The rugby community in and around Cheltenham has been in mourning these past few weeks.

David Townsend, who captained Cheltenham Civil Service from 1977 to 1979, helped coach at Smiths and Cheltenham Saracens before serving as president of Cheltenham Tigers for eight years, died at the beginning of last month shortly before his 75^th birthday.

Known to just about everyone as Towner, his passing leaves a huge gap in rugby in north Gloucestershire, a gap that will be very hard to fill.

“He was a fabulous bloke,” said Tony Wegrzyn, who played with him at Cheltenham Civil Service back in the day.

“He was captain at the Service when I first started playing for them, he was Mr Civil Service for a long time.

“I was 24 and he must have been in his early 30s. I hadn’t played rugby since I’d left school and I only went down there to train.

“But he took me under his wing, got me playing and I loved it. He was a great guy.”

Wegrzyn had been talking to Towner the night before he died and he was as upset as everybody else in the rugby community when he heard the news.

“He was very well known and liked by everyone,” Wegrzyn continued.

“We played at a time when you knew all the players from the other clubs, he was central to that.

“You never heard anyone say a bad word about him because there wasn’t a bad word to say.”

And Towner, who was born in Cheltenham and educated at Naunton Park School, certainly loved his rugby.

“He was a great example to all the kids coming into the sport,” added Wegrzyn. “He always had time for everybody and knew everyone’s name.

“He was a well-known figure within the rugby community and a little bit iconic but he was always approachable.”

Towner, who also had a spell as chairman of Cheltenham Civil Service, was a very decent prop.

“He was very good,” said Wegrzyn, a full-back. “He wasn’t the biggest or the quickest but he was always there, he led by example.

“My brother-in-law Mark Butler, who was a very good tighthead, said he learned everything he knew from Towner.”

And Wegrzyn learned plenty from Towner too.

“I always remember him saying to me that if you love rugby you’ve got to put something back into the sport when you stop playing,” he said.

“He said the problem is that nobody is putting anything back into it.

“I think that’s why I took up reffing and now I’m president of Cheltenham Civil Service.”

Towner became involved with Cheltenham once his sons Dan, Matt and Ben started playing for the club.

But as you would expect, he was also a big supporter of the club as a whole, serving as a coach for the Colts, senior team and manager for the 1^st XV.

He took on the role as the 24^th president of the club in 2015 and his oldest son Dan said: “He was synonymous with Cheltenham Civil Service Rugby Club in his early rugby years but he had big links with all the clubs in the area.

“We’ve had hundreds of messages of support from people from so many clubs – Mark Harris at Cheltenham Saracens; Paul Morris, who played for Old Patesians for so many years and Rich Prewer, who was at Cheltenham North.

“Rich Prewer described him as his ‘rugby dad’ and someone I will miss chewing the fat about the old days.”

It’s probably no surprise that Towner left such a lasting impression on rugby in this part of the world because his dad Kenny did too as one of the early founders of Smiths Rugby Club.

“He used to run the Prince’s Plume, which was a pub by Cheltenham Cricket Club,” explained Dan. “That’s where they first met and it’s the reason why Smiths have got a plume on their shirt.”

The funeral of David Townsend OBE will be held on Thursday 18^th April.

A service will be held at St Michael & All Angels Church in Bishop’s Cleeve at 1.30pm and will be followed by a reception at Cheltenham Rugby Club.