David John Hyde

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."
- Winston Churchill

Obituary

David was born in Rush Green Hospital, Essex in June 1963, to Christine and John. Growing up with younger brother Michael in Hillrise, Collier Row, David attended Chase Cross School where he met friends that he remained in contact into his later years.

In his teenage years, David joined the amateur boxing club, worked a Saturday job washing cars in Seven Kings, and had a keen interest in woodwork. On leaving school, he chose to go into the French Polishing trade, where he mastered furniture restoration and intricate varnishing by hand. 

Becoming an older brother again for a second and third time with the arrival of Leah and Jamie in the early 1980s gave another excuse for Dave to remain the boy who never grew up. Having younger siblings became a good excuse to buy toys that were in fact for him to play with, and visit the cinema to see films that he was probably too old for. With four siblings, Warden Avenue became an arena for wrestling, play-fighting and amateur kung-fu in the living room.

David's character was mischievous by nature - and he was often known for his pranks or pulling stunts. Michael and David decided to go to an auction house one day. Michael spotted some chairs that would be a good project for restoration, and had no idea he was in a bidding war with David who was secretly bidding against him. David was not interested in the chairs, but he was interested in seeing Michael pay over the odds for an incomplete set of three dining chairs that no-one wanted. 

There are so many memories of Dave getting in trouble (this carried on into adulthood!) for a dare or a laugh. Swimming out to a boat in Southend in a race against his mates - only to get arrested for clambering aboard the boat as the winner. David enjoyed holidays with his mates to holiday camps - and thought nothing of dressing up as a woman to win a competition!

Most know that David had a huge passion for music: Alexander O'Neill; Luther Vandross; Ska music; 80s soul; Motown; The Who; The Jam; The Dualers. He enjoyed going to concerts and live gigs; and had an unrivalled music collection. He became a regular DJ at school discos and events where Christine was on the PTA. For David's 50th, he enjoyed attending The Brentwood Festival where he saw some of his favourite acts, such as The Jam and The Dualers on one stage.

David was hugely into collectables: namely metal model soldiers, which he would spent hours meticulously painting under a lamp with a magnifying glass. 

As the French Polishing trade dried up, David turned his skills to tiling, painting and decorating for many years, before joining Bolloré Logistics in Tilbury with lifelong friends, Gary and Bob. Having a regular employment such as this, David was able to make the move to Southend, and buy his own flat. They say an Englishman's home is his castle, and Dave could not have been prouder of his flat only ten minutes from the seafront. 

Late in life, David had found a love for travel, and more recently discovered scuba diving in Dahab, Egypt, where he had visited three time in two years.

In recent years, David took his HGV licence and became a bus driver for Arriva in Southend. 

David was loyal, principled, generous and firm in his beliefs. His whole life, he loved his country, England - and from an early age, took on the self-anointed moniker of 'Lionheart', from King Richard, (Cœur de Lion or Lionheart). This was not only a name he came to live by, but has become a fitting tribute to the man he was.

David "The Lionheart"

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there’s some corner of a foreign land
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;

A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam;
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

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