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DICK DAY
Dick Day was a dynamic, hard-working and good person who met a tragically premature death at the early age of 48 in 1996. These web pages are a tribute to the man from those who knew loved and respected him. The obituary below is only the first of several or even many contributions....
Manchester Guardian Obituary
Dick and I were Mech Eng students together at UMIST Manchester UK 1967 through 1970. Along with Liz Reilly and Dave Aron and
some other guys we were probably the backbone of the concerned and/or socialist anti-apartheid, pro-third world
and anti-vietnam war movement at UMIST at that time. Those were heady times - everyone had great fun; we also tried to
do something useful. Dick and I worked through Paul Zadoo, a Sierra Leonean, for Shelter in Manchester,
cleaning and renovating a terraced house belonging to a poor Irish family of wife plus 15 children, whose
husband was in jail for hitting a policeman. We joked that maybe he had done it to get away from his wife....
Liz Reilly, Dick and I did a swoop on the Midland hotel with anti-apartheid flysheets which I had
composed and gestetnered to disrupt deals between (white) South Africans and British Businessmen.
We did some anti-Springbok rugby stuff also and a whole bunch of good things in those days.
Dick was Best Man at my first wedding in 1969; I tried to get him also to be Best Man for my second wedding
in 1991 but he was overseas at the time.
I went to Tanzania 1973 through 1979 and we lost contact.
But we re-established contact around 1989 through 1992 in London and I did a few jobs for
Twin Trading and an Eritrean NGO. Then I went to
Zimbabwe and we lost touch again (it was pre-internet). In 1999 I found out that he had died in 1996. It
shook me up, reminded me of everyone's mortality, and spurred me to try to do something useful with my life
in addition to merely surviving and prospering....
Dick and I were both always busy, full of energy and never afraid to do the right thing.
Your early death was genuinely a loss to humanity. You were a great guy -
Rest in Peace my friend.....
Anyone who wants to contribute please email text and/or photos to me at
alexweir1949@yahoo.com
and I will update the web page system with your contribution.
Non-digital photos I can also process but email me first to check where I am before mailing.
Alex Weir, 4 Brechin Drive, Marlborough, Harare, Zimbabwe, Africa.