TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

Cocker isn’t too well at the moment. The following was posted on FB earlier by St Agnes Fountain.

Our darling friend David is quite poorly in hospital and those of you who know him well know the last thing he would want from you are “Thoughts and Prayers” (!) but some lovely get well messages might help speed along his recovery.
Get well soon old pal, you are loved and beloved. Julie, Chris, Chris and Jil xxxx

Oh poor David… get well soon xxx

Yes, get better very soon, David.  A win for Liverpool this afternoon would cheer you up!

Get well soon, David.

Get well soon David

David,  do buck up old chap.  There's a load of rum going bad.  It needs supping.

Get well son, DH.

I miss the Cocker Freeman daftness around these parts.

Jules

Hope you feel better soon, David.  All power to you, Sir.

That didn't age well.

 ;D sye, but then again, a win for the Reds might have handed the title to Arsenal, so possibly a barely acceptable result for Kopites...

Get well very soon, David. All the best.

Chin up, David!

Get well soon, and come and see the shed I'm building.

Cheers

Nick

You look after yourself Mr Hughes …….or let those nice Drs and Nurses do that!

Hi all,
It’s Taylor, David’s son writing here.
As many of you know, Dad has been seriously unwell in hospital, following an emergency surgery. Many of his friends, fans and family have been sending kind well wishes and been asking after him and his recovery. He has also been lucky enough to enjoy lots of visitors and spend time with people he loves dearly.

Unfortunately, shortly after we’d left last night, Dad’s breathing suddenly became very heavy, and the hospital contacted us, telling us to come back and say our goodbyes. He passed away shortly after in his sleep, peacefully, comfortably and having spent the day with an old friend, and his children. He dies the most important man in our world and will be dearly missed by us all.

Dad had a rocky recovery post-surgery, with several ups and downs including a period in a high dependency ward, on some serious hardware; easily outspending his every contribution to the tax system in his years as a wealthy, gigging, professional “rock god”, to use his own words from the Fairport Tour Diary. All the staff who worked with him did an incredible job, and we (Ruby and I) are incredibly grateful for the care, compassion and hard work that went into supporting Dad as he tried to heal from a major and unexpected surgery. We were told by one of his consultants the surgery would have been a big deal for someone of my age and fitness to bounce back from, which, whilst it doesn’t lessen the pain, does go to show what a stubborn old bastard he really was to make it through and start to recover, until the stress became too much for his body to keep up with.

We were told from the off, that this was serious, and Dad may lack the reserves to recover, but no amount of forewarning can prepare you for the reality that your father, who you love, respect and would do anything for, is gone. It is still sinking in, and the grief comes and goes in waves as that reality hits home.

We are also grateful to his friend Lisa who noticed she hadn’t heard from Dad one morning, and raised the alarm, eventually getting him into hospital care of friends, Nick and Barrie, who were able to go and check on him immediately on being told he had been incommunicado.
Without friends like these, my sister and I may have never had the chance to spend his last few days with him, have our last few laughs with him, and give him those precious last hugs and kisses, those meaningful “I love you’s”, and Dad managing to sign one last birthday card for Ruby, in his own hand, before he passed. Things like this are precious, important memories, and will be cherished for the rest of our lives. Thank you to all of you for your roles in giving us that time with Dad.  
We will have more to say about Dad; his life, his legacy, and his loss, but for now, we need time to grieve, time to heal and time to adjust to a world without our dad in it. We’d ask you to please respect that and be mindful of the impact of any messages you send at this point in time, however well intentioned.

We will share funeral details in due course and extend an open invitation to those who knew him. He once boasted that “you won’t need invitations; one post on Facebook and St Mary’s will be full!” Well… Game on old man. Game on.

Too sad… 😥💙💙💙

So sad to hear this news.
RIP David

So, so sorry.
An immense talent.
A true one off.
Three of a perfect pair.
So long, David, Cocker, & Tablo...

He was, indeed, a One.

Wendy and I are very sad.

