A Tribute to My Brother
 
                                                                                 David Michael Goddard.
 
                                                                     My story of growing up with my Brother
 
Firstly, and before I begin, I would like to thank ‘Tony Hogan’, David’s son-in-law for his superb reading and special memories of David which largely recalled Dave’s life with Lynne their children and extended family.  I would like here to pay this tribute to Dave by recounting my memories of growing-up with Dave before he met his wonderful and dedicated wife Lynne.
 
David was the first born child of Eric and Ella Goddard born on the 8th February 1949, a bouncy boy with jet black hair, the first of what was to be five brothers.
Little did he/we know at that time that the word “distance” and the number “4” were to play in in our lives in our growing-up in our family.
 
I share the same birthday as David, the “8th February”, but the one difference was my birth was a “distance’”  of “4” years later in 1953, the first occurrence of the word “distance” along with the  figure “4” that both were to play a role in our lives, simultaneously with my birth making us a family of “4”.
 
We first lived in a small terrace type two bedroom house in Torrington Road on the Whitley Estate in Reading. Dad would often later tell us that the house was probably worth a fortune due to David’s antics.  Apparently Dad, like many of us have done at some time in our lives, used to save his pocket coins in a jar. In particular coins that were in circulation at that time known as, Silver Three Penny pieces (in the old pre-metric currency days of the Pound, Shillings and Pence). After the removal of the currency from circulation they, like many other coins, became collector’s items.
The reason for Dads claim was when one day he came across Dave merrily posting his entire jar of collected coins into a gap between the window board and the window frame, with the coins dropping down into the cavity between the outer and inner walls, gone forever, one of the first antics Dave embarked upon.
Dad was not amused.
 
 
It came the time for Dave to start school, on Dave’s first day at school Mum (who related the story to us years later) was so keen to hear about his first day that, when it came the time to collect Dave after school, she put me in the pram and off we went to get David.
She was so proud of her first born as he came marching out of school with his school bag on his shoulder and walking with a little swagger. She was so engrossed with him and had so many questions to ask him, she forgot about everything else and proceeded to focus on, and question Dave. Did he like school? Was he a good boy? What did you do? Did you learn anything? (Dave was a quick learner, but not that quick, bless her) asking him all these questions as they walked back home.   Apparently it was only when I started crying in my pram that Mum’s ears pricked up and said to David, ‘that sounds like our ‘Michael’ then it dawned on her  ….Oh my god we have left Michael in his pram outside the school gates! Thankfully they were in ear shot and they rushed back to get me. One of the many occasions Dave rescued me.
 
Later we moved from Whitley to a new three bedroom house on the Southcote Estate, “282 Southcote Lane”, where all the family lived happily for many years. We were joined by our Granddad (on our Dads side) who lived in the house with us.
Our new brother ‘Philip’, more affectionately to be known later as “Pim” was born on the 20th April 1957, we were three brothers all born with a “distance” of “4” years between us.
 
We used to spend many hours playing outside the house with all the other kids from the street, apparently I used to follow Dave every where.  Dave was friendly with some of the kids that were around his age, Colin Faulkner, Keith Williams and Eric Thompson, I think Colin was his closest friend.
As they grew up together Dave was to later on get the nickname “Crunchy’, I never found out how he managed to get that name, it was to remain a mystery.
 
Summer holidays away were, in them days, a bit of a luxury.  We like many other families were a working class family so money was always tight, we lived as well we could and never wanted for too much. Holidays were only taken once in a while when they could be afforded. Playing with the other kids on the street they would tell us they were off on holiday and where they were going, Weymouth, Brighton, Southsea, Ramsgate, Margate, or other fabulous seaside resorts.
Dave asked Mum one day if we were going on holiday that year.  Yes she said, of course we are, great he replied, where are we going? Were going to “Ourgate” said Mum.  Out we ran to tell the other kids we were also going on holiday and we were going to “Ourgate”. One of the kids asked “Where is Ourgate?”. In Dave went to Mum to ask that very question, Dave said to her, “Mum where is “Ourgate” Mums reply was, well Ourgate is at the bottom of our garden path. Mum had a quirky way of bursting your bubble! Consequently Dave never asked that question again.
 
