The funeral of Dave Saffery, Thanet RC president, took place at Thanet Crematorium on Monday 3rd August. It was standing room only, as cyclists from all over Kent joined Dave’s friends and family to say farewell. Although tinged with sadness, the simple ceremony provided an insight into the family man and the cyclist, with tributes and anecdotes. Dave had chosen the final song - Monty Python’s “Always look on the bright side of life”; so typical of him to send us away with smiles on our faces.

Rest in peace old friend.

(click on the title bar for the full obituary)

Dave celebrating his 79th birthday.

Extract from the August 2009 'Newswheel'

On Monday 3rd August family, friends and a large contingent from Kent cycling assembled at the Thanet Crematorium to say goodbye to Dave who passed away on the 18th July at the age of 79 years.
Dave Saffery was born on the 26th of September 1929 in Margate, the only child of James and Frances. He did well at school and was top of the class. When he was 10 the 2nd World War broke out so times were tough, but they managed to get through unscathed. He first got interested in cycling at the age of 12 and left school at 14 to become an apprentice bricklayer, a job he enjoyed very much and continued throughout his working life.
He was held in great affection by all and especially the members of Thanet Road Club of which he was a founder member in 1947 along with Ernie Abdella, Frank Gillette, Ron Winters and Frank Randell amongst others. Apparently in those days 10 members were required in order to form a club, but Dave who was the main driving force, spread the word that many more were needed just to get people in. Initially the club was a breakaway group from the East Kent CTC who had “too many rules”.

He was called up for National Service in the Buffs, and possibly the first indication of his resourcefulness was that he managed to wangle a posting to Canterbury, when many other National Servicemen were being despatched to less salubrious places like Suez and Korea.
Dave met Maureen at a party in 1953 and during their courtship she recalls that he wasn`t all that romantic as he would escort her to the cinema, and then leave her there while he went off on his bike.
They were married in 1953 and were blessed with four sons and a daughter and eventually eleven grandchildren who all loved Papa (as they called him) very much.
He became a Civilian Instructor in the Prison Service at Dover Borstal teaching the inmates how to lay bricks, a job he enjoyed very much. He cycled to Dover from Ramsgate daily in all weathers and anyone who is familiar with the hill up to the Borstal will appreciate what this entailed. His job eventually took him all over the country which meant an enforced break from the Club, but on his return he developed a taste for long distance events such as the Ride Pyrenean and the Paris-Brest-Paris as well as 100 mile and 12 hour Time Trials.
He held several positions in the Club i.e. President, Chairman, Racing Secretary, Newsletter Editor and Timekeeper. Some members will recall the Boxing Day “10” which happened to be the first time he used the new stopwatch with built in printer, memory and numerous buttons. Unfortunately technology got the better of him, and when he arrived back at the start he had to ask us all what times we had done so he could enter it on the sheet. After sitting down at home to study the manual he became very competent. Along with his uncanny ability to get groups of riders lost on Reliability and Birthday rides, recalling these incidents provided us with many laughs at Meetings and Club Dinners.
He also organised many events and became a great font of knowledge in the Club, anyone who wanted to know anything or anyone was told to “ask Dave, he`ll know”. Dave would usually know the answer or, if he didn`t would find out, nothing was too much trouble for him.
Perhaps his greatest achievement was the compilation of the “History of the Thanet Road Club”. This was a mammoth task which took him several years and contains a comprehensive record of competitions, records, club personalities and numerous anecdotes from the first 50 years. No stone was left unturned in order to make it as accurate as possible, resulting in a truly remarkable document.
His last ambition, which was very close to his heart, was the formation of the Go-Ride scheme to bring young people into cycling. This has been up and running for some time and is a great success, something which pleased him considerably.
Dave`s contribution to the Club was immeasurable, the like of which will probably not be seen again. When his health deteriorated and he finally passed away it generated great sadness amongst us all. It has been a pleasure to know him and as long as the club is in being he will always be remembered with great affection.
To Maureen, Clive, John, Richard, Roger, Jane, their partners and the Grandchildren we offer our deepest sympathy.