Camelford RFC - "The Ford".

Dave Salisbury was born and raised in Kings Heath, Birmingham on 7th November 1939 and was schooled at Wheelers Lane School, where he met life long friends: Johnny Eldred and Dave Cox.
Many of you will already know that our club’s first ever President passed away on the evening of 23rd December 2011. Following a very long illness and fight with cancer this kind and generous chap was taken from us. He is greatly missed by his daughter, Jenny and her children; Jamie (who played for Camelford RFC at Bideford in our first season), Billy (who is currently in the London Scottish development squad) and “little” Josie. Dave moved to Cornwall in the mid 1980’s and quickly became known in and around Camelford and Tintagel; especially in The Cornishman, The Masons and The Napoleon.
Dave and I were both members of Kings Norton RFC in Birmingham and have both been bestowed the accolade of Honorary life members of that club. He was a club and committee man who worked tirelessly for the good of his beloved rugby club. Dave was a stalwart of KN and I would like to echo the words of a great friend of mine who joined the club at the same time as I did, in 1975.
“I came to this club as a young man fresh-faced straight out of school, and Dave Salisbury personified everything that is good about this club; friendly and fun! Dave also taught me about the ‘dark arts’ and skulduggery of the game I love and treated me as an equal and a man. The world is indeed a poorer place today for his passing away…one just doesn’t meet genuine characters like Dave very often.” – Ollie Parker.
When I captained KN Dave was an easy selection. He was a tenacious and highly committed terrier of a player, who could always be relied upon to “liven” the game up and “get things going”. His support and respect for a young upstart of a skipper never floundered and he was always a massive source of inspiration for me. He would often arrive at games on one of his bikes (the Ducati always drew attention) and with Jenny as his pinion. The young Jenny would then enjoy watching her dad get involved in the many niggling little scraps he was renowned for and then pop her head into the changing rooms after the games. Dave was the keenest of “Tourists” and until very recently was a lively participant in Kings Norton’s assaults on Europe. Most people will remember his dry wit especially when in the company of his biking and rugby companion Dave Phillips.
In 2008 Dave willingly jumped on board to help with the development of Camelford RFC and accepted the first presidency of this new venture. He threw himself into the committee and his generosity helped to give CRFC a solid financial foundation. More importantly Dave represented the club as the county rep gaining the “Ford” plenty of recognition amongst the established clubs. His constant praise and positive attitude helped to create the club and it was his support, both physically and in spirit, which kept everyone going. His big blue coat will remain in our thoughts as the teams’ inspiration for the years ahead. He was very keen to see a regular fixture between his 2 rugby clubs, unfortunately he will never see this great day.
Through rugby (he played in the first team at Kings Norton into his 40’s, was first ever president of Camelford RFC), his motor cycling (member of North Cornwall Motor Cycling Club) and genuine community involvement in and around Tintagel and Camelford, Dave was known by hundreds of people both in Cornwall and Brum.
He was a proud grandfather taking a massive interest in Jamie, Billy and Josie, whom he would constantly talk and brag about. He would constantly say to his many friends how proud he was of his daughter Jenny, but felt that he didn’t tell her enough. In many ways Dave was a private man who was also very proud. He liked to get on with his life and to live his life to the full, but this meant that his friends were not really aware of how ill he was.
Dave TRULY touched the hearts and minds of everyone he met and he will be sadly missed by so many. He really did epitomise the real spirit of rugby especially the amateur game that he so loved.
Bless you Dave and cheers.

Nic Osborne.
Chairman of Camelford RFC.

I hope he has the bar sorted wherever he is now as I still owe him a few beers!