Dave Baker RIP

[Dave Deacon]

Some more sad news I’m afraid!

Dave Baker, a player and brilliant groundsman for Penryn over the years passed away earlier this evening.

Condolences go to his wife, family and friends.

As a lot of you will know, Bakes was a regular contributor to the forum and we will also miss him very much as well.

[Richard Chown]

I’m so sorry to hear this. RIP

Older was one of our biggest contributors on the forum and full of knowledge.

Condolences from Carharrack AFC 

[baldy]

Older was one of most interesting people to talk to about footy but especially grass. Pleased to have known you if only fleetingly. 

[Soccer Follower]

Dave was a top,top man and will be sorely missed by the football community.RIP Dave.

[john black]

what a sad bit of news......no more hard tackles then Bakes......will miss playing against you old pal.....R.I.P.

[Tommy Matthews]

Truly awful news. So sad to hear this. A part of Penryn Football Club can never be replaced. Great player for the club who went on to become one of the leading groundsmen around. He once told me he was lucky that the club let him indulge himself with his passion. Very sad loss for local football and for this forum. My condolences to his family and friends. RIP Dave and COYS. ❤️🖤💙🤍

[Steve Carpenter]

Such sad news.  A great bloke who will be greatly missed.

RIP Dave.

[Chris Davey]

I’m really sorry to hear this terribly sad news. Dave was a top man who said it as it was and was a brilliant groundsman - the Penryn pitches he produced were second to none and his commitment to the club was outstanding. Condolences to family, friends and everyone at Penryn. RIP Dave ❤️🖤

[kevin richards]

Absolutely gutted to hear this news. 
Played against Bakes for years when he was part of Dave Jenkins all conquering side & got to know him a lot more when I helped Si Winnan manage the team there.

He was a massive part of the club being what it is now & will be greatly missed by everyone who knew the man.

Rip my friend, you have earned it. 😔

[Martin Eddy]

So sad will miss dave when I visit Penryn, it will never be the same without you there. RIP mate and condolences to the family and Penryn Football Club 

[Dave Marks]

RIP Dave , enjoyed our chats at Penryn over the years & banter on this forum.

Condolenses to Dave’s family & friends .

Such a sad loss for Penryn FC as a whole.

[Ian Pethick]

Only knew him through this forum, where I very much enjoyed his dry, witty and insightful posts (especially the light hearted digs that were traded between him and the Falmouth contingent). When you got a "like" from Older, it generally meant that you were on the right track.

He'll be missed on here.

[RAPPO]

Known Bakes since I was about 16 and can honestly say he never changed a bit over the years! Old school and straight as they come, never afraid to tell you how crap you played and how you’d be carried off after 20 minutes if he was marking you 20 years ago!! Had plenty of Bakes bollockings for daring to smash one into the roped off nets on your way back in after a warm up on his prestine pitch that he slaved over season after season to give us players lucky enough to play for Penryn over the years a great surface, the best in the county for years, every home game. I’m sure for those of you not lucky enough to know him personally you will have gathered what type of bloke he was from some of his posts as “Older” on the forum which he loved contributing on over the many years, never afraid to voice an opinion! Despite his hard man image, which he certainly was, Bakes had a heart of gold underneath it all and was a very intelligent bloke as I’m sure many of you will know having seen his tips he’s passed on to many as the best groundsman around. He turned down some big offers over the years to stay at his beloved Kernick Road I know for a fact. Enjoyed my chats with Dave every week and his honest assessments of games that Penryn played good or bad, they were usually pretty spot on! He didn’t miss much! In true Bakes character he fought until the very end and will be a massive loss and void to fill for all his family and many friends. RIP Bakes, been a pleasure to know such a man. To Freddie, Tracey, Reece and all the family thinking about you, love and best wishes. Rappo & Rach x

[We Two]

Sad news indeed, we have not knowingly met Older except on this forum, where along with many others we appreciated his meaningfull and direct comments.
May we join the many who will offer their condolences to your whole family.
R.I.P. Older we will miss your contributions made to this forum

[WendronOfficial]

Terrible news. 

Will miss his banter with us at Wendron and his ‘horse in the field jibes’, as well as his input in other areas in the forum. Such a knowledgeable and passionate bloke who only wanted the best for Penryn. 

