73 replies to this topic

[Alan Cox]

I am very sorry indeed to have to impart the news to fellow TNFers that David Beard, a long-time member of this forum, died this morning in Preston Hospital after a short illness.

David was a personal friend to many of us here and had been a life-long motor sport enthusiast, first encouraged by his father in the 1950s. He pursued a career in engineering and had an enquiring fascination with anything mechanical, building and racing his own karts, one of which resurfaced recently and was restored, much to his delight. He was also a Lotus enthusiast and historian, and registrar for the Lotus 16 and 18, and owner of an Elan M100, affectionately known as the 'Yellow Peril'.

He was an excellent photographer, as evidenced by the work which he posted on this forum, and in his retirement was able to devote more time to his hobby. He was a founder-member and stalwart supporter of the Northern TNF pub meetings and many of us here will remember him as excellent company and a very good friend. 
 
First and foremost, however, David was a devoted family man and to his wife Pat, daughters Jo and Gemma and to his grandchildren, I send my sincerest condolences.

[Barry Boor]

What dreadful news.

David was a great friend and enthusiastic Connew supporter and I shall miss him enormously.

[uffen]

Sad. My condolences to his family. I followed David on Flickr long before I made the connection to him on this forum. I really like his photography and often commented so on Flickr. He usually kindly replied, too.

Edited by uffen, 17 April 2017 - 16:53.

[cpbell]

That's very sad - R.I.P David.

[Vitesse2]

I can only echo Barry's comment. Dreadful news.

[B Squared]

Sad to see a fellow member's passing. Best wishes to his family and friends.

[LittleChris]

So sorry to hear this. RIP David

[Macca]

That is a terrible shock and very sad - as others have said, he was enormously knowledgeable and a terrific photographer, as well as very nice guy who it was always a pleasure to meet on his forays south.

Very deepest sympathy to his family.

Paul M

[DogEarred]

I see from old programs that we did karting at the same time but never did meet officially, I'm sorry to say.

 

I echo everybody's sentiments here.

[Tim Murray]

I'm so very sorry to hear this news. I only met him (and Pat) twice, but always appreciated his contributions here. Here's a thread he started in which he related how he got into karting (including being push-started by Nigel Mansell) and then designed and built his own DAB and Kuga karts:

The 'personal yarn' thread

The other thing that sticks in my mind was how chuffed he was at having been born on the same day as Keke Rosberg. RIP David, and sincere condolences to Pat and all his other family and friends.

[Risil]

I didn't know Mr Beard personally but have always enjoyed his posts on TNF and elsewhere. I'll miss him a lot.

 

My condolences to his family and friends.

[alansart]

This is awful news. David was part of what made TNF great and it was always a pleasure to meet him and Pat at the NW TNF evenings.

We've also had big contact through Facebook and Flickr.... which kind of took off after TNF stalled a bit

Thanks for the good times DABgp and my very sincere condolences to Pat and his loving family.

Edited by alansart, 17 April 2017 - 17:48.

[Allen Brown]

I am so sorry to hear that.

My sympathies to his friends and family.

[Rob Ryder]

I only met David 4 or 5 times (at Oulton & Silverstone) but he immediately made me feel at ease and would talk about anything.
His persona/character was that of the real meaning of 'Gentleman', and I am sure that was very true.

RIP David, you will be sadly missed.

Rob

[Giraffe]

Very sad news indeed. A true enthusiast & a stalwart of the forum. No age at all. RIP David.

[D-Type]

What sad news.  He typifies what TNF was all about.  My condolences to his widow and family.

[Gary C]

Goodness, I am very sad to hear of this. My thoughts are with his family right now.

[Marc Sproule]

although living on opposite sides of the pond, we had followed each other on flickr.

 

very said news this is,.

 

according to flickr the last pic he posted was 10 days ago.

 

my condolences to his friends and family,

Edited by Marc Sproule, 17 April 2017 - 20:08.

[Allan Lupton]

I'm sorry to see this.

I never met him, but when we VSCC rallyists were on an event based at the Leyland museum we both intended to meet but somehow didn't - his photos of our cars even included one of mine!

We had a fair bit of electronic discussion, both here and by e-mail and as has been said he was one of those who made this Forum worth using.

[chdphd]

Sad news. I very much enjoyed seeing his photos on flickr.

 

RIP

[ensign14]

Damn, this is so sad.  Sympathy and condolences to his family.  A great and unsung asset to our passion. 

[Cirrus]

Very saddened and shocked by this news. David was a true enthusiast.

[Doug Nye]

Oh my word...  Shocked to stumble upon this thread just now. My most sincere condolences to David's family and many friends...

 

DCN

[Roger Clark]

David was one of the first TNF members I met, some sixteen years ago.  Since then, I have been fortunate to count him a friend, knowledgeable and enthusiastic about all aspects of motor sport on two and four wheels, particularly Lotus cars.  His research into Lotus 16s was an example to us all.  An engineer by profession, he loved looking at the oddities and curiosities.  One of the many threads he started here was entitled Personal Photos - The Details Only.  

 

As has already been mentioned, he was an excellent photographer and had pasted many of his motor sport photograph taken over the last forty years.  His Facebook and Flickr pages show his skill with portrait and landscape photographs.  He had excellent taste in music, whether Diana Krall, Eric Bibb or the Rolling Stones.

 

He was a devoted family man, wife Pat, daughters Joanna and Gemma and his grandchildren.  Pat is also a TNF member; in her profile she described her occupation as "Tolerating Anorak Husband".  Her only post is #13 here: http://forums.autosp...s/#entry3048013  I think this says a lot, about David and about their relationship.

