gold, silver and bronze medals at world level.
The Angling Times readers voted Bob Millennium Angler of the year in 2000.
In 2015 he was awarded an MBE for services to angling.