See also

Family of David HEARD and PRIVATE

Husband: David HEARD (1949-2017)
Wife: PRIVATE ( - )
Children: PRIVATE ( - )
PRIVATE ( - )

Husband: David HEARD

Name: David HEARD
Sex: Male
Name Prefix: Mr
Father: Dennis HEARD (1918-2001)
Mother: Florence Eileen CONBEER (1920-2014)
Birth 22 Jul 1949 Crediton , Devon, England
Occupation Local Authority Planning Officer
Death 27 April 2017 Exeter, Devon, England
  Cause: Cancer  
  Address: Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital  

Wife: PRIVATE

Name: PRIVATE
Sex: Female
Father: -
Mother: -

Child 1: PRIVATE

Name: PRIVATE
Sex: Male

Child 2: PRIVATE

Name: PRIVATE
Sex: Female

Note on Husband: David HEARD

David Heard's Eulogy, from his funeral 12 May 1917. David – the early years written by Geoff ..........

My brother David was born in Crediton in July 1949 and went to school at Hayward’s and Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Crediton.

Dave and I had a happy childhood and particularly enjoyed the summers with weekend visits to Sandy Bay, Dawlish Warren or Exmouth meeting up with cousins, aunties and uncles. This happened most weekends regardless of the weather and I know Dave and I had happy memories of playing on the beach and swimming in the sea, which was often very cold.

Holidays were always a week or two in a caravan usually in Devon or Cornwall but later on further afield, often with the wider family. I am sure that these holidays and trips gave Dave his love of Cornwall and nature.
 

Christmases were also family affairs at pubs run by an Aunt and Uncle, at the Artichoke at Christow and the Bishop at Bishopsteignton. Playing cards was taken very seriously by some members of the family, playing for stakes of old pennies after the Christmas lunch.

Life growing up in Crediton was not all play and holidays. Dave did very well at school and lifelong interests began there with a love of hockey and sport in general, bird watching and art. He gained ‘O’ and ‘A’ Levels with good grades to get a place at Nottingham University to study Architecture. After getting an honours degree he decided that he wanted to become a Town Planner, not an Architect, and got his first job with Dudley Borough Council.

 

And this is now continued by Bev...

In 1972, I joined the same council, working alongside Dave and another colleague, Peter. I remember long conversations about birds, holidays and music which both the boys were keen on and them dashing off to local record shops during their lunch-breaks to see what bargains they could find. This led to rather interesting tastes in their music!

In 1974, we married in my home town in South Wales, me having now trained as a teacher and Dave having gained his Diploma in Town Planning. Earlier that year, Dave had bought a mini car from one of the Exeter City Footballers who used to lodge with his Aunty Marge, to replace a Triumph Herald whose bottom had literally dropped out! All was fine until we took it through the car wash to wash off the wedding decorations, when we found it leaked like a sieve and were as wet sitting inside it as we would have been standing outside! Undeterred we set off and enjoyed our honeymoon in the Lake District and on the Isle of Arran in Scotland.

A year later, we moved to West Somerset, where Dave became the Deputy Planning Officer at the District Council, taking over as the Chief Officer some years later, roles which earned him the respect of colleagues in both West Somerset and Somerset County Council over his time there.

Our first home was in the pretty little village of Sampford Brett and in 1981, we moved to Kilve to the house which became our family home for over 20 years and where Christopher and Caroline grew up.

 

Life in Kilve was never dull and Dave became involved in village life, as a member of the Village Hall Committee, the church and Round Table which held its meetings in the pub! With easy access to the Quantock Hills and Kilve beach, a lot of time was spent walking, cycling and pootling around the rocks hunting for fossils. At Christmas there was often a panto and Dave would be asked to paint the scenery. This involved draping yards of fabric around the walls of the garage upon which Dave painted various scenes. One of the shows was The Pied Piper of Hamelin in which some of the village children were the rats and Chris was King Rat.