Another of her quirky sayings came to light when some years later Mum owed David a small amount of money, that he had spent on her behalf, to buy some groceries or something like that. He said to her Mum ‘what about the money you owe me’ she said “David you know I would owe it to you all my life rather that do you out of it”.
I think Dave took it as a life lesson and wrote it off as a bad investment.
 
 
I remember one day playing in the street Dave would be looking out for me, keeping an eye on me, mostly because Mum told him he had to, but I like to think also because he worried and cared about me. One time we were out playing, Dave was chatting with his friends a few hundred yards from me, I was talking with one of my friends at his garden gate. The gate suddenly swung round and trapped my right hand between the Iron Gate and the concrete post. The gate severed the top off of my third finger on my right hand, almost severing the end of my finger completely. The top of the finger was hanging by just a small strip of skin.
Dave hearing my screams came running and seeing what had happened, he immediately grabbed my right arm just above my wrist with his left hand, cupped his right hand under the severed finger and pushed it up to my hand and held it there. He held his hand there steadily despite it filling with blood; he walked me the five or six hundred yards to our house to tell our Mum and Dad.
I was then rushed off to hospital where thankfully an operation on my hand was carried out to re-attach my finger. After the operation the surgeon told Mum & Dad that I was very lucky, had David not done what he did, and so quickly, it was very probable that the surgeon would have been unable to re-attach it, I would have lost the end of my finger for sure. Today thankfully I have the full use of my finger ……..thank you Dave.
 
Just after this Dad and Mum bought (what I think was) their first car, an old Ford, that was affectionately called “The Puddle Jumper”. Dad was a “Semi Skilled Mechanic” at that time and said the engine of the car needed, what he called was a “de-coke” to increase the engines performance. He recruited the assistance of David to help him out. So off Dave and Dad set removing the engine from the car and stripping it down, using Mum’s kitchen table as a work bench (much to Mum’s annoyance). After the engine was stripped down David was giving the job of “grinding in the valves” a job he took on with much vigor and enthusiasm. Grinding in the valves involves a stick with a rubber sucker on the end which is then stuck onto the top of the valve, grinding paste placed on the valve edges and then the valve placed into the valve port of the engine head. The valve grinder (Dave) then places his hands around the stick and rubs his hands together vigorously causing the valve to turn and grind and seat itself in the valve port, a very “technical” long and tedious job, and a very boring one at that. There were 8 valves to be done, with each valve taking approximately one hour to grind. Dave took this job very seriously and spent hours rubbing his hands together to do all 8 valves. He got them done to Dads approval and the engine was reassembled and put back into the car, both Dad and Dave were ecstatic when the engine started after the first couple of turnovers, David’s first venture into car mechanics.     
 
 Mum fell pregnant again with what was to be brother number “4” Andrew, born on “4th”  August 1963  but breaking the birth cycle of “4” years as he was born six years after Pim.
  
Dave was now moving into his teenage years and “distance” started to pop up again. Dave was now 14/15 years old and no kid that age wanted his 10/11 year old brother following him around, so many requests were made to Mum and Dad to tell Michael that I could not keep following him around; his wish was granted and so, we started to become a little “distant” from each other.
 
 
At this time Dave and his mate Colin were getting into fashion. It was at the beginning of the age of the “Mods & Rockers” with Dave and Colin being followers of the former. He came home one day with a white Tee Shirt and a roll of black 2” wide iron-on sticky tape. The fashion then was to wear a Tee Shirt with the initial of your first name, in a 10-12 inch high letter, emblazoned on the front of the shirt. He asked Mum if she would “Iron On” the tape to the shirt, so off she set to do the job.  Dave was watching Mum intently as she cut the tape and placed it on the shirt before ironing it on permanently. Dave was telling Mum, now make sure it’s on straight and not wonky, make sure its square in the middle of the shirt, and don’t have the iron too hot that it burns the tape.
This was a brave thing for him to do, brave and a little foolish, as Mum did not take too kindly to being given instructions and being micro-managed when doing requests for you. It usually ended one way, you getting the item that you wanted Mum to work on being launched at you at high velocity followed rapidly by the words, “Do it your bloody self”. But bless her she persevered and he got his Tee Shirt with a big bold “D” emblazoned on the front of it. 
 
