Dave was born in Sandown, Isle of Wight in 1948. He joined the Royal Marines Band Service in 1962 at the age of 14. He trained as a percussionist and served for 26years, visiting many parts of this country and around the world. The latter part of his career was as percussion teacher at the Royal Marines School of Music and Bandmaster of the Royal Naval Volunteer Bands in Portsmouth and Gibraltar. He composed three xylophone solos/duets for band and two marches, one being the official March of the Far East Prisoners of War (Tenko).

Since leaving the Royal Marines, Dave has taught percussion at various schools in East Kent, including The Kings School, Canterbury.  Northbourne Park School, St Lawrence College and Dane Court Grammar School in Thanet. His main interest is Big Band music and he has quite a collection. He also runs his professional band, Sounds of Swing, which performs regularly in the surrounding areas.

Dave says that it is nice to be able to do something one enjoys, have fun, and help others at the same time. This is a sentiment shared by Dave and the other members of the Railway Swing Band. Their enthusiasm is evident!