Chris passed away in early October 2000 due to natural causes.
A memorial gathering was held at the home of the North Yorkshire Bluegrass Festival at Silsden on Friday 1st December 2000.
Chris' longtime friend and fellow band member Pete Wraith sends the following:

Chris Metcalfe : Un-civil Engineer, Railway Man, Canal Lover and Musician, the discoverer of Dalebilly Music and the first person to be inducted into the Dalebilly Hall of Fame. 1946 - 2000

Many have been saddened to hear the news of the death of Chris. He was one of my best friends and a musician who was in at the start of the old timey and bluegrass movement in the UK. He told me stories about hitching down to London from Leeds, in the early sixties, to a place he called C Flat House , to listen to concertsof American Music.

He had played music as a lad in Old Timey and Jug Bands on the Northern folk circuit. He played with The Dransfields but I think he said that playing with Roger Knowles and Nick Strutt was the first "real band" he played with but his first serious bluegrass (and country band) was The Chevin Ramblers

The Chevins were Chris, Kevin Garrett, John Bennett , John Savage and Steve Oliver. They did most of the Country and Bluegrass gigs available in the 1970s and 1980s and were founders of the Leeds Bluegrass Club in April 1982. It was about this time that he began to work with his wife Christine, Lisa Nygren, John Savage and Mark Pugh. This combination evolved into the western swing band "Sound in Mind" which I joined in 1985 a while after Mark had left. When Lisa moved back to Sweden to marry and start a family we resurfaced as The Ken Tardley Playboys.

His knowledge of Bluegrass and old Country music was vast and though he ceased to play bluegrass it was still a music that he loved and with Kev Garrett was one of the three of us that started The Yorkshire Dales Bluegrass Festival His outward countenance of a gruff, state-of-the-art Yorkshireman was a studied performance, a part he loved to play, yet he was also a charming, gentle man and still a child at heart. That charming and gentle side was reflected in his style of mandolin playing - charming and gentle.

Chris, known as Carter in the Ken Tardley Playboys, had a passion for Magnum ice creams. He would often confess to eating three on the way home from the supermarket as they might have melted before he got them home. I made up this little scene for him which he would act out in the style of Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" whenever he had a box of Magnums to hand.

Chris holding the box of magnums would say: "I know what you're thinking. Did he eat six or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a Magnum, the most powerful ice cream in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?"

We've had many write tos, phone calls a few cards and letters fromfriends who could not be here they all share in our loss.

The music you'll hear today were some of his favourites. Dolly, Gill singing home place and his driving music from the film Local Hero which often announced his arrival at our house.
Adios Amigo.

1st Dec 2000