Dave and Colin had a Saturday job at a Tobacconist and Confectionary shop in Reading town Centre. Their job was to deliver stock to three other shops in town from the main shop in St Mary’s Butts (one of the main streets in Reading). On one Saturday in the summer moths they were proudly wearing their initialed Tee Shirts with the big D & C on the front, carrying the stock to the other outlets. Unknown to them a very large gang of “Rockers” had that very Saturday descended on Reading, most probably intent on causing mischief & mayhem. As Dave and Colin rounded the corner of either Broad St or Friar St they were confronted by a gang of about twenty “Rockers” who seeing them immediately gave chase. Dave said he and Colin were off running, probably for what they considered was their very lives, they were fortunate to escape; I don’t think the Tee Shirts were worn on a Saturday for a few weeks after that.
 
 
Again time marched on with David leaving school completely to start his work career.
I started my first year at Stoneham School, as David left school after his “4” years were complete.
After morning assembly we were marched to our classroom and allocated desks. There on the desk next to mine carved neatly in two inch high letters were the initials “D G”. Now it could have been put there by any number of kids with the same initials but I was certain it was David leaving his mark.
The teacher then proceeded to walk around the class asking each boy his name, when he got to me and asked my name I replied Goddard sir. Goddard he said, your not related to David Goddard are you? Yes sir he is my brother; oh dear he said here we go again.
 
After leaving school David started his work career at Eggeltons Electrics and TV Store, as an Arial Rigger and trainee electronics engineer. (It was nice to read in Tony’s eulogy that Dave kept in regular touch with Mick Eggleton)
 
Dave came home from work one day with a small electronic item he had made in the workshop. A small Aluminum box mounted on a wooden board with two wires protruding from one side of the box with, what he called, were Crocodile clips attached to the ends of each wire, a switch and a small red light on the top of the box.
What is it I asked? A ‘circuit tester’ said Dave proudly, and he proceeded to show me how it worked. He took some small electrical item we had took off the cover and connected one of the wires to one part and the other wire another part then switched on the small switch on the box. The little red light lit up followed by a buzzing sound from inside the box, see he said its tests the circuit. Well I was amazed at this little gadget, I know now it was only a very simple circuit tester, but to me at that age I thought, my big brother was a genius, he had actually built this.
 
Some time later David met Lynne  his wife to be and they were married on 12th July 1967, some “4” years after Andy was born.
They first moved in with Dave’s in-laws Alf and Rose then came the arrival of their first child, a bouncy boy they named Keir. Born on the 15th February 1968
Keir was a first all-round, a first child for Dave and Lynne, a first Grandchild for Mum and Dad, as well as Lynne’s Mum and Dad, and the first time all us brothers became “Uncles”.
 
Dave, Lynne and Keir moved into a “4th” floor “Maisonette” (basically a flat that had two floors) just of Wensley Road on the Coley Estate.
I used to visit once a week and each visit would reveal how they were slowly making it their home together. Dave was decorating the walls using his artistic flair with bold contrasting colours with different arches & curves and angled lines and Lynne was organizing the carpets, curtains and furniture.
They decided to get a pet dog, a cute little, Poodle thing I think it was, very playful and energetic. After going out one day they left the pooch in the ‘flat’ only to come home a few hours later to find the living room looked like a combined harvester had run amok through the lounge. Curtains, cushions, sofa, chairs and even the carpet had been ripped to shreds, literally shreds. Not just the odd corner chewed here and there or the edge of the carpet pulled up, it was all practically shredded.
I can’t remember what happened to that little pooch; I think the official version is that Dave took him to a farm to be with all the other dogs that played together in the fields, so off the little pooch went.
 
Around that time Dave, myself and Pim along with our cousin John all worked at the Co-op Dairy as, what was known then as, “Milkmen” back when pints of milk were personally delivered to your door step in glass returnable bottles, during the very early hours of the morning, seven days a week all year round.
 