Dave had joined Minehead Men’s Hockey Club when we moved to Somerset, initially as a player and, as time went on, becoming more involved with its running as Secretary and Fixtures Secretary and, in later years, umpiring. In the Club’s early years, games were played on the beach, moving to a grass pitch and, in1992, he was instrumental in getting permission to build a synthetic turf pitch at West Somerset Community School, which was a huge boost to the club. Many youngsters became involved in the sport including Caroline, who, much to Dave’s delight and pride, played for the school, the club, Somerset County and Manchester University.

He enjoyed sport generally and inherited a keen interest in rugby from his father. He loved going to a live match and, with his Welsh connections, often went to see Internationals and club games in Cardiff. More recently he followed Exeter Chiefs and was delighted to see their progress.

At school, Dave had been influenced by his art teacher, developing a particular interest in lino and wood-block printing which he did at home and also at the Art College in Taunton, with a group of printers called ‘Print South-West’. They held a number of exhibitions over the years and the family are pleased to have his prints to remember his wonderful talent.

In 2003, Dave started a new job in North Devon and, after commuting weekly for about 6 months, we took the difficult decision to move house, doing so in 2004 to the village of Bishops Tawton near Barnstaple.

In North Devon, Dave’s art took a different direction as he took up life drawing and he also enjoyed regular trips to Lundy for bird-watching. Another life-long interest had been photography but always done as an individual, so, when the opportunity to join the North Devon Camera Club arose, he took it. A highlight of his membership was a trip we both did with Peter, Sue and Trish to Marrakesh, a holiday remembered fondly for the extraordinary experience.

In 2009, for his 60th birthday, I arranged to take Dave to see his musical hero, Van Morrison, at the Millenium Theatre in Cardiff but didn’t tell him where he was going. When we arrived, all we could see were posters for ‘Cinderella’ and Dave started to get quite worried but once we got to the entrance all was revealed and he was a VERY HAPPY MAN!!! We also enjoyed our first cruise, visiting the Baltic countries, which led to several other cruise holidays in subsequent years.

After 8 years in North Devon, in 2012, we decided to retire and did so within 2 days of each other. 3 weeks later, in late August, we moved to Cornwall, which had been our long-term plan. We found a lovely house with an acre of garden which we’ve worked hard on in the last 4 years and it’s been looking beautiful this spring with the daffodils and cherry blossom. This meant we had joined Chris, who’d been in living in Cornwall for a few years ahead of us, having got a job at an architect’s firm in Truro. Dave was really pleased that Chris had followed his heart and took a great interest in the projects Chris was working on.

With more time on his hands, Dave took full advantage. He was a key member of Truro Camera Club, taking hundreds of photos for competitions and exhibitions and with Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s Sea-Watch Team, he recorded sea-life from various coastal locations. He continued to develop his artistic skills sketching outdoors in the field and recently joined a water-colour group which he was enjoying. He also discovered reading for pleasure, which he hadn’t done while he was working, as he had so much dry stuff to read for work. And what made him even happier was the discovery of the second-hand bookshop at Trelissick, a local National Trust property, where all the books cost only £1 each!

In 2013, we celebrated our Ruby Wedding Anniversary with a memorable holiday on Shetland and Orkney, visiting places where my father had been during the war and doing some serious bird-watching. Dave was in his element seeing the gannet colonies, the puffins and the skuas.
 

More recently, Dave’s health wasn’t so good but he always made the best of the situation. Having overcome 2 strokes with great determination, he wasn’t going to let the latest difficulties stop him. We enjoyed a cruise to Iceland last summer and a few weeks ago, before his operation, we stayed in a cottage near Stroud, meeting with old friends, Paul and Di, and sharing their youngest daughter’s birthday lunch which was great fun. The holiday prompted Dave to start reading ‘Cider with Rosie’ and we discovered its setting, the Slad Valley, on a very sunny Mothers’ Day when families were coming out of church with posies of spring flowers. Just like the book...

Little did we realise that would be our last holiday together. We’d made plans for what we would do and where we would go when Dave returned to full health but it wasn’t to be.

I’m sure that everyone here will have their memories of Dave which will sustain us all in the weeks and months ahead.