 

My condolences to all his family. I hope they know how much pleasure he gave to so  many of us.

[dwh43scale]

RIP; we met virtually through Flickr and TNF but never in person. David provided some helpful guidance before our first trip to the Monaco Historique.

My thoughts and condolences to family and friends.

[PCC]

I am so sorry to hear this news. I never met David, but I always enjoyed his posts – especially on The Photographers' Thread, where his contributions showed both skill and modesty that said much about the man. He was an enthusiast and a gentleman, and will be deeply missed.

[Slurp1955]

A real shock out of the blue and desperate news. My condolences to Pat and his girls and the rest of David's family.

[Michael Ferner]

Very, very sad news. A member of the TNF family is no longer with us.

My condolences to wife and daughters, and everyone who was close to him.

[Frank Verplanken]

Very sad to hear of David's passing . My sincere condolences to his family and friends.

[GMiranda]

Indeed it was a shock, I spoke with him via Facebook and remember his amazing photographs.

[Richard Jenkins]

Oh this is tremendously sad and surprising news. David was a great enthusiast of the sport, a great supporter to many people and an excellent photographer.
I met David only a few times but felt relaxed in his company.
My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.

Funny; but the very first thought I had when reading this about David was his immense dislike of football being posted on a racing forum, and he was, of course, right.

[Coral]

I'm very sorry to hear this...RIP and condolences to his family and friends.

[JacnGille]

Sad news

[Stephen W]

Shocking news. David was part of the TNF NW family that welcomed me into the fold. His aversion to the topic of football being discussed at our meetings was legendary. David was also a great raconteur and motorsport enthusiast, he will be sadly missed.

 

My condolences to his family and all his friends especially those here on TNF.

 

 

[cooper997]

If there is a TNF 'on the other side' then David will be hanging out with David McKinney, Barry Lake, Graham Howard, et al soon.

 

My condolences to David's family and friends.

 

Stephen

[swintex]

Very sad news. I never met David, but enjoyed his threads and pictures here and on Flickr.

 

My condolences to his family and friends.

 

Richard

[Odseybod]

So very sad - a great loss, especially to those of us who enjoy looking at great photos. Sincere condolences to his family and many friends.

[Catalina Park]

My condolences to David's family.

[kayemod]

Yes, very sad news, he wasn't all that old was he? We swapped a fair number of PMs and e-mails over the years, almost all on our shared ownership of and admiration for Nikon products, always very helpful. As far as I can remember, we only ever agreed to differ on one thing, HDR, he loved it, I don't. Just can't see the point, it has nothing at all to do with real photography in my view.

Edited by kayemod, 18 April 2017 - 10:49.

[Auroraf1]

Extremely sad news. It was an honour and a pleasure to spend time in David's company.

 

My thoughts are with Pat and the rest of the family.

[Manfred Cubenoggin]

Very shocked and saddened to learn this.  DB was a fine contributor to TNF.

 

Most sincere condolences to family and friends.

[DCapps]

My heartfelt condolences to Pat, David's family, and his many friends. This news certainly caught me by surprise and comes as a shock. It also reminds me of the sense of community that has always been an important aspect of TNF. As Roger points out, David was among those hardy souls who, on blind faith, signed on to the adventure that was TNF back in the Days of Yore.

 

David will certainly be missed.

[Alan Cox]

It has been very touching to read all these heartfelt tributes to a very fine fellow. Pat has been notified about the thread, so I hope she will be reading it in order to fully appreciate the affection in which David was held.

Richard Jenkins' post has reminded me that Alan Raine and I will now be the only non-football-obsessed TNFers in attendance at future Northern meetings - Football talk irritated me almost as much as it did David, and I will do my very best to uphold your position, David

[David Lawson]

Like everyone else I was shocked to read this news and although I didn't know David I always enjoyed his extremely knowledgeable posts and excellent photographs. My sincere condolences to his family and friends.

 

David

[alansart]

 

 

Richard Jenkins' post has reminded me that I will now be the only non-football-obsessed TNFer in attendance at future Northern meetings - Football talk irritated me almost as much as it did David, and I will do my very best to uphold your position, David

There are a few more of us Alan.....

Perhaps we should organise another NW TNF get together to celebrate our good friend and all things Lotus 16.

 

[kayemod]

There are a few more of us Alan.....

Perhaps we should organise another NW TNF get together to celebrate our good friend and all things Lotus 16.

 

 

A TNF get together sounds like a topping wheeze, you could organise a football match in David's honour, he'd have really liked that...

[Dick Dastardly]

Very sorry to hear this. Sincere condolences to David's family & friends.

RIP David

[alansart]

I know we don't meet up as much as we did these days but the NW TNF do's were not only an education but always a good laugh, of which David was a big part of.

Edited by alansart, 18 April 2017 - 16:29.

[E1pix]

Oh, this is terrible news.

David was a true stalwart on the photo threads. I really enjoyed his work and his enthusiasm for our craft. Dreadful to hear this.

Thank You, David. I will sincerely miss your open heart, your pushing of boundaries, and your stellar imagery throughout the years.

Though not his thread (it's ElanSprint72's), I'd vote for The Photographer's Thread to bear his name.

So Sad... :-(

[RTH]

Shocked and deeply saddened to hear this awful news. Met David several times here at Herts and of course many many hours on TNF with a variety of subjects. Great loss.