David W Price (OS 1951)
The School was saddened to receive the news that Old Stopfordian David Westcott Price (OS 1951) passed away on 15th July 2020. David was a loyal supporter of Stockport Grammar School and the School Bursary Fund. We are very grateful to David for his contribution to the Bursary Fund which goes towards supporting bright, local pupils who would not otherwise be able to attend Stockport Grammar School with financial support to do so.
The following Obituary was provided by David’s family:
It is with deep sadness that we inform you of the death of David Price on 15th July 2020.
He attended Stockport Grammar School from 1941-51 and then gained a State Scholarship to Leeds University to study Physics. After graduation he did his National Service officer training and as a Flying Officer established a Technical Signals Branch at Woodvale, Lancs. It was playing at Ainsdale Tennis Club during National Service that he met his future wife, Ann Ritchie.
He loved sports, and was Captain of both School & University Lacrosse and Cricket teams, and played lacrosse for Cheshire County and North of England 2nd XII. He also played lacrosse for Old Stopfordians.
During his early working life, that took him from Manchester with A.V.Roe aircraft designers (1956-62) to Sheffield at Mappin & Webb Ltd as Production Services Co-ordinator (1962-65), he and Ann had four daughters. The family moved to Hartlepool, Co.Durham where he was manager responsible for installing new company computers at Expanded Metal Co Ltd (1965-74), and then to Rugeley, Staffs where over the next 16 years he rose to become Company Secretary of Armitage Shanks/Blue Circle Group (1974-90).
Throughout these years he maintained the interest in walking that he’d developed as a young boy in the hills around Manchester, through holidays with friends, his growing family and later with Ann, especially around the Hope Valley in the Peak District, to where he retired. Time in this varied rural scenery enabled him to develop both the love of photography that he had begun as an 8 year old and his interest in the history of the land and its people.
In Hope he was a keen member of the local history society, started a U3A Genealogy group and he maintained his commitment to community service organisations that had begun in Hartlepool with membership of the Round Table and continued with the Rotary Club in Lichfield. In Hope he was Secretary and Chairman of the Hope Valley Probus Club.
David always had a great love of music, early on attending concerts at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester. In Lichfield he was able to join the Cathedral Special Choir and in retirement, when time was freer, he sang bass with the Bakewell and Hathersage choirs and the Bon Accord Madrigal Group.
He had also reconnected with Old Stops when back in Derbyshire and one of the last things he did was send to their Archivist photographs which he had taken, when in the 6th form, of the Prefects & School Teams. They appeared online, much to his joy, not long before he died. You can view David’s photographs online here.
He was always close to his family. Along with Ann, he was immensely proud of his daughters and two granddaughters, both of whose marriages he attended in recent times. Although his mobility was limited and his health worsened in his latter years, he died knowing that his first great grandchild would soon be born, fitting for a man who spent many happy hours tracking the intricacies of family history.
He is survived by Ann, his daughters, Gillian, Janet, Karen and Helen and by his grand-daughters, Sarah and Jennifer.
By Ann & Janet Price
