Eulogy for David Howard Groves David was born on 13th October 1944, to Howard and Olive Groves in Stocton on Tees; his father Howard was an accountant. They moved to Newcastle in 1953 and David always considered himself a ‘Geordie Lad’ David had a brother, Tim, and a sister, Diane .. Ruth went to school with Tim and shared a desk for a time. David attended Westmoor Primary School and later on went to Monkseaton Grammar School. He played rugby for Sedgehill [as a winger], and was as pleased as punch when his son Paul started playing rugby too. David left school and for a time worked in his dad’s office, as a clerk, but it was not going to be his career as he joined the Army at the age of nineteen and became a Royal Engineer. He then set his heart on joining R.E.M.E and happened to tell the Duke of Kent who was inspecting the troops, his aspirations; only to be told by the Duke ‘Pull your socks up man’. David’s other claim to fame is contained in this next story. Sir Ranalph Fienes was Captain of his regiment and used to have the odd evening out away from barracks, having a few bevies down at the local. He used to drive a V.W Beetle and on one occasion ran out of fuel before he got back to base. Sir Ranalph contacted the barracks and had a vehicle bring out some fuel for his car; grabbing the first jerrycan he laid hands on he began filling the vehicle. Unfortunately the vehicle was carrying two jerrycan’s.. one full of petrol, the other filled with water…. David was paid 2/6d to repair the car and keep it quiet. Whilst in the Army, David learned to sail…. A skill that was to be used many times during the rest of his life, and which played such an important part of David and Ruth’s marriage together. When David left the Army he bought a small sailing Dinghy… Ruth tells me that that little boat spent many years in her Mum’s back garden, due to David’s work commitments. He worked as a mechanic for a time, trained and became a Child Care Officer for Dr Bernardo’s and went on to train as a Psychiatric Nurse. David met Ruth in 1971, in a local pub…. She told me that she fancied the socks off him…. but he fancied her friend !!. Still Ruth’s feelings for David remained the same and in the end he gave up and agreed to take her out…. just so she could get it out of her system… as he put it. They clicked, and David proposed to her…. Guess where ??... At the boat show !! …. The rest is history. David leaves two sons, Stephen and Paul and a Grandson called Adam, who loves Grandad’s swimming pool. Stephen and Paul learned to sail in the little sailing dinghy on Keilder Reservoir and have many happy memories and stories to tell about those special days. What did David love ? – He loved Ruth and his family, sailing, walking in the Espuna’s, caravanning around Europe, going to the theatre with Ruth. He loved big band music, musicals, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson and the ‘Last night at the Prom’s’; also, while in the U.K he loved his dogs, although they never kept one in Spain, due to the sailing. It was David’s dream to own a big boat, and that dream came true in 2001 after being left some finances by Ruth’s Grandma Lotte they bought their dream boat and called her ‘Lotte’. Lotte was moored in Majorca until 2007, when with the help of his friend John, Lotte was brought over to mainland Spain. Ruth say’s that it was part of ‘The Grand Plan’ and their move to Spain on April 25th 2005, enabled them to be near to Lotte. They joined as members of SAMM [Sailing Association of Mar Menor], and also joined MABS after the sad death of their friend John. What did David dislike ? … He certainly did not like dishonesty… he also did not like vegetables or gravy. Another thing that really annoyed him was guy’s who stole his bonfire wood. Every run up to Bonfire Night was the same…. a fued ignited with the father of one of his son Paul’s friends and David would patrol and guard his bonfire wood….. you could make a hit TV programme about this could’nt you? David and Ruth sailed in many areas of the world including circumnavigating the Balearic Islands, the Grenadines and the Ionian Islands and Cabrera [South east of Majorca]. They truly enjoyed their times together on the boat and always returned to port ‘The best of friends’ Ruth has asked me to thank everyone who has stood by her during this very difficult time. She thanks you for your wonderful love towards her and has been amazed and truly humbled by your support for her in her time of need. Thank you, thank you so much, everyone. David dreamed big dreams and realised many of them…. It was next stop ‘Everest’.That was the kind of man he was. He was, as was said to me on Saturday, ‘A one in a million Father’ – God bless you David.