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David was our ‘Best Man’, as he was to Alan & Jean, also Godfather to our
youngest daughter and Alan’s daughter. This close friendship lasted for the
best part of 30 years, but in the 90s we drifted apart, although it was not
without trying on our behalf but sadly after David resigned from the Club and
he became a bit of a loner and we only had infrequent contact. Apart from
his reasons for leaving the club he later had serious bike accident which I
believe also contributed to his drifting away from his old mates.

Memories flood back as I am writing this and I well remember a day in 1988
when David drove to Essex to support me in a Eastern Counties ’25, still in
my quest to ‘get under’. He had not intimated that he would be there, which
was his trait, but greatly appreciated by me. On that day it was extremely
windy and I had asked another club member who was also riding, (there was
about 9 De Laune riders, Tony Peachey was one), “what’s it like out there,
what time did you do?” Back came a supercilious remark, “that’s for me to
know and you to find out”. This upset me and made me angry and went a
good way in making me ride with a great deal of aggression. Unbeknown to
me David had heard this remark and on my return from the turn there was
David holding a large piece of cardboard with the rider in questions time on
it. I gave thumbs up to David and I ended up beating this other member by 2
¾ minutes, I had never beat him before. That was Dave, a great mate, always
there.

David worked tirelessly for the club over many years. He promoted the
National ‘50’ on the Worthing Road, which was won by Pete Wells putting Alf
Engers into 2 nd place. Dave even got George Wood over from Brighton to erect
scaffolding for a platform for the presentation. Everything David did had to
be 101%, nothing less, every aspect in his organisation was meticulously
examined, no stone left unturned. When he was promoting an open event for
the club the field had to be laid out ensuring it conformed to the R.T.T.C.
suggested format. I have been at his house when the front room floor had
entry forms strategically placed on it, then shuffled a number of times before
he was absolutely sure the field was finalised in the best way possible.

He also did the handicapping for the club open events, and whilst it is normally

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