So very sad.
As well as all his other appearances, he played for us at my 60th birthday and made it special.
Sleep well Mr Hughes, you leave a huge legacy - but I wish you could be here writing more.
 :'( :'( :'(

Sad news. He was a good friend and will be missed hugely.
RIP David, and Maura's  and my condolences to his family and all his friends.

Yes, but what fun we had.

 I am so sorry to read this and send love and condolences to his family and friends.

Very sad news  :'( RIP David

So very sad,  RIP David.

Terribly sad news.
Sleep well Cocker, thanks for the music and the laughs.

Extremely sad news. As has been said, he was truly a one off.

Awww, this is sad.  That's a beautiful message from Taylor.  

Love to all David's family and friends.  

Gutted by this sad news . RIP Cocker old chap

Ah, Mr Cocker.
Rest In Peace old chap.
You will be forever hacking your way across Africa to get to the World Cup in my mind.

Cheers for all.

Nick

So sorry to hear this. I joined TAW when someone called Cocker was raving on about his shed. I had no idea who he was but followed the saga avidly and those that followed.

Sorry to hear this. RIP.  Only really met him the once at Farnham Maltings where he was playing, our taxi was not available and Lorraine and I were standing around outside after the event trying to contact the taxi firm without success, when he came out with his support artist(whose name has completely slipped my mind). We chatted, and the long and short of it was we got a lift home in his car. It wasn't red though.  

So sad and he was far far too young to go! :'(  Shine on you Crazy Diamond!

Sad, sad news indeed.

David, a Liverpool supporter, used to rib me about my supporting Everton whenever our paths crossed near the Cropredy bar.  I'll miss those good-natured chats... my thoughts are with David's family, and his pals.

Sleep well, and remember - YNWA

Very sad.
The first time I saw Fairport - 1998? - David was the support act and very good he was too.

Aye.

Sad day all the same. Travel on well, Cocker.

Jules

Yes sad, but still what adventures. There always should have been the book  'Tales from the Hughe's Arms', but apparently we signed the official secrets  act.

The book of the a Fairport wintour is fab though… lots if secrets in that, been reading it today.

Would this be the solo artist I saw supporting Jacqui's Pentangle a few years ago?

It would indeed!

Same for me. Always part of my Fairport journey. It was Nov 97 for me if my memory serves me right.

It’s all thanks to you, YaBB, and Talkawhile, that Cocker and I met. And soon after that, David Hughes! 💖

Wretched sad. I’m extremely thankful to’ve spent time with David in hospital before he died.

Love to us all, especially Taylor and Ruby, and David’s brother. xx

Sad news. David also performed at the Folk club in Leigh-on-Sea, we met him locally but as a Maldon local was where we knew him best. :-* Back in the early days, and before I cottoned on I arranged to meet 'Cocker' in St.Marys Church, I searched the whole audience at my very first St.Agnes Fountain concert before they were held in the Town Hall.  ;D
Condolences to David's family. XX

Lots of love and strength to you, Anji.

Jules

Q'Anji, I have been thinking of you since I heard the news.
Sending you love and more spangles xxx

I’m glad that you were able to spend time with him - you were so important to each other. Much love

Very sad.
Thank You, David.
You left an impression (and I mean this with the deepest respect and in the most positive way)

Here's David's obit (https://maldon.nub.news/news/local-news/david-hughes-obituary-he-was-simply-a-one-off-friends-and-family-remember-local-musician-and-author-who-died-aged-72-179966) from his local paper.

They did a decent job, didn't they!

Jules

Has David's funeral been and gone?

No, his son Taylor outlined the details on David's Facebook page (https://tinyurl.com/2p97tmzs) yesterday. I reproduce it below for those without access.

Hi all, Taylor again!

Funeral arrangements have now been made for Dad. As I mentioned in the last post, on several occasions he told us that one Facebook post would fill St Mary’s, so here it is:

The funeral will take place at St Mary’s Church in Maldon, on Thursday the 18th of May, at 12:30pm.
We would then invite those who can stay for the wake, which naturally will take place in the Queen's Head, 50 yards from the church, to raise a glass there to dad while the family goes to the Crematorium (it was dads wish to be cremated and blown into the eyes of Nicholas Witchell, whilst one of us calls him a toad one last time), and food will be served on our return.

