I recently heard the very sad news about the passing away of David Rennie, who lived for many years on Crescent Road. He was a big part of our community and a passionate (and tireless) campaigner for improvements to local transport and green initiatives.
I first met David in May 2015 when I saw a posting on the Alexandra Park Neighbours website for a French conversation group. At the time he was the only member and the group was almost mothballed, but generous as always, he agreed to meet me and help me learn the language. Every Saturday afternoon we would meet at Owens Delicatessens (at the time it had a café) and I was a beneficiary of his superior French knowledge. David was an excellent teacher and very quickly I became fluent.
How would I describe David? Retired and in his 80’s. He had a consistent uniform of matching coloured jumper and polo neck, soft peak hat and rucksack. A ready smile and a warm and welcoming character. Very quickly I got to know and like him. He told me that he had worked most of his life as an engineer at the Building Research Establishment in Watford, specialising in materials like plywood. Prior to this he had taught architecture and was a very skilled carpenter too.
One Saturday he said, “I can’t do French next week as I am running an event at a local fete”. I said, “Ok. Do you want me to help, and we can talk French as we do it?” And that is how I was first introduced to the Water Game - David’s unique aquatic horse racing game which he ran at fetes like Fins Feste and the Palace Gates Triangle street party for many years.
And David Rennie’s Water Game was a revelation. A superbly designed course full of pipes, water, chance mechanisms, stands and something called the water lift. I also saw something amazing. A child, who had become so captivated by the action of the Water Game, that they insisted on staying put and ignored their parent’s requests to move on. The child then spent the next two hours watching the Water Game, never missing a race!
This inspired me to make an award winning film about David and his Water Game, which was shown around the world and translated into many different languages. Below is a website that explains more and where you can watch the film.
https://www.watergame.co.uk/index.html
The film came out at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, and because of the isolation requirements, pensioners like David found their lives severely impacted in terms of shopping, cooking and socialising. David lived alone with his daughter residing in Southend-on-Sea.
And I remember how the neighbours and friends got together to buy shopping for him and later cook for him because David was told by the doctors that he was underweight! Thankfully David always loved apple pie, which helped fatten him up.
The years passed and one day I got a message from David asking if I could drive him to Southend so that he could be with his daughter. He was finding living alone hard now and he needed some help. Shortly thereafter his house was cleared of his possessions and put on the market and sold.
I was subsequently told by friends that he had gone into a nursing home where he seems to have had a pleasant life.
I have one final memory of David which I think speaks volumes about his positive outlook on life, his resourcefulness and his ingenuity. David played the flute and he used to tell me that he would meet up with friends for a musical evening – a bit of food, some tunes and some nice conversation. He told me that he was a big fan of the composer JS Bach and he said.
“I play lovely, challenging music, but very slowly because my skills are not good enough to play it at its proper speed. Yet it’s wonderful all the same”
David Rennie. Born 20th May, 1936: died 7th March 2026
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Did you know David Rennie and what were your memories of him? Were you on some of his local campaign groups or just knew him as that nice man on Crescent Road who was always cheerful, welcoming and had time for a pleasant chat? Please share your memories of this local hero.
Replies
Thanks for saying this John. David was definitely someone with many sides. He contributed a good deal to the Palace Gates residents' association apart from contributing the water game to the annual fetes: he was interested in the formation of the food co-op set uip under the umbrella of the association, and he proposed the system of tree build-outs in Palace Gates Road which were intended to dissuade drivers from speeding along it. He brought some coloured diagrams to an association meeting to explain the theory behind it, which I think arose from experiments done in Sweden. Unfortunately he wasn't around when the council contractors came to install the features, apparently with conflicting sets of different plans for the work, and they did it in a way which is quite decorative, but completely missed the point of puting it in. I don't know what David actually thought about that.
I used to meet him quite often walking around the neighbourhood or in the park. On one occasion we discussed the dangers (particularly to the more senior amongst us) of tripping over the raised edges of flagstones in the pavement. He had a method for avoiding this which was that you should always walk with a long stride - which he could certainly do - so that your foot always descended from high enough up to avoid your toe catching anything on the ground: application of engineering principles to everyday life!