John Purdy RIP

Rochdale Harriers are sad to report the death of John Purdy after a 2 year fight with cancer on September 4th.
John was well known within the North West running community and some of this fame was due to him being one of the Characters on the FRA forum. He was known as Danbert Nocurry and joined fellow runners Brummy John, Fergal P Dandy, Sparth Bottoms and Notlob in various intellectual discussions and threads. In 2006 Danbert was one of the most frequent and popular contributors across a vast range of diverse topics such as rate your hangover.

In his day John was a good athlete. Naturally very strong he played rugby at a high local level and as a youth competed for Oldham and Royton Harriers. He joined Rochdale Harriers and was a regular in local road and cross country races. He was a great parkrun tourist and did 136 all over the north west. John was a reliable club member and a good friend and motivator to many in athletics and in life generally.

Strength and Honour John. You ran a good race.

So sad, a great character who will be missed by all who knew him

Rest in peace John.
Damm you cancer.

Danbert Nocurry - some real gems....

Danbert RIP - what sad news

Really sad news. RIP Danbert

A true gentleman with a brilliant sense of humour.
One of the Greats on this Forum.
RIP Sir Danbert

It was always a mystery to me why Danbert disappeared from these pages...now we know. So sorry to hear of this. John joins a growing list of top forumites to have passed on. He is in good company but that will be no comfort to his nearest and dearest to whom I extend heartfelt condolences.

RIP Danbert.

Danbert seemed a top guy.

Sad news.

http://www.rochdaleharriers.org.uk/2...purdy-tribute/

From the photo on the link he did not look that old, so sad. RIP.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wheeze

It was always a mystery to me why Danbert disappeared from these pages...now we know. So sorry to hear of this. John joins a growing list of top forumites to have passed on. He is in good company but that will be no comfort to his nearest and dearest to whom I extend heartfelt condolences.

RIP Danbert.

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Indeed Simon; over some 12 - 13 years, upto maybe 2 years ago, I had some very lovely and often humorous exchanges with Danbert and like Wheeze, I too wondered why he had disappeared from this forum.
From some of our exchanges I drew the impression that John had a similar working class upbringing to myself, in a very similar era?
None of the obituaries mention his age; would it be out of order to enquire what age he had attained?

RIP Danbert & Deepest Condolences to his nearest and dearest.

Actually just answered my own question by going on the members' list ...... how sad, only 54; some 13 years younger than myself.

Ian Roberts, Bowland Fell Runners

All the FRA members kind words will mean a lot to John's family. He started life on the railways as a track communicator and went to University later to do electrical engineering. He was a lecturer at his local college for many years and then progressed to several colleges in the area. He always felt he was in loco parentis when with students and they returned their respect and friendship. John helped many on their career pathway.
He was 54. His funeral is on Tuesday next at Blackley Crematorium at 1.30pm.

I don't really feel placed to comment, as he was on the forum before my time, although i certainly recognise the name from many threads.

Very sad to hear.

A great shock. What a character. RIP Danbert!

Very sad to hear, he was a great character on the forum and I like many wondered who Danbert actually was. Now I know, but he is gone, a loss to us all on here.

RIP Danbert. He was a real star of the forum - always had something interesting to say. Condolences to his family and friends.

A legend of the forum and sadly missed.
Any thread started by him always got my attention. It would usually contain no end of classic wit and irony with a down to earth attitude and irreverence that nearly always brought a wry smile to my face.
RIP Danbert

Like Travs, I arrived on the Forum after Danbert had stopped posting; but I have often seen, and been amused by, his posts on long-running threads. What a great memorial he has left us with his off-the-wall humour.

I enjoyed reading the stuff Danbert posted, he certainly came across has one of the good guys. His banter with united fans was always worth a viewing.

It's always intriguing when a popular formite stops posting. My instincts usually have me thinking long term injury, new hobbies, busy life, facebook....it's so sad to hear the reason where Danbert is concerned.

Condolences to friends and family.

Very sad news, RIP Danbert!

Shocked and saddened to hear this. You could rely on Danbert to liven up the forum. Only met him once at the Northern XC champs at Heaton Park one year. Made me laugh on the start line when the battle cry "Strength and honour Rochdale" went up. A bitter loss indeed. RIP.

Last year on a Manchester City forum there was a running thread. Someone posted that he used to run on the fells and it sounded very much like Danbert Nocurry. I pm'd him asking if he was Danbert and if so could he come back to the FRA forum. He quickly replied that he was Danbert but be wasn't planning to post on here in the near future. He was really friendly. RIP.

(We will never know what happened to the rat he had in his garden!).

I never met Danbert, that's who he is to me and always will be, I never met him in real life. but I had many long chats and lots of Banter with him esp those football related threads where he'd poke fun at United fans, so a good bloke in my eyes..

Sad to see another master leave us to that horrible disease.

RIP Danbert, may you forever blow bubbles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTv93xsws0M

Really sad news.

'Danbert Nocurry', just like his wonderful avatar, often left me with a broad smile.

Sad news indeed.

I have good memories of humorous banter whilst doing battle with Danbert in the same vet age group at SELCC cross country events and Heaton parkruns. As well as frequently cracking up to his humour on here too. Fine Fellow.

It seems strange to me that I should return to this forum a few days ago after several years away, completely oblivious to this news. Now feels like I was somehow spirited to come back to learn of the sad news and share in celebrating what he was to us.

So sorry to hear this news, John was one of the good guys, never took himself too seriously.

I first met John in the early days of the forum (2005?) when me, him and Gaz/comrade gaz/Carlos entered as an unofficial forum team in one of the early gravy boys races.

RIP John. My thoughts are with his family and friends

Like OB1 I've been off the forum for a while and just popped back on this morning for a catch up.

I had some great fun on the forum with John, particularly one year building up to a National XC at Alton Towers. We were both happy plodders nearer the back than the front, but it didn't stop the leg pulling and challenges about who would be ahead of who.

Really sad news. A good guy lost.

So sad to hear about John/Danbert. A true forum legend. I have missed his wit and sense of fun, on here.

Really sad to hear this news. I didn’t know him aside from on here but like SBRT I’ll miss his humour from the forum.

I’ll echo WP as well. A good guy lost.

Such sad news. Danbert was a forumite who genuinely made me laugh out loud on so many occasions on here and i tended to gravitate towards a thread i could see that he'd posted on. I remember those halcyon days of the forum in the late naughties when he was an absolute riot and clearly a lovely bloke to boot. We never met but i'm still really saddened to hear this. RIP John and thank you for the laughs.