I'd like to express my own sadness at this unhappy news. Like S O'P, I'd known Chas for quarter of a century or more and remember him with great fondness. I too have a couple of Chasophones, as we called them: a bouzouki and a cittern. They're somewhat rude and raw in construction (I believe he sourced the wood from old TV sets) but they sound fabulous and play like a dream.

Chas' privately-produced cassette Atween The Broon & Benty Grund (with hand-written calligraphic insert) is another much-loved possession, consisting of enormously lengthy Border Ballads that you'll never otherwise hear sung. He was one of a kind.