David John Rose died peacefully at home on Tuesday 6th June 2023. He is survived by his wife, Isabel, and his children; Heloise, Megan, and Erin and six grandchildren. David and Isabel lived in Blandford Forum from 2003, before moving to Colehill, Wimborne in 2021.
David was born in Edinburgh but moved to Kenya at the age of 6 weeks. His father, a water engineer, returned to the UK at Kenyan independence. He has three sisters and a brother. He eventually went to school at Pocklington, where he excelled at sport, coming 2nd in English Schools 800m, and playing for the England Schools rugby at under 16 and under 19 level.
He joined the army in 1979 and was commissioned into the Green Howards, serving with them in Northern Ireland, UK, Cyprus, and Germany. David also served with 10th Gurkha Rifles in Hong Kong and Brunei and the 1st Kings Regiment in Cyprus and UK. He served the United Nations in Cyprus and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and with NATO in Macedonia and Kosovo. David and the family spent a very happy year at the Indian staff College in South India. He was also involved in operations in Guyana, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sierra Leone in 2000, where he ran the Information Operations campaign that was one of the main reasons for the defeat of the Revolutionary United Front and for which he was awarded an MBE. He retired in 2014 and worked for Babcock International Group.
In Blandford, he was very active in the community. As a member of Rotary International, he ran the Clean-Up Blandford Campaign for 14 years and the Blandford Hidden Gardens open day for 12 years. He was a member of the Blandford Town Team.
In 2020 he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. David and Isabel moved into a house with his eldest daughter and mother-in-law, and they converted it. The age range in the house was 90 years to 3 years, and there was never a dull moment. David was very pragmatic about the disease and whilst he could, he did as much as he could for the MND Association, including raising over £20,000 on a charity walk. He was so brave, and his family and friends are so proud of him.