To make preparations easier for us, please would you leave a care react if you will be attending, so we have an idea of numbers, and a heart react if you'd like to attend both the service and the wake. If you aren't able to make it, please stick to the old reliable like; we'll know you aren't 'liking' it, just acknowledging it!

We hope that as many of you as possible can make it, but we have also made an enquiry for those of you who are unable to travel, as to the possibility of a livestream. Details of that to follow, IF it is possible.

Whilst we have been looking through Dads flat, we’ve come across a lot of his books, and CD’s, and knowing that they will otherwise sit idly in sheds (a hobby he himself enjoyed in life), we would like to bring them with us to the wake, so that anyone wanting one last blast of David Hughes wit, lyricism and entertainment may collect one, with voluntary donations gratefully accepted to his estate. No David Hughes event would be complete without merch, after all.

I was considering going to David’s funeral but on that day our younger daughter,Siobhan, is booked in for a Caesarian with her first baby and our first grandson.  Her husband doesn’t drive so I am booked for lifts.  
That is unless he decides to arrive early😱

Good luck to Siobhan Jim.

I would love to go but got tix for a gig up north the following day, just can’t do both, not enough energy.

David Hughes plays Bach. https://youtu.be/xDC1imeMdb0

Out in the car today the random selector played me ‘Thoughts and Prayers’. If I was a spiritual man, I would suggest that someone, somewhere, is having a celestial laugh.  :)

We'll raise a glass on Thursday and remember David. Cheers!

Does anyone know how to watch the live stream on Thursday please?

I’m hoping something will be posted to Facebook tomorrow

Taylor has posted the details:

Hi all, Taylor Hughes here. A last Funeral/Live stream update before the day.

As you'll have hopefully seen by now, Dad's funeral is tomorrow. For those of you coming, the service will start at 12:30, but we'd ask you to start arriving from 12:00 as there is a condolence book people may wish to sign. Where possible, wear something black, and if you have one, a flatcap to wave dad off at the end. If not, not to worry.

For those of you unable to attend in person, we have agreed with the church for them to live stream it on their facebook page. They have warned us that the songs we've selected to be played during the service may get muted by the facebook copyright algorithm, but we'll do our best to have a stream or recording available.

The streams will be available here: https://tinyurl.com/y3re5teh

The church's FB page is located at this link, and the old live streams are located here (so you can come back and watch it again after the event if necessary, or desired):

https://tinyurl.com/yxsrneb7

As mentioned previously, we have taken a number of dads books and CDs to the pub where the wake will be held and would invite people to see if there's anything they'd like to take home with them.

See you tomorrow!

(I had to convert the Facebook URLs to TinyURLs as they were ridiculously long)

Thanks, Andy.

Jules

How does the link work? All I’m getting is their Facebook page

Its ok it’s come up  :)

Took me a while too, but very glad to have been there 😥❤️

It was poignant to know that David in his little purple box was on DM’s drum riser for Fairport’ closing
Saturday night … 💙💙💙

😎👍❤

Lovely  :)
And he already has a plaque on Jonah’s Oak. I had a chat very late one night (2am!!)

I had a chat on Friday there. Might even have dropped a kiss on the plaque.

The Aggies tour starts in about a week….  Yippeeee…

Farnsfield Acoustic is putting them on in Rainworth on the 3rd December… in just 10 days from now.

I am getting it ready, selling tickets, planning, gathering, preparing, deciding and it’s getting very exciting.

We’ve been hosting them every year since 2005 and each  year everyone goes home with a big smile .

This year for the very first time my non folky daughter in law is coming with her mum, earlier in the week she is seeing Pete Tong…. What a contrast!

Lovely to have a 'newbie' introduced to the wonderful SAF Jenny.

We're going to Maldon as usual, it kickstarts Christmas. David Hughes will be so missed wandering around with a rum, although he had already left the band  ;) RIP David. xx

I loved David’s contribution to the Aggies. Usually the high spot for me, so I’ve missed him since he left. IMO he made them great. This year will have added poignancy.