Wife’s loving tribute to diver who drowned at sunken warship
FAMILY WANT TO NAME A LIFEBOAT AFTER ‘DISCO DAVE’
THE wife of a Derby man who drowned earlier this year has paid a loving tribute to her husband whose death has left a “massive hole” in her life.
David Pleace drowned in June while taking part in a dive at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys. Lifeboats and the coastguard located the 57-yearold’s body in the water after he was reported missing.
An inquest which opened into his death was told Mr Pleace went missing during a dive at a sunken German warship, the SMS Brummer. Police said there did not appear to have been any suspicious circumstances.
His widow Debbie, 57, a sales assistant from Chellaston, said her husband had been very popular.
“He had a lot of friends and family, and it was so sudden and has left a massive hole in everybody’s life,” she said. “When something like that happens, it can be hard to even believe it’s still happened, even now.”
David also leaves behind daughter Rachel, 34, step-sons George, 25, and Daniel, 22, and grandchildren Roman, 10, and Trent, five.
Debbie said that David’s passion for helping others and positive attitude is how she will remember him.
She said: “I’ve known Dave for nearly 14 years now, we met through a mutual friend. He was very active, he liked playing golf, motocross and also loved his diving.
“He was very popular with everybody, he would help anyone out with anything, drop anything for anybody. He always had a smile on his face, very jokey.
“He’d got no fear at all, none whatsoever. He was just an all round nice person and jolly all the time and would do anything for anybody.
“We called him Disco Dave because he liked to dance – he couldn’t dance but he liked to dance, but his favourite record was Rick
Astley’s Never Going to Give You Up so whenever that comes on now we have a bit of a boogie to it.
“He was the life and the soul of the party, definitely, always got a smile on his face.”
Louie Spooner, 21, a media assistant for Derbyshire Constabulary, who was a family friend of David said he always knew him as a genuinely nice person.
He said: “I was only young when he came into the family, but he loved his golf. I’ve always played golf with him, and recently in the past five or six years he started getting into diving. He was a really nice bloke, just a really nice, kind and genuine guy, wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
David’s friends and family organised a fundraising event in his honour to raise money for the RNLI, who located his body.
The golfing fundraiser, which took place on September 25, saw more than 100 people turn out, with 68 golfers competing.
Before the day, more than £3,000 was raised in David’s memory for the RNLI through an online fundraiser. The golf event saw more than £5,000 raised.
In addition, the family are also organising to name a new Norfolk lifeboat after him – “Disco Dave”, which they have purchased the naming rights for.
Louie said: “The fundraising day went amazingly well. The weather was perfect for golf and everyone enjoyed themselves with some healthy competition and banter.
“There were 64 players that took part and overall we managed to raise £5,780 for the RNLI which is a massive amount and so much more than we expected.
“It was a fantastic day and a wonderful way to remember a great bloke.”