Rest In Peace David Murray

REST IN PEACE DAVE MURRAY

(THE FLYING SCOTSMAN!)

John Martin remembers....

I have many fond memories of Dave, including playing alongside him for the CAMRA cricket team and working together at numerous beer festivals. I am even prepared to forgive his annual failed attempt at photographing me wearing a tartan scarf at his legendary New Year’s Eve parties.

I particularly remember when we pranked him at the Euro ’96 England v Scotland game. Four of us travelled to Wembley with only three tickets for the match – or so Dave thought. The fourth traveller was Paul (Gramps) Wright, a man as equally passionate about England as Dave was about Scotland. Gramps played the part of a man desperate for a ticket as we drank our way around London. Dave even consoled the “ticketless” Gramps as kick-off time approached – although he did have a sly dig as we left Gramps outside Wembley. So imagine the look on Dave’s face at five to three when Gramps not only appeared inside the stadium, but actually had a ticket for the seat next to Dave!

Once he was over the shock, Dave took the joke almost as well as he did Scotland’s 2-0 defeat. It is a measure of the man that, in a friendship lasting 30 years, I cannot recall anyone having a bad word to say about Dave.

Rest in peace. Jocky Alun Thomas adds: I can’t say I knew Dave Murray well – he always came across as an intensely private family man – and I don’t think I featured on his radar until about eight years ago, when I volunteered to deliver copies of BAE to pubs in the East Northamptonshire part of the Branch area. When I took on the editor’s job, though, I came more into contact with him and it was then that I realised the full extent of Dave’s influence on the local real ale scene. Whether at a Branch meeting, or the Beer Festival, or if you sought him out for advice, he was a ubiquitous figure, offering a word of advice here, an encouraging remark there. Also – he never ducked an issue or a challenge. And his encyclopaedic knowledge of all things CAMRA proved invaluable on countless occasions!

Dave was not, by nature, a garrulous sort, but he invariably stepped up to the mark at Branch presentation evenings – and when he spoke, people listened. He always found the right words for the occasion – a rare gift – and he was a master of the well-timed, jocular remark.

Peterborough CAMRA has lost a figurehead (and Posh a perceptive and passionate supporter!). We shall not see his like again. Our thoughts are with Dave’s family.