Dave Bird, R.I.P.
(Obituary text by Arkady Rose.)
It is with great sadness that I have to report the passing away of a long-time staunch critic of $cientology, Dave Bird.
Dave was often referred to by other members of a.r.s.c.c.uk (alt.religion.scientology.central commitee, UK division - see Brief history of ARSCC) as “Our Glorious Leader”, a title well-earned. He made me feel very welcome on my first demo against the cult in front of the TCR org in London, and I often looked forward to his emails, phone calls and letters. He was a cheerful, active, scarily-intelligent and amusingly-inventive campaigner against the cult of $cientology and had been an active member of the National Council for Civic Liberties/Liberty before taking on the cult.
Dave had suffered from some time from health issues arising from his diabetes and so it had been a couple of years since he was last able to join us on a demo, but he kept up a keen interest from afar via the phone and internet, including actively posting to a.r.s. He had an amusing array of sigs; one included the quote “Woof woof (glug glug) .. who drowned the judge’s dog ?” Another good sig was this one:
FUCK THE SKULL OF HUBBARD, AND BUGGER THE DWARF HE RODE IN ON!!
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8====3 (O 0) GROETEN — PRINTZ XEMU EXTRAWL no real OT has
|n| (COMMANDER, FIFTH INVADER FORCE) ever existed
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A society without a religion is like a maniac without a chainsaw.
The following is the obituary posted today on alt.religion.scientology by Jens Tingleff, a fellow a.r.s.c.c.uk member:
“Dave Bird died the morning of Sunday Feb 10th from complications arising from diabetes. He had been in hospital for six days.
Dave had been active in the NCCL and in the fight against miscarriages of justice before he came to activism against the criminal organisation known as the “church” <spit> of $cientology.
While Dave was a great debater - and a lot of fun - on a.r.s. he also had many effective moments in Real Life, notably initiating getting proper legal representation for Bonnie and Richard Woods (and the rest is history - I don’t think the clams have sued anyone in the UK since then).
http://www.skeptictank.org/hs/wood3.htm
http://www.solitarytrees.net/pickets/sp861.htmDave brought a welcome street theatre side to our pickets, including many props, some of which worked, some of which didn’t and the largest one of which was Carrie the Giant Clamshell.
http://www.tingleff.org/jensting/duke_tour/muslinger/poole980314_a.html#mar28th
Dave worked hard at his activism, organising, doing practical things, designing props (the balloons were always a favourite of mine) and writing songs. He was a firm believer in the will of good people to show up at a demo that someone else had to do the hard work organising and he was happy to put in the work. He did ask a lot, but he gave more.
The criminal organisation known as the “church” <spit>>of $cientology didn’t like him one little bit, as evinced by the multi-page entry on their hate site RFW
http://www.religiousfreedomwatch.org/anti-religious-extremists/david-bird/
Dave would have gotten a kick out of the day he passed away being the day of the largest worldwide protest against the criminal organisation known as the “church” <spit> of $cientology.
I’ll miss him
Best Regards
Jens
Over 500 people turned out for the demo against the Co$ on Sunday 10th, and I’m sure Dave was there in spirit. He would have been delighted and highly amused at the whole Anonymous situation.
Rest in peace, Dave. You will be sadly missed.
February 13th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
RIP. Dave will be remembered with fondness.
February 13th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Bye Dave :-(
February 13th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Wow.
He was the first critics I ever met. Quite mad of course. I can’t call him Eccentric because that term is reserved for the wealthy.
As you can tell from the photos, he cut an *ahem* imposing figure. I remember my first TCR picket. I had arrived way too early and so had he. So for about 20 minutes we picketed alone. If it had been anyone else I would probably have waited for the rest of the gang, but not Dave. He was happily marching up and down bellowing into his megaphone and putting the fear of gosh into unsuspecting passers by. So I felt compelled to join him if only to assure people they weren’t being attacked. It was a very uncomfortable 20 minutes.
That was Dave. Striding out where others would timidly tip-toe, brandishing that toilet seat and to hell with what anyone else thought. No-one was better suited to be glorious leader of the ARSCC(wdne) UK Chapter.
Thanks Dave. Thanks for bringing a little levity and lunacy to our merry band of SPs. Don’t forget you signed a gazillion year contract with the ARSCC(wdne) and when you pick out your next body, try to make sure it works a little better, ok?
Lance.
February 14th, 2008 at 9:31 am
A very bad news from across the Channel. I hoped to meet Dave some day, would I’ve crossed the sea, but alas, it’s too late to complete a game of critics with Dave.
Requiescat in Pace, Dave.
roger
February 14th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
I remember Dave with great fondness. We sang a duet outside the Brighton org and it was great fun. In my mind, he was a fixture in the UK critic milieu, larger and louder than life. I often thought he’d fit right in with the ancient warriors, only his weapon was wit and intelligence rather than a broadax.
Dave, you just missed Hubbard, whose 21 year break was up. Please report to the implant station early, we need you back!
March 5th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Funeral tomorrow 6th March at 2pm at Northern Cemetry, Bulwell, Nottingham.
March 23rd, 2008 at 11:29 pm
damnit never met him in person but always made me chuckle in ars, only jus started coming back to the scene. Wish i’d have known about it this because the funeral took place not far from me. I’ll pay my respects at his grave rip.
*waves to barb, roger and tilman(three names I remember from the ng)