Hardy's made a number of fibreglass rods designed by **** Walker; the Avon (a lovely light rod and more tippy than the more common B James cane or glass version) was introduced in 1970 and was still listed in the late 1980's, which is when I got mine. There was also two versions of the MkIV, a standard 1.5lb tc and a stepped up 2.25lb tc. The Matchquest and later Matchmaker rods were influenced by Walker in his consultancy role with Hardy's; he is pictured using a Matchmaker on the front cover of the 1974 edition of Stillwater Angling and again on the cover of '**** Walker's Angling'.
They also made some Walker-inspired fly rods, most famously the 'Superlight', beloved of reservoir trout fishermen in the 1970's. A lesser known lighter version was also briefly available, called the 'Little Lake'. Later on came the graphite 'Farnborough', so called because carbon fibre was initially developed there.
Hardy's also made a few split cane MkIV's and MkIV Avons for a short period in the late 1960's. These are quite rare and extremely desirable; probably the best MkIV's to be commercially produced and far superior to the common B James version.
Phil - your Bruce and Walker Avon will have a test curve of a little over a pound and would be ideal with lines of three to eight pounds bs; yes, it's ideal for tench and chub, and average-size barbel in moderate flows. It might be too much to expect it to cope well with a Wye double in ten feet of floodwater but for small river barbel it's a pretty useful tool.
By the way, B James & Son became Bruce and Walker around the end of the 1960's, James Bruce being the founder of B James.