Thoughts are with his friends and family. We are fortunate enough to have his Grandson playing for us and therefore several of his family coming to watch regularly and our thoughts are with them all, as they are with our players who have represented Penryn, I know Bakes has a special place in their hearts too. 
Will be remembering him this weekend! 
 

RIP Dave

[Footy Detective]

Sad news indeed 😢

RIP Older.

[Mark Leah]

I am deeply sadden by this news, as this man became such a friend, and someone who I could ring for advice on what to do with our pitch. Although the 5 minute call would turn into nearly an hour, I always felt more knowledgeable after our chats. He always said to me, I will pass on my knowledge to you, if you agree to keep passing it on to others, and that is something I have and will always continue to do when it comes to grassroots pitches. I am very honoured to know the man that produced the very best pitches around and won the awards to go with it. He never changed and god help you if you warmed up on his pitch or even looked at the goal mouth...he was watching you and ready to tell you to get off!!!!haha

So many stories and memories, and as Rappo says he was determined to fight until the end and he most certainly did that.

 

RIP Batesy...gone but never forgotten😥

[THEMAGPIE]

Saddened to hear of the news, shall be a huge loss to the whole footballing community, I shall also greatly miss his input into the forum, condolences to his family at this time.

[Steve Lawrence]

I heard this sad news today and although I knew it was coming (Bakes being Bakes told me so when I last saw him!) it still came as a shock. I had the privilege of both playing alongside him and refereeing him as well as listening to him when he was passing on his knowledge about how to maintain the "field of play." In his playing days he was a hard, but fair, no nonsense defender in particular when he had youngsters in his team. If you got battered by a more experienced opponent it only happened once......cause within 5 minutes Bakes would take retribution-fairly-but pass on the message "Mess with me if you like, but not the youngsters."

When I took up refereeing he was still playing and he knew just how far he could go with me, so much so that we often used to chat about the only time I booked him (no cards in them days!) which was down at Malpas when he was defending 1 on 1 with an attacker who beat him for speed and Bakes tried to jump tackle him from behind from almost 10 feet away! I glad his missed otherwise he would have been asked to leave the field😱He knew it to!

I lived for 30 years+ overlooking Kernick Road, the halfway line at least, so Bakes often called on me for pitch inspections. The first one I ever did I put on my wellies and was about to walk the ground. Bakes stopped and said "You referee in them" pointing at my wellies. "No I said, I wear football boots" where followed a lot of flowery language I left to pop home and get me boots returning some 10 minutes later. There was a mischevious glint in his eye when I returned with my pristine boots which he knew that on one of the rare ocassions at Kernick they were going to end up dirty!

RIP "Bakes".....forthright with opinions on ocassions but as a "footballing legend" the like of which we will rarely see again.

[Billy Jacka]

Very sad loss to Penryn and football as a whole a straight talking football man is stuff was lucky enough to have played on some of his pitches over the years RIP Dave

[Gary Andrew]

A True Legend in Cornish Football. An incredibly knowledgeable Groundsman with such passion / dedication to match!! RIP Dave 

[stevieb]

Echo lots of the comments from other posters , his legendary fag Ash and chips will be missed , had several conversations about football and how clubs are run today and years past , good company straight talking , funny,  knowledgeable  , another local football legend lost to us , RIP Older,  condolences to his family and Penryn AFC on your loss , will seem strange going to Penryn and not seeing him .

[fenman]

A bit late BUT  !!!!!!!!!!!   I read his posts on ground maintenance over the years and exchanged comments regarding football  on the forum . Last year on one of my  trips down to Cornwall made the effort to see him at Penryn . I enjoyed swapping yarns with him  .

You don't get many of him in a lifetime sadly , I'll miss his comments  , particularly about the shortage of swallows .

[100%cornish]

I will miss the banter me and Older had over the years i never knew him but he seemed to be a genuine person and if there was something i wrote he thought was wrong he would let me know . 

He wished me well when i was having my battles against the big C and his kind words and other peoples on here really helped me when i as  feeling  sorry for myself and fight the Kidney Cancer and Prostate Cancer as well Thankyou older R.I.P i will miss our banter we had .

Why are too many good people dying and the nasty buggers still walk our streets its o unfair 

[Tom Blewett]

Batesy wife and family would like to personally thank every single one of you that donated to Daves chosen charity for his funeral, blue cross. Your donations raised an amazing £224.54 at his funeral. His family would like to thank everybody for your kind words and your generous donations at this tricky time and Dave would be absolutely delighted with your generosity. 

Thank you