‘He loved the sport and the people in it’: farewell to steward and organiser
Christopher Wells, the eventing steward and organiser died peacefully at home on 28 September, aged 95.
Following his retirement from the Army, Christopher moved to Suffolk with his family, where he engaged himself in many of his passions.
He became regional director for the British Field Sports Society in East Anglia. Christopher was passionate about field sports and the conservation that goes hand in hand with them.
He spent many happy seasons working various generations of Labradors, picking up on C Syndicate of the Army shoot on the battle area near Thetford. He loved letting the older dogs teach the younger ones the job and as a result had several generations, thinking each one was the best he had had.
He loved his hunting and he rode to hunt so he could watch hounds work. At the end of a day’s hunting, he didn’t mind how many fences he had jumped (if any at all) and he could tell you how well hounds had worked, or indeed if the huntsman had great empathy with his hounds.
It is through his years of involvement with eventing that many will remember Christopher. He was a British Eventing steward for many horse trials in East Anglia from 1988 to 2002. He loved the sport and the people that were involved in it.
As a steward and an organiser, he was a great believer in letting those running the event get on with their job without him interfering; he felt his role was to organise things around them and make sure everything ran smoothly.
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He treated everyone on face value, and no one got preferential treatment, whether they were one of the top riders or a fresh-faced novice. As far as he was concerned, the technical adviser was the professional, he merely implemented what they advised.
Christopher was also the organiser of the popular early-season event Isleham, from 1990 until 2009. He helped Clem Tompsett and his family raise significant funds for charity through this almost non-cancellable March fixture.
Christopher was loyal to the hilt, a great friend to the sport of eventing, as well as a fabulous husband, father and grandfather. He was married for 67 years to Elizabeth, who so often accompanied him when officiating at events.
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Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.