It was in the early 1980s that shortly after he, John Jackson (JJ), and David Holmes retired from playing rugby they formed the Bosworth Walking Party and I was lucky enough to be offered a seat in the Granada/Senator "you were only there to see if you could make it". The party also included John Searle and occasional visitors like Willie Duncan. Once a month at 6am on a Sunday morning we would head off for a decent walk anywhere from the Lakes to Brighton/Exeter/Camarthen arriving home after a "Chinese" and a few pints before midnight. JJ always drove-distance no object, and David planned the routes and navigated again-distance no object.

Rarely was there a pub on route but deviations were made if there was any chance. These walks were supplemented by a further 2 trips a year; in May a major expedition to walk several Monroes or a group of the highest mountains in Ireland, in October the Lakes were our destination. David planned and organised everything, JJ drove and we had a spare driver in Bean Thorpe, as a keen CAMRA member David also organised our annual trip to The Great British Festival in London.

I was fortunate enough to join David over a period of 12 years or so when the Tigers were in their pomp in the 90s/early00s sitting in our reserved seats in the Crumbie stand or in some draughty wet corner at Bath. He aimed to attend all Tigers games home and away and achieved this more often than not. His contacts in the South Wales mining community were such that we were never short of tickets for England/Wales internationals. David established a rugby competition in the South Wales coalfield for 'The Drake Cup".

On his retirement David formed a local walking group based in Market Bosworth which is still going strong. I attach a photo taken on one of our Lakes adventures in 2006. He also joined me regularly in my local Bala Challenge walk around Bala Lake.

I valued David as a true friend, a determined character, a very able man who always gave of this best, with David there were no half measures. He will be missed.