Remembrance

Members of Port Talbot Motor Club, many friends, and of course family were shocked to hear news on Tuesday morning November 14^th 2006 that David W. Williams Secretary of PTMC, had been found dead at his home in Llanelli. He was found by his closest friend, John Hughes, President of PTMC. David passed away peacefully, at home, and will be deeply missed by everyone that knew him

 

David was a man that effectively was Port Talbot Motor Club, so dedicated was he to it, and he became so much a part of life there. David played such a huge role in the lives of everyone in PTMC, and was so much a vital part of all that went on under the PTMC banner, that it is hardly believable that he has gone.

 

Known and respected throughout the country, “DWW” as he was affectionately known to all, also took many other major roles in motorsport, within the Welsh Association, ANCRO, and the RACMSA, as Chairman, Timekeeper and MSA Council member. His contribution was immense, and his many close friends in PTMC and the world at large are shocked and saddened by his untimely death.

 

David had undergone heart surgery in the past year, but had made a good recovery, and looked forward to many more happy years. To say that he will be missed is an understatement, All at PTMC extend our condolences to his family, at a very sad time, in their loss. From my own point of view words cannot reflect how so many of us that came to know him as a good and faithful friend, feel”DWW” may have gone from us, but in so many other ways he will never be gone from us. There seems little justce that such a good man should depart this life so prematurely but he leaves much that will never be forgotten, and it is a genuine tribute to him to say that Port Talbot Motor Club would not be what it has become without the dedication, enthusiasm, and service of David Williams.He will be sadly missed, but always fondly and well rememberedby us all.

 

Carolyn has told me that she, Paul and Saran scattered David’s ashes at Dixies on Epynt, the sun coming out as she did so …. as she put it, David will always be there now, looking over our shoulders to see we do things right … just as he always was….

 

 

Sadly John Brunt left this world in late July 2006, after a long battle with his illness that everyone hoped he would win, and indeed things looked better for him for a time, though sadly in the end it was not to be. Time marches on for us all, and there seems to be more reminders of our own mortality as the years pass, seemingly ever faster now. He and Joe Nieman shared many characteristics, as they shared illness, and that they finally both lost the fight is doubly sad, for they were both men of character, men of goodness, humour and courage. They were both friends, worthy men, both personally and to Port Talbot Motor Club. Many of us have our own good memories of John and they will remain, though we will not see his face at the Tudor again, as we did just a short time ago. I first met John through both British Petroleum where we both worked (in spite of popular rumour that we just attended on a daily basis …) and through both British Petroleum MC and Port Talbot Motor Club.

 

John knew the sport from many sides, he something of a Mini man in rallying, with many exploits to recall, something of a ‘press on’ driver, and even brave enough – or was it foolish enough?! – to sit alongside your writer, rallying a Saab 96 when it was a modern car, never mind a classic! We did not have the success that one Eric Carlsson had in a “96”, but we had some good times and could – and did – leave behind many an Escort if the going was slippery. John was an adept spanner man as well, recalled servicing for ‘Cimla’ Williams on the Welsh International Rally, when it finished at Llandow and saw Roger Clark two-wheeling the Escort around the old track … Originally from Cadoxton, John was a “Scouter”, his Dad a major player in that world, and he met many friends through that organisation, when the world was a simpler place … They included Gary Pickford (of guitar fame) with a few riotous parties recalled during the “rock” years … names omitted to protect the guilty! He also met Nigel Phillips, the duo rolling John’s green Mini on the way to a Scout Camp in Haverfordwest … as they sat there upside down John drily remarked “Ah well … at least we won’t have to pitch a tent!”

 

He produced Exhaust Notes on a really antiquated hand-powered inky Roneo from the back lane in Cadoxton and was the man who introduced one David W. Williams to Port Talbot Motor club way back in the road rallying days in West Wales … bet you didn’t know that! When BP Baglan Bay finally sank into the sand dunes John moved east, following the oil pipelines in that direction, but come the time for retirement he and his dear wife Brenda were destined to wend their way back west, and as they returned to Neath, so John returned to Port Talbot Motor Club, and it was as though he had never been away.

 

His love of a Mini had enlarged a bit, and he devoted many hours to the pristine Triumph Stag that he drove on fine days to many classic shows … it was – indeed it is – a credit to him, and illustrates the kind of person John was. Through his illness he kept a sense of humour, sending me many Email jokes, most of which I couldn’t repeat in Exhaust Notes, and many reminded me of the good old days in Baglan Bay when “political correctness” was rightly unheard of, and folks could be themselves.

 

Brenda and his family will miss him greatly, and we his friends will miss him too, as will PTMC, but they – and we – will never forget him, nor all that he was. At the Glyn Clydach Coach House Gary played some of John’s favourites, as happy a way to send him on his way as there would be in the circumstances …