The dairy had its own Social Club where we were all members and spent many nights chatting or playing darts or attending the occasional Disco night there. We had our own darts team and played in the local league. At the end of the darts season we would organize our “Darts Team Jolly” paid for out of our weekly subscription fees. One year the “Kitty” was not sufficient to cover the cost of a coach without digging deeply into the beer fund, so we hired a mini bus, however we needed a driver. Dave volunteered and stepped forward for this job knowing it would mean he would not be able to participate in the festivities, i.e. the beer drinking, he still agreed to do the job. 
Well Dave did a great job; he drove all the way to the coast from Reading (can’t remember what seaside town we went to but it must have been well over 60 miles away).  Dave also joined in the pub crawl around town with us and watched as we all got merrily intoxicated. He then drove us all the way back in the evening; Dave never drank a drop of alcohol the entire day. We all admired him for doing that. His unselfish deed allowed us to have a great day.
 
On the 15th December 1970 Dave and Lynne’s daughter Michaela was born another first as she was the first girl born into our family. Michaela was a beautiful little girl with black hair but was totally different to her brother Keir, where as Keir was a quiet and slightly shy polite boy, Michaela was not. She was “not quiet”, and would tell you exactly what she wanted to say and “absolutely not shy”.
 
Dave and Lynne went on to have their third child a baby girl born on 24th August 1981 that they named Rosehannah (Rosie as she was later to be affectionately known as). Rosie had a very close relationship with her Dad all her life, she practically idolized him, and as Rosie stated in her tribute to her Dad at his Celebration of Life Service, her Dad was, and I think will always remain, her Hero.
 
In 1986 our brother Pim was working for the Automobile Association as a car “Breakdown Recovery Driver”. Pim was tragically involved in a road traffic accident. Most regrettably Pim did not survive the accident; his life was taken too soon and too young at the age of just twenty nine. Dave along with us all were shocked and heartbroken as he was just twenty nine years old
 
Dave and our family were to suffer loss again as two years later our Dad passed away one night peacefully in his sleep. We found out later that Dad had many internal problems and his heart just stopped in his sleep.
 
Dave had a good relationship with our Mum they would often joke in chats and telephone conversations about who would “pop their clogs first” with Mum jibing him that Goddard males don’t live much past sixty four, he would laugh and say something like well we will see about that., well Dave you did beat the sixty four.
When Mum passed away on “4th” September 2006, Dave and we three other brothers were all heart broken to lose our beloved Mum.
 
On the 15th April 2020 we lost our brother Andrew to the Covid virus. Andy’s death shocked us all, not only his passing but also the speed of which it had happened. He lasted just eight days from the day he was put into the ICU ward. David was by now to ill to travel and was unable to attend his funeral which upset him deeply.
 
David had been diagnosed with cancer some three and a half years before but had asked Lynne and his children to not “make a fuss” as he called it and to keep the news within his family. Lynne and Michaela told me, I think after discussions with Dave and getting his agreement, that he was now suffering from cancer and was receiving hospital treatment for it.
Lynne very kindly kept me informed on a regular basis of all the treatments, operations and therapy he was receiving and how the cancer was proceeding.  She told me about his highs and lows, the operations he had to undergo along with the stays in hospital it required. What treatment seemed to be working and those that seemed to have no effect and how all these procedures were wearing him down.
Dave endured this throughout his three and half year fight, I’m told by his daughters he complied with all the instructions he was given by the doctors and nursing staff, (well I’m also told, he complied with most of them, most of the time).
He sadly lost his fight on the 24th June 2021 and passed away peacefully at home with his beloved family around him at eight o’clock in the morning.
 
His Celebration Service was on 7th July 2021, thankfully the Covid restrictions were lifted and his family and friends could attend to give him the send off he deserved.
My brother Matthew did attend and I thank him for representing what is now left of Dave’s immediate family, just Matthew and I.
 
In closing I would just like to say, when it comes my time to go through that door, and to finally close the “distance” between us Dave, at that time should the figure “4” be involved, I hope you don’t think it selfish of me by making you wait a while longer in hoping the figure “4” has a zero next to it.
 
                                               Dave, you crossed paths with many during your life
                                                          Most came to know you and love you
                                             But none loved you so much more than your entire family.
                                                         You will be forever loved and missed
                                                         Your time with us is regrettably over
                                                              You lived a happy fulfilled life
                                               Built a beautiful family and left a lasting legacy
                                                Your fight is over; you fought it long and hard
                                                                   So Dave you can now
                                                                        “Rest in Peace”
                                                                            along with
                                                              Granddad, Dad, Mum, Pim and Andy