David Spender

I apologise for not posting anything yesterday but I didn't really feel like it. One of the founding members of the club I attend lost his battle with cancer a couple of days ago. His name was Dave Spender and, although you've probably never heard of him, he was a real driving force in the Wessex Wargamers Winchester club and an inspiration to all of us.

I have to acknowledge a personal debt of gratitude to Dave as he was the first point of contact for me when I decided to re-join the wargaming fraternity a few years ago. In a twist of fate I was teaching one of his childeren at the time and had no idea, when i met him at various parent's evenings that he was a fellow wargames enthusiast.

If anything sums up Dave, enthusiasm has to be a defining phrase. I have at least half a dozen half completed projects directly inspired by his love of the obscure and interest in all things of a less conventional format, including my extensive aeronef collection, my PITS Dervish army, my Victorian ironclads and my ARVN batlegroup.

In return, Dave was always ready to take on any new project that I proposed with genuine interest and total commitment, in many cases beating me to it in painting up of new armies for games that I was in the early stages of only just thinking about.

I greatly appreciated the time and effort he spent supporting my various campaigns and diversions, and deeply regret that we only managed to try out a fraction of the games that we talked about over the last few years. The ones we did manage to play were some of the best games that I have enjoyed.

A thoroughly decent chap and true gentleman.

What more needs to be said.