David Roff - A Tribute
I moved into the village in 1998. It didn’t take me long to come into contact
with David. Our friendship, initially, had nothing to do with shooting. Our
friendship was all about a shared sense of humour. His humour certainly had
its wicked side. Some years ago I was growing some runner beans. I’d complained
to David that they weren’t growing very well. One day, when he knew I would
be out, he stole into my garden (in the pouring rain) and painstakingly sewed
some large runner beans from the supermarket onto my feeble looking plants to
give the impresson that the rain had suddenly sparked my plants into life. Slapstick
comedy, but the source of many laughs.
Over time, numerous chats and plenty of glasses of wine he persuaded me to go
out pigeon shooting. It turned out to be one of those life-changing experiences,
converting a city boy into a country boy overnight; he developed in me a passion
for shooting that has since become one of the most important things in my life.
And that’s the power that David could have: to change people’s lives,
literally. He certainly changed mine.
He was a larger than life character, who counfounded the norms of society. He
became head-keeper of the Quy estate in his early twenties (unheard of in those
days) and proceeded to run the shoot with a passion. In fact he did everything
‘with a passion’. It was one of his favourite phrases. And passion
was what he constantly tried to pass on to others. He was a real man of the
people, because he was friends with so many. And so many people looked up to
him as someone who was not only the bee’s knees when it came to shooting,
but also a person of immense charm and wit. Anyone who knew David will remember
great times: exciting shooting days, Sunday lunchtime stories in the pub and
plenty of laughs.
He was a towering figure who will be greatly missed but certainly never forgotten.
DR Superstar, indeed.
Nigel
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