David Beniston, bassist and founding member of the Able Tasmans died suddenly of an aneurism at his home in Melbourne on May 7th. He was the bassist on the Able Tasmans’ Tired Sun EP and the album Cuppa Tea And A Lie Down.

The funeral was in Melbourne on Saturday 14th May but there will be a memorial service in Whangarei in a month or 2 where his ashes will be sprinkled on Mt Parahaki near his old family home.

All Able Tasmans salute this lovely man and outstanding musician. We really didn’t deserve somebody that good, we just lucked on him and we can’t believe we’re not going to see him again. Special thoughts and sympathies from us to his partner Rosemary, his Mother Frances and his sister June.

- The Able Tasmans: Craig Baxter, Graeme Humphreys, Leslie Jonkers, Peter Keen, Stuart Greenway, Craig Mason, Ron Young, Jane Dodd