A fond farewell

Today we bid farewell to David. I find speaking at these occasions a huge responsibility and even huger privilege. The church was packed, the atmosphere was a wonderful mixture of sad loss, happy memories, smiles and tears. And we met so many friends from so many places. Afterwards we dashed down to Jamie's with Alistair & Sheila, honorary grandparents to our children, with Polly our eldest and hubby Matt.

A delightful, draining, thoughtful, satisfying thanksgiving for a man who was never happier than when helping others. David was well known for his charity work, helpfulness, collections of coins, train memorabilia, twin allotments, erratic driving, high energy, great sense of dignity, bringer of respect to occasions and lover of a tipple. A good friend to many, utterly reliable, he shall be fondly remembered and, I'm sure, will continue to raise smiles. The best of us.