One of 3 brothers from the Huyton area of Liverpool, Dave worked his way up from the hardware department of Owen Owen to a Manager in the Owen Owen and TJ’s group. His dedication to his work made him respected in his field and few would question his business acumen, and he was awarded the company’s ‘Chairman’s Award’ in 1972. His ability was unquestioned, but his methods were certainly unorthodox - much to his boss’ despair he would wear only what he wanted to business meetings, and sealed a lot of his deals in the pub rather than the office! He had a wide circle of mates and enjoyed to socialize as hard as he worked.

 It was at Owen Owens that he met his wife Vivienne. They married 2 years later in 1964 and had 3 children, Tam (Tracey) Richard and Philip. After living briefly in Preston and Doncaster, they set up home in Neston on the Wirral, and Dave became well known in the Lady Hamilton Pub and many other pubs in the town!

 In the mid 70’s Dave left TJ’s to set up his own business ‘Associated Stock Buyers’, and became a major buying power in the UK and overseas of high quality bulk stock disposals. He ran a small market stall in Neston mainly manned by the dedicated Vivienne, and various ‘one off sales’ in town halls in the Liverpool and North Wales areas where the whole family were deployed as staff. His business grew and he took on large premises in Birmingham to store the vast quantities of stock he would buy.

Dave moved with his family to Worcester in 1981, to the beautiful but flood prone Camp Cottage by the banks of the River Severn in Bevere. He continued to run his successful stock clearance business from the large old cinema in Hockley and set up several retail shops, the most successful being the ex Woolworths store in Handsworth. This ‘monster’ as he called it became the second most successful retail premises in the UK in respect of turnover per square foot per hour. This shop was real testimony to his philosophy of ‘buy right and it will sell anywhere’ as coach loads of people would travel form all over the UK to take advantage of the bargains available in this store.

As David had always intended to retire early, he started to wind down the high volume premises and semi retired in his mid forties. He was able to start spending large periods of time with Viv at their second home in Cyprus in the beautiful village of Ayios Tychonas. In Cyprus he loved the food and weather and  made many friends socially and through business. This also gave them a respite from the threat of flooding during the wintertime, which had claimed 2 of David’s beloved old Bentley cars.

Dave became well known in Worcester town for his sales of stock in the ‘Everything Well Below Half Price Shop’ which he would open for a few months each year. A great character, especially in the pubs he frequented in the Claines area such as the Vine, the New Inn, the Mug House, The Pope Iron and the Camp in Grimley, which he used to row across the river to by boat, Dave would keep landlords on their toes with regards to the quality of their beer and their desire to stay open late! He would infuriate the local pool players with his tactical style of play, which often kept him on the table all night!

All that knew Dave would remember his quick wit and his strong sense of humor.  He was a Grandfather to Harrison, Bradley and Freya, and was lovingly known to them as ‘Grumps’.

 In his later life, David’s time was spent tending the large riverside Garden he loved, which many locals who have walked the banks of the Severn to the weir in Bevere would have passed by. He was an avid follower of Sports and supported Liverpool football club. He was a fan of Elvis Presley and also had the good fortune to see the Beatles in their early years performing around Liverpool.

Dave passed peacefully in his sleep in the early hours of Christmas Eve having battled Alzheimers and a deteriorating respiratory condition for the last 12 months.

He will be truly missed.