Dave was a man of many names. You can almost carbon date a friendship with him by the name someone knew him by. For me, he has always been Griff, so please excuse me for sticking to that now.

My friendship with Griff really began around 20 years ago when our teams were merged but I knew him before that from 5-a-side and as a member of a quiz team, with Chris Slater, Mike Black and Nigel March which seemed to win the annual TSB quiz at every opportunity. Everything he did seemed to be effortless; whether absorbing facts, playing sports or, later, taking wonderful photographs. You might imagine that would be annoying but he was also the most self-effacing and supportive person; unlike Griff, I was never very good at softball but he was always so encouraging and never once berated me for fluffing a double play.

Our friendship was founded on a shared love of a variety of things; among them, baseball, softball, football, cats and photography. I’m pretty sure I can blame Griff for our Ebay habit; collecting baseball cards, autographed bats and balls; even action figures of baseball players. We often ruminated on the idea of a road trip together, taking in as many ballparks as possible. I’m sorry we never did this but, to be honest, I don’t think he would ever have wanted to leave Gel and Phoebe for that long. Griff’s love for his family was absolute; he was so proud of Phoebe for getting into MMU and I know he got a real kick out of Caitlin’s job with the Beeb.

Photography, in particular, became a big part in his life. He rarely went anywhere without a camera. He was a much loved and active member of Wilmslow Guild Photographic Society, joining the committee and eventually becoming Chairman. I know he was especially pleased to be made an honorary member of their women’s group so he could join their meetings over coffee. Griff was incredibly modest about his photographs despite winning numerous club competitions. While I stuck pretty much to landscapes, he seemed to get really good at photographing a subject and then moving on to something new; but I think he found his perfect genre when he took to street photography; it fitted with his interest in people and his love of talking to them. Griff would talk to anyone and, more importantly, listen to what they had to say. He used to publicly credit me as a mentor but, the truth is, he supported me by patiently listening to me during my frequent periods of self-doubt. He also gently persuaded me to do talks and competition judging - both of which I continue to do. The highlight, I think, for both of us (me, certainly) was the joint exhibition we put on a couple of years ago; particularly the two days we spent hanging pictures together - two solid days of chat and laughter.

As those who worked with us will attest, we could talk for hours about the really important stuff like baseball stats and the ethics of post processing (I believe Gel has another, altogether more rudimentary description of our conversations). We were even known to do some work occasionally and, for that too, Griff was greatly respected. Mostly though, he was known by all for his cheerful disposition and humour.

However, woe betide you if you made a grammatical error or misused an apostrophe; you would be subjected to the full force of his pedantry. He also had some choice words to describe me whenever United played Everton and I will miss his pithy comments on Facebook and Twitter.

I said the other day that I had always thought Griff was effortlessly cool and Phoebe rolled her eyes a little, but what daughter ever thought their Dad was cool. Yes, he had some dubious taste in shirts but I think it takes a certain cool to get away with wearing shirts like that.

This last year or so was tough for Griff but he handled it with the same grace and resolve that he’s always possessed. It was typical of him that he should choose to keep people informed through a blog; entertaining and almost relentlessly positive; his writing relaxed and instinctive. His final post was on 19th October and I would like to read you a small extract:

“So I had a Saturday afternoon free the other weekend and decided I'd try and get a wee bit of exercise not only of me legs, but of me shutter finger.

I decided to hit Styal Mill, which is fairly close by, and should offer an odd photo opp.

I've walked out of the house before, forgetting a memory card, or a lens, or a battery, but I arrived at Styal only to realise I left my whole camera behind. I had a spare lens in my bag, but no camera. What a dunce.”

Unlike so many other things, our taste in films didn't always mesh but we did agree that 'It's a Wonderful Life' was our favourite and, seeing all the messages and looking around the room today, it's clear that Griff really was the richest man in town.