Dave King
Many MDC members will remember Dave from his time at Markhouse where he seemed to have been an ‘ever present’ in helping things tick over ‘behind the scenes’
There is however, at least one known appearance ‘on stage’ with this clearly being from his early days as a Mark House pupil. This was when he played Mr Jubb in ‘The Town That Would have a Pageant’. This was in 1962 and thereby a good number of years before his return to ‘front of house appearances’ by running the MDC Box Office in the Drama Club’s final few years!
But Dave’s presence at Mark House and, indeed Marsh Street Youth Centre, was always well in evidence as he gave a great deal of time in the general running of both venues. This was especially so at Mark House after the school closed; where he often helped to increase the MDC members access to what virtually became a full time youth theatre. This was usually, and helpfully, well outside of the official rehearsal times!
Dave was born in Hackney and spent his early years there until his family moved to Walthamstow where he became a pupil at Mark House. After marrying his wife Hazel in 1979, they remained in the borough and brought up their daughters Sharon and Julie, born in 1980 and 1984 respectively, before eventually moving to live in Loughton in 1998. After Dave sadly, and very suddenly, lost Hazel in 2002, he remained in Loughton to be near to his family until his own passing in 2025..
Dave’s funeral was at the City of London Cemetery in the presence of his family and his friends from the various organisations that he had been involved with; these included many former work colleagues from the electricity industry and fellow members from the Grove Hill Evangelical Church, where both he and Hazel had given much time and support
The presence of so many work colleagues was not at all surprising given that after leaving Mark House at 15, Dave had begun a 5 year apprenticeship and qualified as an electrician with The London Electricity Board. He stayed with them in a variety of roles before the company evolved into ‘London Electricity’ thereafter the ‘EDF’ – with whom he continued until retirement. In total Dave had spent some 50 years plus in this industry and had become one of the longest serving members of staff. As one of his former colleagues warmly noted, ‘if Dave was a stick of rock – then LEB or EDF would have run through his veins!
Mention was also made of Dave’s lifelong interest in trains and, in this respect, it may well be that he and another MDC member, Dickie Dunn, enjoyed comparing notes on this shared hobby. His interest had apparently developed in his younger years when watching the trains on the local Marshes and, perhaps, might also have been encouraged by his father’s work on the railways..
Although his youthful hope of becoming a Train Driver did not materialise, he did, after retiring, pursue this interest through volunteering at the Epping and Ongar Railway Society.As with Markhouse, this also sounded very much like supporting everything ‘behind the scenes’ through a variety of different roles. But, as his family recounts, his proudest moment was when he become a Station Master and, perhaps none more so than when, as this accompanying photograph shows, he was fulfilling his duties by helping his grand-daughter ‘alight’.
The question of ‘how will we remember Dave’ was asked in the Eulogy and much of the response centred around his well recognised and supportive role within both his immediate and wider family, which in more recent years, had become an increasing part of his life. Whilst much was said of his love of family holidays, for meals out together and in seeing and playing with his 5 grandchildren, a warm and humorous ‘footnote’ was also mentioned and clearly recognised and enjoyed by all those present – this was of Dave being ‘a man with a large bunch of keys’
As well as such an element of fun showing a further side of Dave’s role within his family and friends, this particular characteristic of his appearance likely to also be shared, with similar warm humour, by those Drama Club members who knew him well – although perhaps they might still wonder if it was just the one bunch that he kept together to fit all his ‘interests’ – as it always seemed, at Mark House, that the number in the bunch might well account for more doors than there were in the school!
Dave George King
1947 – 2025