Tribute to David Pollard

David was born in December 1942 in Aldershot, Hampshire. When he was two, his sister Margaret was born but sadly she died within six weeks, so David grew up as an only child. His parents sent him to Sunday School and their weekend excursions with the motorcycle and sidecar were soon replaced by church activities as David became interested.

David was the first member of his family to go to Grammar School. From there he went to study French at University in Southampton including a year in Angers, France, followed by a PGCE in Leicester. He met “a certain Swiss Miss” at a tea party in England and then again in Geneva – he rang on the doorbell of his host and the door was opened by a beautiful Swiss Miss whose first words were: “I’ve met you before”. Odile left soon after for Africa, where she worked for two years. They wrote regularly and married on 21 June 1975. Margaret was born the following year and they moved from Angers to Wendover in 1977. David taught French at Aylesbury Grammar School. John was born soon after. Rachel completed the family in 1982. David dedicated his life to his family – to giving stability and attention.

After AGS he joined the civil service in Aylesbury, processing national insurance numbers. He loved meeting people from all over the world, counting more than a hundred different nationalities. He was also invited to be an elder at Granville Street Church. David enjoyed the Chalet in Switzerland, with many holidays there as a family over 25 years. Château d’Oex became home-from-home. It was to this community that David and Odile planned to retire. The whole family were able to say farewell to some Wendover friends over the weekend of 15/16 May but David became seriously ill and died on 26 May. Odile is now in Switzerland as they had agreed