Dave Evans, R.I.P.

[Trout]

Not sure if this needs it's own new thread but if you could share this wherever you can think it needs to go:

The family of our beloved Bolt have asked me to share a JustGiving page for his funeral.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/rememberdave

Also - and I cannot emphasise this enough - don't be afraid to reach out if you're in pain and forgive yourself always. You are not alone ❤

That last sentence. I was, just over a week ago. I did reach out to a friend. It helped so much.

Men find it difficult to seek and accept help. Understand that and take the step. It may save your life.

- Trout

[Dark Jimbo]

Also - and I cannot emphasise this enough - don't be afraid to reach out if you're in pain and forgive yourself always. You are not alone ❤

Just as I think I'm coming to terms with the news... That hits hard, man. Poor Bolt.

[Colin YNWA]

Not sure if this needs it's own new thread but if you could share this wherever you can think it needs to go:

The family of our beloved Bolt have asked me to share a JustGiving page for his funeral.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/rememberdave

Also - and I cannot emphasise this enough - don't be afraid to reach out if you're in pain and forgive yourself always. You are not alone ❤

Thank you for sharing his. Man this is so heart breaking.

[Jim_Campbell]

This is the worst of it. That someone as widely loved and respected as Dave ended up in a place where he felt he had to carry whatever he was carrying alone. Christ, I don't think there's a single one of us that wouldn't have stepped up if we'd known. But we didn't. No one did. I was exchanging emails with him at the back end of April about how much we were both looking forward to conventions restarting and making plans to meet up for drinks.

And then, this.

Poor Dave. It breaks my fucking heart.

[MacabreMagpie]

Thanks for sharing the link to the fundraiser. I've donated and shared, as it felt only right to given his influence on my comics career (I wouldn't have gotten anywhere near the prog and beyond without all that time spent working on stuff for FQP).

Don't want to say too much about the nature of his passing but I'm sure many of us have stared over that precipice and know only too well how much suffering it must take to not turn back, which is what's utterly heartbreaking. That's not how I'll remember him, though - that will be where he seemed amongst his happiest, selling comics from behind a table with a beaming smile!

[Hawkmumbler]

I let out a very real and very audible sob when I put the pieces together, that sentence being the catalyst, and it only hurt the matter even more. Four years ago I was in the deepest pit I have yet found myself in, however in part through the BDT and in no smaller yet part due to Dave actively reaching out and actively helping me with my malaise. I might not be here today if not for that. Which only makes this even more painful, in light of how recently I was talking to him and....oh fuck....I'm so so sorry Dave.

I'll be putting as much as I can towards to JustGiving drive, and I just want everyone to know how important they are here. In a dark and often malicious invention that is the internet, frequently this place stands out as a bastion of good nature and mutual adoration for all shared interests. This latest update has hit me hard and I'm not able to process it at all.

[pauljholden]

Absolutely devastating.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Not sure if this needs it's own new thread but if you could share this wherever you can think it needs to go:

The family of our beloved Bolt have asked me to share a JustGiving page for his funeral.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/rememberdave

Also - and I cannot emphasise this enough - don't be afraid to reach out if you're in pain and forgive yourself always. You are not alone ❤

Target reached.

Deeply, deeply moved but not at all surprised by the speed of it.

I didn't know either and I feel like I'll be getting over the shock of it for the rest of my life but I can tell you this emphatically - you are not alone. Please reach out, please tell the people in your life how you feel - it hurts, it's awkward, it may not seem like it makes much of a difference at first but it does.

Please don't delay, if you're reading this reach out right now, tell someone you're in pain and they WILL listen. You deserve to be forgiven, you deserve to be loved and you always will be and you always are. I don't want to lose anyone else to this.

[The Legendary Shark]

Dave also reached out to me after my health scares and it is utterly heartbreaking that I couldn't return that kindness. "Big boys don't cry" my arse. Cry, cry like a broken tap if you have to, and never, ever, be afraid to cry out.

[The Legendary Shark]

Bolt yourself to your friends.

[jrdd]

Shocking to hear this news, my thoughts go out to his family and friends.  I didn't know Dave, but had a brief email exchange shortly after I joined the forum which always stuck in my mind.  He was after one of the FCBD progs, so I messaged him to say I'd send him mine, put it in the post and thought nothing further of it.  A few days later the latest Zarjaz popped through the letterbox - he had sent it as a 'thank-you'.   It was an unexpected and kind gesture, and helped make me feel that this was a pleasant and friendly corner of the internet.  RIP.

[Mikey]

I had an awful feeling that might have been the case. Not to turn attention away from this, but my brother killed himself coming up to two years ago, like this, out of the blue. There was a huge number of people at his funeral and any one of them would have helped him through, would have listened.

It always sounds trite, but I'll echo what has been said already - if you can talk people will listen and try to understand, and help. If you can't talk to someone just realise it's important you're here, you're better than most others. Look at the shit you've survived already.

[Kev Levell]

Fuck suffering alone. Fuck being a man about it. This makes me want to cry.

[Pete Wells]

This is impossible to process. Bolt lit up any room, and reached out to everyone, regardless of their social difficulties or shyness. I find it incredible that there was any darkness in him. This breaks my heart all over again.

I’d do anything just to sit and chat with him.

[SuperSurfer]

So sad to hear this devastating, heartbreaking news.

My deepest condolences to Dave's family and friends.