It was great sadness that I heard of the death of one of my students this morning. Dave Holmes had played the guitar for many years and had been meaning to take some “proper” (as he put it) lessons for a while. He finally got round to it earlier this year when I first met him.

It turned out that I had worked with his wife Glynis (Reynolds) many years ago at Darlington College of Technology, and Dave was also good friends with Bill and Irene (Goodrick) who I have known for years as regulars at the Quakerhouse in Darlington.

In the short time that I knew him, I would say that Dave was the kind of man to take things seriously, set high standards for himself and not do things by half.  He had already achieved a Distinction at the London College of Music / Registry of Guitar Teachers Grade 2 Electric Guitar exam. We were working on the RGT / LCM Grade 4, and we were starting to explore a range of guitar styles including Electric Blues – he was a regular at the Darlington Rhythm and Blues Club.

Dave and Glynis had recently enjoyed a holiday on the Adriatic coast visiting Croatia. Unfortunately, Dave had a heart attack and was rushed into hospital last week, but within a few days he had been discharged and called me from home to arrange his next guitar lesson – despite the fact that he was waiting for a date to go back to hospital for a triple bypass!!

This morning the sun was shining and Dave decided to go out into his back garden to feed the birds. Tragically, he collapsed on returning to the house and didn’t recover.

My thoughts are with Glynis and Dave’s sons who were visiting him on Father’s day – God Bless.

Dave Holmes ~ 1945 to 2012