Really nice to see those photos Dave. Don joined our Berrylands Club in Surbiton in the early 70s and we became good friends. He introduced his cousin Derek who then took up model boating very successfully. We used to hire the local Lido, Surbiton Lagoon, now sadly filled in, and pioneered many scale course innovations - I still have some of the bits in my garage! Halcyon days indeed!
Don was up there with the very best marine modellers such as Brian King etc. His HMS Ashanti had a moulded gummed paper strip hull which weighed almost nothing.
I last saw him around 2004 at the Midhurst Modellers Exhibition in Sussex where he had his partially completed Fishery Cruiser Brenda on display - I was building the same ship myself. Sadly by that time his advancing Parkinsons had put an end to his meticulous workmanship but he was still persevering with modelmaking. By then he had stopped responding to Christmas cards and I think he had moved address so we lost touch. I do wonder what happened to his models. I think he sold some at Christies.
Colin