Whether you knew him in Stafford Street as “The Flower Man of Brewoood” from when he opened David Whitfield Flowers in 1967 until he sold it in 1988 or for when he became known as “The Antique Man of Brewood” running Passiflora the Antique shop or trading at Antiques Fairs or simply being Matt and Jim’s Dad, David’s ties to Brewood have been long and varied.
Holly Cottage was his first home in Brewood where he lived with his wife Margaret and their 2 boys, Matthew and James.  He lived there for 20 years while running his flower shop where he also traded in a small selection of antiques.  During this time David was also a renowned flower arranger, giving floral demonstrations to nearly all the West Midlands Flower Clubs and they were also invited to visit his beautiful garden.
David met his second wife Paula in 1990 when she came into the Antiques shop seeking pieces for her prized Mabel Lucie Attwell collection.  As Mabel Lucie married on her Birthday and honeymooned in Babbacombe, so did David & Paula in 1993 and eventually moved into the flat above the shop.  David’s love of flowers and gardens continued with people coming from around the country especially via the canal to visit the shop and the beautiful garden he created. 
From 1992 to 1996 the shop became Passiflora Tea Garden when tearooms were open in the conservatory and terrace and these were their happiest times with wonderful staff who helped create a really happy place to experience with china crockery, linen table clothes, tasty homemade cakes by the WI and specially filtered water to serve a good cuppa...a customer was overheard to believe she was in Heaven. Evening visits by all the Flower Clubs were a great hit with tours of the garden, followed by a meal and antiques quiz. During this period David’s son, James joined the business and together they traded through both the shop and Antique fairs.
Within the shop they ran an Antiques Collecting course which showcased their love of Mabel Lucie Attwell. This was filmed on TV's Collectors Lot.  BBC Homes and Antiques awarded them Friendliest Antiques Shop in 1995.  They subsequently assisted on 16 Antiques Trail programs with UK Gold where many of their friends in and out of Brewood filmed their collections.
They moved into their bungalow and David’s love of sharing his garden continued by giving support to the Open Garden Weekend – with many of his plants being shared with people throughout the village and beyond.
David was the inspiration of the formation of the Brewood Traders Association representing local businesses.  This ran for several years with a leaflet (like one David had created) distributed to bring tourists to the village which led to the formation of South Staffordshire Tourism.  BTA was represented in the Midlands Best Kept Village of the Year.
In 2014 David was diagnosed with early stage dementia and was instrumental in Brewood Dementia Support Group being founded in 2017 through the Brewood Medical Practice with the support of amazing Dementia Friends Volunteers.
The challenges brought on by Covid have sadly accelerated the advanced stages of dementia and David slipped away due to declining health & mobility whilst in hospital on Friday July 24th at the age of 82.