Shocking news. Full condolences to his family and friends, including all the anglers there today.

He had just completed the draw and had driven to his section, walking to his peg he vomitted twice, but he was determined to continue, he managed one trip with some of his gear from the flood bank across a semi flooded area, but on his second trip he collapsed into the mud and water, fellow anglers said he was dead before he hit the ground.

I was pegged about a half mile away and learned of his demise from Dickie Carr who got a phone call just as the whistle blew for the “all in”.

I did not wet a line today, the match was of course, cancelled, we were all in a state shock, after a while some anglers like Dickie that had travelled a long, long way had a little dabble, I gave him some home bred Gozzers and stood behind him chatting about life and fishing, we all dealt with the sad loss in our own way I guess, besides, Keith would have wanted Dickie to enjoy himself , he loved the river, the anglers and the atmosphere of running decent sized river matches , probably the biggest river matches in recent years anywhere in England, we spoke in detail about the size of his matches only the other day, he was very proud of his achievements.

I believe there will be a memorial weekend held in place of his planned 65th weekend bash, I hope it is a celebration of his life, I am sure it will be.

On a very personal note, I am so very thankfull I got the chance to repair our friendship, he held no grudge toward me nor I to him for past differences, in the end we came to realise we were just two anglers with a common love of our local river and the matches held there.

Goodbye dear Keith and God bless and thanks for all the good times.

RIP keith. condolences to the family.

Oh no. Don’t know what to say.

What terrible news.

My condolences to his family & friends and all who witnessed what must have been a very distressing day.

Keith has worked tirelessly with the landowners over the last 20 years to ensure that we have continued to gain access to some fantastic fishing.

It wasnt that many years ago when attendances mid season averaged 30-40 anglers, over the past 4 years that had increased to 50-60. The first three matches of this year were 85 peg sellouts. A fantastic achievement that Keith was absolutely buzzing about.

For those of you that have the opportunity to fish the river, raise a glass to Fordy, because without his campaigning it is highly unlikely that you would be fishing the river.

I now a number of anglers including Tim Nash, Weavo and Stu Mills tried in vain to resuscitate Keith.

Condolences to all of his family.

Returned to the Yare today for the first time in about 7 years and it has been a truly awful day. I was pegged on 118 and Keith Ford was on 116. Everything happened so quickly and I am still very shocked and saddened for what I have witnessed today. Everybody tried so hard to revive him but it was just too late. I flagged down a passing EA boat and one of the crew jumped on the bank and tried to help he was obviously trained in CPR but to no avail. The Air Ambulance crew did an amazing job to land their helicopter on such a small tricky area and was incredibly professional. In all I witnessed between 6-8 anglers taking turns to try and resuscitate Keith. Just so very sad.

Condolences to his family and friends and credit to all those people who tried to help today.

A very sad day for match fishing.

Only just heard the tragic news, stunned that Keith is no longer with us.

A top top bloke and the undisputed driving force in taking the Yare to the pinnacle of UK river match scene. Irreplaceable.

RIP Scarecrow, condolences to family, friends and all those present today who tried in vain to save his life.
.

Leicester Sensas
KIETH FORD
the nicest match organiser you could ever want to meet he loved his big matches like the nationals he also ran some of the biggest matches of modern day on his beloved yare
a tragic lost to fishing and my thoughts are with keith’s family
arguable one of the unsung hero’s of competitive fishing RIP

top bloke

Rest In Peace Keith…

Im so sad to hear this tragic news. I love fishing the Yare and I’m well aware of all Keith has done over the years, such a loss to angling but most of all his family and freinds RIP Keith.

Sadly I did not know Keith but it goes without saying another staunch volunteer has left us. M<y condolences to his family

Page 3 Angling Times today:
They have printed several quotes from Keith. Obviously the article was written before Saturday but I hope they acknowledge the sad news in next weeks issue.

“I am looking forward to reading the piece”

Well lets hope they do a professional job, thus far their efforts are somewhat lacking, I know it is so very easy to criticise but surely it is not too hard to record the basic facts correctly? Keith told me the Angling Times had contacted him about the opening day match, in fact he said they rang him TWICE to verify the number of anglers fishing, he felt they did not believe him! maybe they did but did not write it down? surely not?

Just picked up on this 10 days late.
I’m truely stunned by the tragic news of Keith’s death.
The man worked tirerlessly to ensure that those of us lucky enough to live near the River Yare could fish it and see it develop into the most consistent natural venue in the country. The King of the Yare series in the 90’s was legendary.
He always had time for anyone who came to his matches no matter if it was your first or hundredeth time there, young or old too. The anglers of Norfolk and Suffolk,in particular,owe him a huge debt of gratitude

The “Keith Ford Memorial Yare Champs” would be fitting. I wish I could be there for it.

Rest in peace Keith, and may your line alway be tight. You will be missed but not forgotten

Horrendous news, shocking. Just goes to show how short and precious life is.

My heart goes out to his poor wife and family. God bless.

Just to say thanks for all the kind words, Keith was a really good mate and I will miss him sitting beside me at the draw, I have promised his family that I will make sure his legacy of the River Yare is continued for many years to come.

Yes there will be another Yare Champs and it will be in Keiths memory, but this weekend is still to be called Keith’s Birthday Bash, a match he was planning and looking forward to for over a year and we will be celebrating his life, the old boy would never want us being down in the face